Cow Tools - the infamous Far Side Strip

[The Cunting Death]

So I'm rereading the Far Side, and I see this strip.

What in the fuck does it mean?
What do you think it means, and if you read Gary Larson's official answer, what did you think it meant prior to reading the official answer to what it meant?

Spoiler: the official answer in case of killjoys

the real meaning of the comic is that Cows would have strange tools and they would lack a certain sophistication our tools would have.

 

[throwawayguys]

I wouldn't be caught reading the far side in the first place, because the only worthwhile newspaper comics are calvin and hobbes and garfield.

 

[HONKHONKTIME69]

I wouldn't be caught reading the far side in the first place, because the only worthwhile newspaper comics are calvin and hobbes and garfield.

>doesnt mention marmaduke or wizard of id
have fun being a virgin at 70, pal

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

>doesnt mention marmaduke or wizard of id
have fun being a virgin at 70, pal

Marmaduke is boring
Wizard of Id I don't really remember

 

[Gone Ham]

Cow tools is the meaning

 

[RembrandtCourage]

Cow tools are what you use to help bake your cow pies.

 

[KID NAMED SCHWARMAPUNK]

To paraphrase a comment related to this:

"I feel like a lot of the focus in modern speculative fiction (and especially Sandersonian fantasy) worldbuilding is on filling your world with all the specific details and systems that contribute to your specific story's trappings.

And that's great, and cool, and creates these cool puzzles of books where the disparate elements get woven together into a fun narrative.

But every now and again I feel like we've forgotten the degree to which a world is unlikely to be perfectly shaped to provide basically exactly the elements needed to undertand our character's and stories. So much of what makes worlds feel alive is the irrelevant details that aren't coming back later: the dead city in the distance that was once a great empire and that's it, no great quest to rediscover its secrets coming up next. The customs of local inns that we visit but don't get quizzed on later."

 

[Valstrax]

Maybe the real cow tools are what's inside.

 

[Exuvia]

>doesnt mention marmaduke or wizard of id
have fun being a virgin at 70, pal

I have no strong feelings about Marmaduke one way or the other, but you are literally a useless eater if you cite Wizard of Id as an example of a quality newspaper comic.

 

[Dagobert]

I wouldn't be caught reading the far side in the first place, because the only worthwhile newspaper comics are calvin and hobbes and garfield.

Have you ever given any of The Far Side a read? If not, at least give it a little bit of a shot, being that they're one panel comics it's not a large time investment to read even a full book of them.

Also, I never thought too much of the Cow Tools specifically, but until reading Larson's explanation, I thought the cows were trying to imitate people and the joke was that a cow couldn't actually make any actually useful tools.

 

[Spiny Rumples]

My guess was that someone asked him about his job while they had a swollen/numb tongue. They said the word "cartoons" and it came out as "cowtools."
He then replied that yes, he does draw cow tools.

 

[reptile baht spaniard rid]

The dog ing a car is betyer