A New Caption That Works for Every New Yorker Cartoon
In 2006, a blogger named Charles Lavoie argued that every New Yorker cartoon—from bears-waiting-in-an-elevator to two-old-businessmen-playing-with-dolls—could be aptly captioned “Christ, what an asshole!” Lavoie was correct: They totally could. He documented the rewritten cartoons on his blog for many years.
Sometime later, the artist Cory Arcangel suggested a different universal caption: “What a misunderstanding!” He, too, preserved re-captioned cartoons on a blog, itself titled “What a misunderstanding!”
Heretofore, science has discovered only these two universal New Yorker cartoon captions. But now it has supplied us with a third. This afternoon, the designer Frank Chimero proposed a new addition:
— Frank Chimero (@frank_chimero) September 22, 2015
— Frank Chimero (@frank_chimero) September 22, 2015
@frank_chimero pic.twitter.com/5IoRsoZGGb
— Frank Chimero (@frank_chimero) September 22, 2015
Others are joining in:
@frank_chimero pic.twitter.com/brbcUjSpyY
— William Price, III (@williamPriceIII) September 22, 2015
It even works for a classic:
@frank_chimero meta! pic.twitter.com/bueH9eBUVG
— James Acklin (@jamesacklin) September 22, 2015
You’re a hero, Frank. I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.