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BS: Dilbert
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Subject: BS: Dilbert From: Mrs_Annie Date: 16 Nov 06 - 05:09 AM I get the 'daily Dilbert' e-mailed to me every day. It's brilliant and so relevant to office workers everywhere (I am in England) But I have to admit I don't understand the language in today's one - could any of you from the US explain what she's saying in the last frame? http://www.dilbert.com/ (if you read it after today, it's the one dated 11/16) thanks a lot Annie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: manitas_at_work Date: 16 Nov 06 - 05:15 AM "Neener-neener" is a reference to "The Twighlight Zone". She's asking if the request is too weird or if the CEO is throwing his weight about, |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: ragdall Date: 16 Nov 06 - 06:23 AM Tina rewrote the project scope and was being criticized by Dilbert when the supervisor came by to say how much the CEO liked what Tina wrote. She is gloating about her success. http://www.urbandictionary.com/ neener (knee-nuhr) interj. An interjection typically used to taunt, ridicule, or boast. who's your daddy? an expression of power od domination from one individual to another |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Mrs_Annie Date: 16 Nov 06 - 07:05 AM Many thanks, I guessed it was something along those lines but I didn't understand the references. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: artbrooks Date: 16 Nov 06 - 08:25 AM "neener, neener" is roughly equivalent to "nnah nnah nu-nnah nnah" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Grab Date: 16 Nov 06 - 10:59 AM I've gone off Dilbert. If you've not seen it before then it's great, but I don't think Scott Adams has anything new to say, so once you've read a couple of years worth then you've pretty much seen it all. Graham. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: clueless don Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:40 AM ragall wrote "Tina rewrote the project scope and was being criticized by Dilbert when the supervisor came by to say how much the CEO liked what Tina wrote. She is gloating about her success." The supervisor did say that the CEO liked the new scope, but he also said "We'll expect you to do that without extra resources." So now the team (Dilbert, Tina, and possibly others) will have to try to do a larger project with a budget only adequate (if that) for the original smaller project. Tina thinks she has done a great thing - hence the "neener-neener" and "Who's your daddy?" remarks - but Dilbert knows that she has done a terrible thing - and he has to help clean up the mess. That's the way I read it, anyway. Don |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Clinton Hammond Date: 16 Nov 06 - 12:10 PM "Neener-neener" is a reference to "The Twighlight Zone" Swing and a miss, strike one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: katlaughing Date: 16 Nov 06 - 12:27 PM Don't feel badly, Mrs. Annie, as an American I have never heard the "neener-neener." For Twilight Zone, I would expect "dew-dew-dew-dew" an imitation of the "spooky-do" music from the tv show . If it was meant as a taunt, I would recognise "nanner, nanner, nanner." Maybe it is supposed to be a variation of that? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Amos Date: 16 Nov 06 - 12:31 PM "neener neener" is a variant of "nyah, nyah, nyah", nor based on Star Trek -- you may be thinking of "nanu, nanu" from an earlier scifi soap. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Peace Date: 16 Nov 06 - 12:38 PM Nanu nanu was from "Mork and Mindy". |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: JohnInKansas Date: 16 Nov 06 - 03:07 PM Whether "neener neener" is a Twilight Zone reference depends on how it's pronounced. That's a bit hard to convey in print. The "expression of contempt or dominance" version would more commenly be "nanner nanner" in my circles (and among children or immature adults, which could be about the same thing?). A higher pitch, usually slightly nasal, alternating two pitches on consecutive syllables, mimics a tone used on TZ to imply a "supernatural/mysterious atmosphere." "Dum Dum Dum Dum ..." would sometimes refer to "eminent danger" a.la. "Jaws," but again requires proper pitch and inflection. For the particular strip cited, I would have read it in the "nanner nanner" sense, often coupled with "told ya so," as that's more similar to the following "who's yer daddy," which also asserts a "dominance gloat." Even in my zone, where the "nanner nanner" spelling would be more common, the pronounciation is frequently "palatelized" almost to an "e," so the spelling used in the strip is not too ambiguous. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Bill D Date: 16 Nov 06 - 03:26 PM there are many variations in the 'neener', 'nanner', 'nyah' phrase, but it is commonly used in the little taunting 'tune' children seem to know by instinct. "neener neener neener" or the same using other syllables/sounds has had learned articles written about it. I read one in a psychology magazine a few years ago that claimed that the tones used in the taunting chant had a natural relationship that came from our intrinsic 'feel' for musical sounds, and that children would eventually develop it, even if they never heard it from others. It has, obviously, been shortened at times to a simple, barely inflected "neener, neener" etc. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 16 Nov 06 - 07:23 PM Fascinating - I love Dilbert - I was in The Public Service - been there, done that, got the T-shirt to prove it, and I'm getting my act together to take the show on the road. I once bought a Dilbert doll for a friend - he left it on his computer desk. His mother visited and straightened out the tie! I'm not making this up, you know! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Joe Offer Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:21 PM There's a thread on it, of course: children's taunt tune: nyah nyah, na nyah nyah. I don't recall ever hearing "neener, neener" until I moved from the Midwest to California. Prosecutor Marcia Clark pronounced it "nanny nanny nanny, neener neener" in the OJ Simpson trial. I don't believe a prosecutor in the Midwest would ever say "Nyah-nyah" or "neener-neener" in a trial - but this is California, and we deserve our reputation. -Joe Offer, Midwesterner in Exile- |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: JohnInKansas Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:43 PM There actually have been a number of "learned papers" on Dilbert. A few of them actually are not too far from the "philosophy" one gleans from comments by the artist. Apparently quite a few "rank and file" office workers lean to the opinion that "Dilbert" actually is part of the "management conspiracy." By painting such a horribly bleak picture of office life, your own management can "join in the joke" and pretend "at least management isn't that bad here." But usually it is. Although the "pointy headed boss" is often the apparent butt of the joke, he's mostly the only "management figure" present; and it has to be noted that all of the employees (with the possible exception of Dilbert) are real losers too. And we're not quite certain about Dilbert. I ran into one mid-level manager some years back who attempted to explain that the "real message" of Dilbert is that the employees are all too stupid to understand management problems and objectives. I'm convinced he believed it, and that Dilbert is a "pro-management" strip. (I think they do a management training session on Dilbert at that company, so that the managers will all understand that the purpose of Dilbert is to make them look good.) John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Nov 06 - 11:47 PM I've heard neener neener--Bill did a great job of diagraming it.
I think of Dragnet when I read that ("Dum da Dum Dum" might capture it more accurately). "Do do do do" is the Twilight Zone sound. I can see where it would be confused with neener neener, because there is some tonal mobility in the sequence that is reminiscent of one another. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: JohnInKansas Date: 17 Nov 06 - 01:34 AM SRS - Dum-da-Dum-Dum only makes me think of orange juice. (Explanation later if nobody figures it out.) The Dragnet thing is just a bit too much like the drum riff when the comedian tells a joke. It's just a punctuation mark, in my mind. (Maybe it echoes in ways there that others don't hear, but ... ) The Jaws steady beat is more common when an implication of something really threatening is wanted. (?). John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: autolycus Date: 17 Nov 06 - 03:02 AM Dilbert is, for me, wonderful. Not sure management can thoroughly like it without being selective. I told a management nephew the folllowing. Alice to boss. Why did he get a bogger pay rise than me. Boss. Well, you hit your targets and don't bring me any problems. He rarely hits his targets and brings me problems all the time. So, obviously he has a harder job than you, so that's why he got a bigger pay rise. My nephew didn't find that too funny. It's a great strip about ,amongst other things, employee impotence and management blatant doublethink, or as it used to be called, hypocrisy. If the strip is popular with management trainers, that must be in part because, with disempowered employees everywhere (that we've now "all" voted for)), management/employers can be as in Dilbert without being fired or laughed out of their jobs. Ivor |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: EBarnacle Date: 17 Nov 06 - 10:16 AM re: Joe's post above. The nyah nyah, nyah nyah, nya nya nya nya nya melody may be genetic. It is the only melody which has been identified as universally present in all cultures of homo sapiens. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Amos Date: 17 Nov 06 - 10:27 AM It is amazing to me that Dilbert keeps on going as long as it has, with new angles on an old theme, and new embodiments of despicable traits such as "Topper". I think Dilbert has provided an important service to American society. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: GUEST,Walt Kelly Date: 17 Nov 06 - 01:20 PM "Dilbert's" a little like "Cathy": both badly drawn reiterative riffs on the hopelessness of their characters. Not what I look for in the funny papers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 18 Nov 06 - 07:39 AM "it has to be noted that all of the employees (with the possible exception of Dilbert) are real losers too. And we're not quite certain about Dilbert." Except I have the suspicion that he supects that is his gloomy fate... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Bob the Postman Date: 18 Nov 06 - 10:56 AM I too interpreted the "neener neener" as a variation on the Twilight Zone "do do do do", the reference being to the eerily apt timing of the boss praising Tina just as Dilbert was admonishing her. And the "who's your daddy" means that Tina is now management's favourite daughter--her rewriting of the project scope, while bad for her collegues, was good for her, the "crabs in a bucket" theme being one of "Dilbert"'s main-stays. But it is ambiguous. The reading of "neener neener" as a variant of "nyah nyah" is equally apt, IMGO. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: JohnInKansas Date: 18 Nov 06 - 03:29 PM Perhaps the ambiguity was intentional. The main theme of Dilbert is that "we're all clueless" isn't it. (Except perhaps Dogbert?) John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: Amos Date: 18 Nov 06 - 05:02 PM Excuse me? All losers? ALICE is not a loser. She has the Fist of Death and she knows how to use it, and she accomplishes the work of ten Wallies. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Dilbert From: JohnInKansas Date: 18 Nov 06 - 06:53 PM Amos - A doorstop accomplishes the work of ten Wallies. That's his thing. John |
