![\"caption](\"https:\/\/www.cartoonstock.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/caption-contest-airmail-1.jpg\")
Liam Walsh\u2019s cartoon is set in a bar, where a bespectacled man\u2014presumably the father of the toddler who\u2019s strapped to his back\u2014is about to have a fistfight with another man. The father\u2019s left hand is balled into a fist, and he\u2019s pointing his right index finger at the other man, who\u2019s assumed the fighting stance. The father is speaking.<\/p>\n
I first put a slight twist on some common trash talk: \u201cYou\u2019re about to get your ass spanked.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n My next caption suggests that the father is taking precautions to protect himself but not the child: \u201cWait. Let me take off my glasses.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I next have the father fiercely defending the Montessori approach to childhood education: \u201cWaldorf? Why, you sonofabitch!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a reference to a now disfavored way of disciplining a child: \u201cTime for some corporal punishment.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n And finally, here are two captions inspired by parents who tell their children to settle disputes with words:<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s see how you did.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll start with three entries that take a common phrase and give it a new and clever meaning within the context of the cartoon:<\/p>\n That third caption would be better if \u201cinto\u201d were shortened to \u201cin.\u201d<\/p>\n This next entry takes a common phrase and gives it a new meaning, but in an unusual way. It starts with the common phrase, which is not funny by itself, and adds a sentence that serves as the punchline. “Let’s take this outside. There’s a playground down the block.”<\/strong><\/p>\n Like I did, several of you focused on the father\u2019s eyewear:<\/p>\n These entries explain why<\/em> the men are fighting:<\/p>\n I love the way that fifth entry suggests an angle\u2014kidnapping\u2014I never even considered. It\u2019s a great \u201cout of left field\u201d caption.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a Second Amendment joke\u2014“You gotta problem with open carry?”<\/strong>\u2014that doesn\u2019t quite work because \u201cgotta\u201d means \u201chave got to.\u201d The caption should read, “You got a problem with open carry?”<\/p>\n Like I did, a few of you put a twist on trash talk:<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n
\n