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This question is about the same Krazy Kat strip (25 July 1936) as in Krazy language in Krazy Kat, 25 July 1936, in which Krazy is making a lot of classical references and Pupp is responding:

Krazy: Regular, the romin - insulting the kottage injins -
Pupp [to Ignatz, who's getting reading to hurl a brick]: Avaunt - wastrel

Krazy: Hoikillitz tossin the big bed bull -
Pupp: Have at you - Quince.

Krazy: Etlitz jugglin' a lot of woils -
Pupp: Kavvy Kannem -

Krazy: Horachel diffendin' his bridges -
Pupp: Shis kibab -

Krazy: Cyklops destroyin' the tutty-nine dumb dimmins
Pupp: Skol

Krazy: Jupita darin' the tunda bolds -
Pupp: Sayonara -

Krazy: Ajex knoggin' the lightnin' around -
Pupp: Weeny weedy weeky

Krazy: Nobil - movillis - killosis -
Pupp: Hark - - I seem to hear the plaudits of my people.

As laid out in Spagirl's excellent answer, Krazy's remarks refer to, respectively: Regulus defeating the Carthaginians; the seventh labour of Heracles; Atlas holding the world; Horatio defending the bridge; a Cyclops fighting demons (?); Jupiter throwing thunderbolts; Ajax defying lightning; "noble - marvellous - colossus".

My question is: how do Pupp's remarks connect respectively with these? From Heracles to Quince, Atlas to cave canem, Horatio to shish kebab, etc. - what are the links?

(Spagirl's answer speculates a little about this in the final paragraph, but I'd like to see more detail, and I'd feel bad about asking her to go into full detail about this in her answer when it isn't technically part of that question. Hence, this new follow-up question.)

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  • I guess "shis kibab" refers to what Horatio did to Astur, "the great lord of Luna", in lines 378-381 of Macaulay's poem: He reeled, and on Herminius/He leaned one breathing-space,/Then, like a wild-cat mad with wounds,/Sprang right at Astur’s face./Through teeth and skull and helmet/So fierce a thrust he sped,/The good sword stood a handbreadth out/Behind the Tuscan’s head. – user14111 Jul 20 '19 at 00:10
  • I hope someone tackles this. I’ve looked for links between Regulus and someone being a wastrel, a spendthrift, prodigal... to no avail. There are hints here and there that his successor as consul, Marcus Aemilius Paullus was in some way profligate, but nothing I can pin down so it may be a red herring. I wondered if the Pupp references may be to ‘outcomes’ or ‘things that come after’ the action Kraft Kat describes. Astur is skewered because Horatius is defending the bridge, Hercules steals the quinces after he tosses the bull... but the wouldn’t work for ‘skol’ so who knows? – Spagirl Jul 21 '19 at 11:32
  • @Spagirl The bull-quince connection via different Heraclean tasks never quite convinced me - I've just found something more obscure yet more direct. Quinces in ancient Greece were associated with Kydonia in Crete, the city founded by King Minos who was troubled by the Cretan Bull until Heracles defeated it for him. It's obscure, but I think it's a solid chain of connections. – Rand al'Thor Jul 21 '19 at 11:42
  • @Randal'Thor good catch. Is Pupp just engaging in word association then? – Spagirl Jul 21 '19 at 12:10
  • @Spagirl I dunno, could be. But the only connection I've found between Atlas and "cave canem" is that the Farnese Atlas is kept in the same museum as a "cave canem" mosaic. Very tenuous indeed. – Rand al'Thor Jul 21 '19 at 12:20
  • @Randal'Thor The ‘plaudits of my people’ could refer to the dedication of the colossus of Rhodes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Rhodes – Spagirl Jul 21 '19 at 12:24
  • I keep coming back to this pair of questions, I'd like to get them bottomed out completely. The 'I seem to hear the plaudits of my people.' may be a reference to another cartoon, a political one in Punch in 1914 'Wilhelm II: “What is the distant thundering that I hear? Doubtless the plaudits of my people!”' Question may be, was Punch referencing something else too? – Spagirl Feb 02 '22 at 17:56
  • To continue, Wilhelm II was sometimes referred to as a colossus, as in this cartoon poster of 1896 where he 'bestrides the narrow world like a colossus'. https://fineartamerica.com/featured/wilhelm-ii-depicted-as-the-modern-mary-evans-picture-library.html?product=poster This means that Pupps remarks aren't always directly related to the reference to antiquity but may be riffing off more modern takes which themselves referenced antiquity/mythology. So in that case the trail back is Punch > Wilhelm II as Colossus > actual Colossus. in antiquity – Spagirl Feb 02 '22 at 18:23
  • Continuing this theme... Sayonara for Jupiters Thunderbolts becomes a reference to a 1903 film where jupiter summons all the muses then gets fed up with their noise and banishes them all again... syonara! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter%27s_Thunderbolts – Spagirl Feb 02 '22 at 18:27

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