[panel 1: a large dodo approaches a clean, well dressed vagrant youth sat beside a well fashioned wood and stone building. The youth warily guards a bag holding their belongings and the stick they use to travel with it. The dodo asks “Pardon me, do you have the time?” and the youth replies “yes, it’s -“]

[panel 2: the dodo exclaims “You have the time!”]

[panel 3: a quartet of dodos appear and excitedly chatter over one another: “He has the time.” “The time! he has it!” “At long last! Our desperate search is at an end! The time has been found!”]

[panel 4: they lean in amongst one another and whisper “PSSHHWSSSSPTT SSHSSHHPSSTT”]

[panel 5: the group approaches the youth and asks “Will you… give us the time?” And the youth replies “It’s nine fifteen.” The dodos exclaim “AAAAAHHH! NOW WE HAVE THE TIME!”]

Wondermark by David Malki

    • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      It’s riffing on the common phrase “to have the time”, meaning to know what the time is. Specifically, it is highlighting a potential conflation of the verb “to have” as meaning “to possess or own” rather than “to know” - or perhaps our understanding of time as both an abstract concept and a concrete description of the position of the earth’s surface as it rotates relative to the sun. In this imaginary scenerio, the ambiguity inherent in the language is represented by a small group of dodos who wish to know who has the time, while being in awe of the implications of such ownership. Thus, an irreverent comic sketch. I hope this helps.