The difference between...

[stubbleupdate]

And that wasn't even the best bit of the issue. If you want to find out what it was, go to your comics shop and ask for Iron Man #28. They'll know what to do.

Comments

[blackruzsa]

Without? xDDDD Without what?

[stubbleupdate]

You're joking, right?

[icon_uk]

Why assume that? I know I'm not. Other than the obvious "ME" or "EMO", I have no idea what the punchline there could be.

[stubbleupdate]

Waste of time

[althechi]

"Teachable moments" doesn't have a single W in it, unless you start turning letters over. =S

[equinox216]

You know, because the Chinese and Eskimos actually have those other bits, too =p .

[althechi]

It says "you can't spell 'teachable moments' without...", so I'm assuming it's English.

And I'm a native(ish) Chinese speaker, incidentally. =P
(No clue how "waste of time" = "teachable moments" in Mandarin either.)

[equinox216]

It's a series of American-ish (dunno where you're from) stale joke references.

The "Chinese" one references the widely-held idea (which I have no clue as to the veracity of) that the Chinese character for 'crisis' combines 'disaster' with 'opportunity', or some appropriate amalgamation thereof. Like so.

The "Eskimo" one references the, again, widely-held idea that the Eskimos, coming from an environment where the main terrain feature is white, wet, and cold, must have a large variety of words for said feature. Voila.

The 'can't spell X without Y' thankfully (well, as far as I know) contains no crypto-racism, and is just along the lines of "There's no 'i' in 'team'", or "You can't spell 'Marvel' without 'm-e'." So they're riffing on it both as a continuation of the meme-thing of the other two, and (I think) simultaneously making fun of the preceding references, as well as the entire sequence, by referencing something that DOESN'T actually contain the necessary letters.

[wasabi.livejournal.com]

Memes similar to the last bit are ""you can't spell 'assume' without making an ass out of you and me';

"You can't spell 'American' without 'I can'"; or "Are you an American, or an American't?" (I've also heard Mexican vs. Mexican't"

Further, "teachable moment" is becoming a trite phrase due to excessive use. Like "touching base" and "reaching out" are euphemisms for "contacting."

[althechi]

Ah, right. I get that now. I *was* rather aware of the "Eskimos having 80+ words for snow" thing and the many hilarious mistranslations/misunderstandings of Chinese over the years, but I reckon I was overthinking the 'word puzzle' in the panel.

I'm from Singapore, incidentally.

[jarodrussell]

"Blame no chest at me."

Apparently Rhodey wants to remind Tony it was his own hubris that caused his heart damage.

[blackruzsa]

no. I usually get these jokes quick, but today, I'm just scratching my head.

Any clues?

[stubbleupdate]

No clues other than the ones in the scan.

The answer is waste of time.

[foxhack]

...

That's a joke?

[valtyr]

I guess that's why Maria's calling them boneheads.

[wasabi.livejournal.com]

I think they're engaging in pseudo-intellectual alpha male chest-puffery. Ideally two debaters will use real facts and logic, but the drive for one-upmanship sometimes chucks both out the window in favor of making shit up in the hopes that your adversary will be cowed into silence if BS is presented in a confident manner. This happens a lot after a few beers...

[alexanderlucard]

Iron Booster and War Beetle?

[wizardru]

This issue has not really sold me on the post 'Most-wanted' direction. I want to like this, but it was just...DULL. If this was the Silver or Bronze Age, there would have been a big punch-up, followed by either the villains being revealed (S) or extended set up for future events (B).

Instead we get quiet chat, one of the world's smartest men being kind of dumb and then a chastising by someone who really has no right to chastise them at all (since they didn't actually do anything other than look somewhat ineffective).

Oh, and Marvel? I guess you and I have vastly different definitions of 'A = ALL AGES' when you include a flashback of Tony fucking Maria against the wall while the creepy armor suits watch. I mean, bwhuh?

[darkblade]

I think it has been long since established that those ratings are assigned arbitrarily.

[wizardru]

That makes them WORSE than useless...they're actively dangerous. It's only a matter of time before someone discovers that Iron Man's been shoving Maria Hill up against the wall and gets real indignant about it.

[v_various]

I was thinking the flow would be:
"you unbelievable boneheads, 'eskimo' is a pejorative"

But I looked it up in Wikipedia and apparently only Canadians & Greenlanders(?) feel this way.
weird, especially since I can't find a good reason. I've just always been told not to use that word (my anthropologist friend says it means "stinky fish eater", but Idk what her source is)

[jlbarnett]

"you can't spell teachable moments wasting time?

[deliandra]

Without wasting time.

Wait what?

[silverzeo]

Iron Man can cross-fuse now?

[minyandu.livejournal.com]

*staring at the page cluelessly*

[tzipwich]

Well I thought it was funny.