fulcrims
18113
496
8
Jul 10, 2026 9:26 PM
fulcrims
18113
496
8
Kenbamazingbutprobablywontbe
My mom was super cool and would buy me literal boxes of comics.
Fireninja404
tangentially, I learned the word "photosynthesis" from Phantasy Star Universe before I learned about it from biology class. Creatives are big nerds and will put fancy terms in their work if you let them, and it's great. just last year I learned gommage, to remove or wipe away in relation to painting or makeup, from Expedition 33
DYLANLEE79
I learned about apartheid from green lantern.
Userlivewire
How is the rarity measured?
AdrianDunne
Rare words per thousand isn't a meaningful metric when books generally have an enormous total word count compared to comics. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Roqinn
Give the kids a copy of The Hobbit. One that has Elven and Dawrvish words in it and a glossary of definitions in the back. Let them figure it out.
ThatQuietlySmirking
I learned onomatopoeia from Hey Arnold.
IamMadeOfShamrocks
I won a bar quiz because I was the only person who knew what a giant gas cloud in space is called (a nebula). Thank you Halo Jones!
TChallaVanDam
In 6th or maybe 7th grade, this new girl transferred into our school. She was originally from Pakistan, but raised here, so she spoke perfect English with no accent. And anyway when we met on like her 2nd day, I asked her if she spoke any Urdu. And her face lit the fuck up. Ear to ear smile, she was so happy that somebody knew even the tiniest thing about where she was from. When she asked me how I knew about Urdu, I told her from a Spiderman comic. [1/2]
TChallaVanDam
I was embarrassed about it at the time, but looking back I don’t know why. Who cares where you pick things up from? So long as you make a mental note of it to try to keep learning, it’s still something new that you now know. And it made her day. And we’re still friends like 20 years later. [2/2]
killergrooves85
I’ve learned that if you’re a Western chud and you know anything at all about a nonwestern country or culture, most people from there will be more receptive of you.
SmergBlaerghl
Anything that gets kids reading is fantastic! Being read to and being encouraged to read gives you such an advantage. I read SO much Donald Duck as a kid, and lots of other comics. Once you get into reading, it's easy to take the step up and read heavier stuff later.
Roqinn
My grandma would read to me when we visited. It's what got me started reading. Then I found Tolkien and it really took off!
SmergBlaerghl
That's awesome! I'm so glad I learned to love reading, I've been on so many adventures since 😀
SacrificialClam
Most of the jeopardy answers I know are because of video games
lappelduvideonfullblast
Just have 'em read Blood Meridian, that'll expand their vocabulary immensely. Side effects may occur.
BlueDsc
Not quite comic books, but I remember in....first grade I think it was? I knew what the word luminous meant based on context clues from a PS1 game I was playing at the time.
FuckmotheringxVampire
What about epic or legendary words?
malkavian3str
Zooong!
InfocalypseRising
you gotta buy the battle pass for those
RyanH42
Kids won't read the words Blackagar Boltagon in a children's book.
murderdactyl
Also they introduce actual rare disease in marvel! Madam web had myasthenia gravis like me and it was really cool at 17 to see a super hero with my muscle disease!
testzero
I learned "oeuvre" from Calvin and Hobbes
B3N15
As a teacher, graphic novels, for lack of a better word, are a great way to "trick" kids into reading. The kids love them, but they don't THINK its reading because its got the pictures and visuals. They are also great for English Language learners because they have context images to help them out. My copy of "Superman Smashes the Klan" got passed around like crazy last year along with the first 5 issues of "Pokemon Adventures,"
FrolickingFrolicking
“Love them, because they don’t think it’s reading”… something has gone seriously wrong culturally if kids hate reading as an abstract concept and label.
TMCybersnark
For kids, anything in school is "work." Part of being a good educator is getting students *motivated*, and yes, that can mean tricking them by letting them think they're doing something fun.
B3N15
I'm teaching kids that are economically disadvantaged, are from families that don't have strong academic backgrounds, are either first generation Americans or themselves are immigrants, and/or are multiple grade levels behind on reading. Avoidance of reading is less "cultural" and "kid doesn't want to feel bad and stupid." Trick isn't the best word, but a lot of these graphic novels have vocabulary, themes, and content that they would otherwise shy away from because they don't think they ...
B3N15
... are capable of reading. The graphic novel helps present those things in a way that is much more approachable to the kids. For example, I have the Hobbit in book and graphic novel form; same story and characters, just different media. There are few kids that will grab the actual novel, but they'll fight over the graphic novel because they think its an easier read
ufoara
subtitles for everything
TheFastpaws
I read anything I could get my hands on as a kid. A comic, books, you name it. I just wanted to read back then. I remember my classmates reading see spot run while I read LOTR at home. Course this was more due to me being nerospicey than gifted.
darthstormer
But then they'll learn all those woke, libtard ideas like truth, justice, helping others.......FILTH!
SunnyKontucchi
I read comics growing up. I hated forced reading assignments. Now I rarely go to bed without reading my current novel.
davebarton315101
Children will learn when reading offers them more than tv. I brought twenty bags of sci fi, horror and adventure paperbacks up from the cellar and a month later my son was reading a book a day.
alcaray
I recall learning the word 'relax' from DC comics when I was about 7 yrs old. It was a bumpy journey making stops at Rexall (a popular drug store chain in those days), and something like re'-lix (how I was saying it in my head after I banished Rexall). Finally asked my mom what the word was.
cgt9803
I learned a lot about the world from Tintin as a kid
DoctorSniffles
And French
4chanrefugee
I'm currently facing censure in the office for stating „tintin gets zero bitches.“ and it want even the worst or most offensive thing I said during the meeting.
shyriath
...you sure about that?
nyarlathotep777
Milou (his dog) was male, so he probably got all the bitches instead of Tintin
astrangehop
Does that mean snowy?
nyarlathotep777
Yeah, sorry - his name was Milou in the French books
supertigerlamp
1990s X-Men comics were a vocabulary goldmine for me. Between Beast, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, and Moira MacTaggart, I was years ahead of my school chums at vocabulary and reading level.
OneUniverse
And that's what it sounds like.
FrolickingFrolicking
Quantifying the number of rare words is not at all a good metric for knowing or saying what is good writing or art or literature.
mrsdowneyjr
No one said it's good literature. Reading is good. Learning is good.
Bizarkly
Well, BAM!, KA-POW! and ZONK! certainly *are* "rare words"...
mrbadxampl
and Onomatopoeia isn't even in the top five silliest Batman villains
FrozenMojo
I don't care if you want to pee on me it's not happening! So asking!!
RocketKokket
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlMDZrN2NxZGl6aWphNzd4YmhyZGtjcm02cmF6ZDEwbHoweWw1MTV2dCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/9EwnzGNjvmIG4/giphy.mp4
Bundalicious
I BATMN'd, good one.
parabolic000
I thought he was more of a Green Arrow villain...and is actually pretty scary.
mrbadxampl
he IS actually pretty dangerous, but it's still a goofy concept; I don't know that much about Arrow, but he does come from there
MatrixDragon
That's part of why he's not on the list to Top Five Silliest Batman Villains.
darthstormer
Im like.......95% sure it's a joke, but there's some crazy older Batman Villains like the Condiment King so......who knows.
ToSisPoS
Older? He debuted in the
the
Nineteen
Nineties.
SaxifrageRed
So 30 years ago.......
ToSisPoS
It was soooooo 30 years ago
fearghul
He really is a batman villain, and managed to gain access to the batcave and kill batmans then love interest right in front of him.
mrbadxampl
Condiment King, Crazy Quilt, Calendar Man, Man-Bat, Big Top, Mr. Toad, not only Eggman but also Humpty Dumpty, Kite Man...
TMCybersnark
(Hell yeah.)
CeoHuntingSeason
in the gotham universe the fast-food marketing teams are also in charge of making up new villains
Schadwen
What's your beef with Man-Bat? He's no sillier than Spider-Man's the Lizard... Oh wait...
cyno01
Condiment King originates from an episode of Batman TAS in the 90s, and yeah, he wasnt exactly a real villain and definitely a joke. IDK if hes had any serious comic appearances tho, but he probably wouldve fit in with Wests rogues from the 60s.
Onomatopoeia otoh was originally a Green Arrow villain created by Kevin Smith (yes that Kevin Smith) who then went on to use him in his unfinished Batman - Widening Gyre comic. He should not write comic books.
NappaTheFriendlyGhost
He’s a joke character and they like to occasionally make him oddly dangerous for the giggles. Calendar man is actually pretty terrifying though. Like he’s not a threat to Batman but he is seriously fucked up
cyno01
Yeah, im sure Absolute Condiment King would shoot like concentrated pickle brine based acid that instantly dissolves flesh or some Attack of the Killer Tomatoes bioengineering or something... And i went looking for fan art as such and no they already did Absolute Condiment King, a wizard turned him into sriracha.
locksmith9
It's real, but it's fairly modern. Created by Kevin Smith, originally for Green Arrow, but carried over to Batman when he wrote that book.
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
"fairly modern" = nearly a quarter of a decade old.
Cycocidal
2.5 years seems pretty modern to me...
locksmith9
Heh heh heh heh, they meant "century," since the character was introduced in 2002, but yeah, that's why I used the modifier "fairly" modern. I mean, compared to villains like Joker or Two-face, even Bane and Ra's al Ghul are "fairly" modern...