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<   No. 3050   2011-06-03   >

Comic #3050

1 Paris: Ah, it's good to be on the space whale road again.
2 Serron: Let's go to Rubilith to see the Galactic Cup Final!
3 Iki Piki: But with all this time travel we've seen it on TV already. Twice.
4 Serron: Yeah, and a different team won each time! Should be a thrilling game!

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A kenning is a type of metaphorical construction in which a compound noun phrase with a figurative association invoking the image of a simple noun replaces that simple noun. For example, "sky candle" as a phrase referring to the sun, or "sea steed" as a phrase referring to a ship.

Kennings are associated with Old Norse, Icelandic, and Old English, particularly because of their use in sagas. A particularly poetic kenning which I've liked ever since I heard it is "whale road", which refers to the sea. This kenning appears in Beowulf:

In the end each clan on the outlying coasts beyond the whale-road had to yield to him and begin to pay tribute.
Combining this lucid and beautiful imagery with more modern literary imagery produces the extremely poetic line uttered here by Paris.

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My comics: Irregular Webcomic! | Darths & Droids | Eavesdropper | Planet of Hats | The Dinosaur Whiteboard | mezzacotta
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Last Modified: Friday, 3 June 2011; 03:11:02 PST.
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