How is “AXX” pronounced? Feel free to email me MP3s of your guesses
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Crock, 12/19/25
The sentence that most bothers me here is “It’s me again,” implying that we’re seeing another installment in a long-running drama between Crock and the … guy? … who’s calling him on the phone. At first I thought this was the same salesperson who annoyed him at dinner last month by calling during dinner and trying to sell him a banking credit card; but while on the surface the dialogue in panel one seems like it could be from someone hawking storm windows, it’s a wildly unprofessional sales pitch, and frankly sounds more like someone who’s only heard about sex second- or even third-hand initiating an obscene phone call. Anyway, Crock’s comeback is not as withering as he seems to think it is, and certainly doesn’t merit an entire panel dedicated to the triumphant slamming down of the phone in its wake.
Mary Worth, 12/19/25
This is honestly a fascinating exchange: Ian has gone fully mad, convinced that Sunny is no mere mechanical repeater of sounds but rather a fully fluent user of the English language, which makes the question of where he learned specific terms irrelevant, and that’s good for Toby, whose “Uh, maybe he heard it from [tries desperately to think of TV shows that have swear words] PBS” gambit is truly one of the least plausible things I’ve ever seen someone in this strip come up with, which is really saying something.
85 replies to “How is “AXX” pronounced? Feel free to email me MP3s of your guesses”
Ian just needs to be patient, then! If Toby’s watching that much PBS, just WAIT until Sunny breaks out into quotes from Ken Burns’ Civil War!
I chuckled at this Crock. Please keep me away from weapons and Scotch.
Mary Worth:
“Professor Cameron, take Sunny out to the water to observe the docks of Santa Royale! Awk, awk!”
“What purpose would it serve for me to do that, you abrasive avifaunal abomination???”
” ‘Pier‘ review!”
Mary Worth:
“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny! Awk, awk!”
“Now, those are fighting words!”
FC-“Mommy, you don’t have to put on the red light. Those days are over.”
MW-Well aren’t you?
RMMD-“This Christmas it’ll be me, Kelly, and a bottle. If you ladies want to join we can make it a foursome.”
MW-“I forgot how salty Brit tv can be.” Spoken by someone who lives a sheltered life.
Because I’m a modern guy, I have no access to broadcast tv, but I do support PBS and can stream shows on the app. And they simply drop the sound on even mild language. Which makes British TV quite exasperating, especially for someone who lived in the UK and enjoyed the concept of “at a certain point in the evening, we’re adults and can handle the language.” However, “pompous ass” isn’t even profanity, given it’s referring to the donkey and not the backside.
Crock:
“Is your refrigerator running?”
“Sir, this comic strip, while generally anachronistic and non-specific as to time, appears to be set in the late 19th century. Refrigerators weren’t invented until 1916. So that prankish telephone joke isn’t going to work here!”
MW: Who can forget the beloved BBC Kids show “The Tooll Chest” which features such eccentric characters as “Pompous Axx”, “Lazy Spannerr”, and “Huggy Hammerr”.
MW: Expains why Sunny sounds like Mrs Slocum.
Come on, Ian, piece it together. You go to work, leave Tobi at home, and when you come back, all your prized personal belongings are shredded (and nothing else). And the parrot is insulting you in highly specific ways it can’t have randomly overheard. This looks Tobi saying “I want a divorce” in the most passive-aggressive way possible.
MW: Impossible as it seems, Toby had IQ points to lose, and she’s losing them. Also, please let Sunny continue with PBS, so he can eventually tell Ian that his mother was a hamster and his father smelt of elderberries.
RMMD: …Meanwhile, four people are breathing their last in the waiting area.
DtM: Ruff is thinking that if he takes a dump deep within the gifts, there’s a 50/50 chance it will be blamed on Dennis.
SF: Holy crap on a cracker, these people have issues.
That bird is only saying what everyone is thinking — and also repeating what everyone is saying.
It’s Aksks of course, fancy you not knowing that. You need a Sunny.
MW In petulant and childish act of revenge, Ian begins a letter-writing campaign to eliminate all government funding for PBS, only to discover that someone has beaten him to it. . .
Crock I was going to make fun of a French soldier drinking scotch instead of, I dunno, brandy? But then I remembered that this is the French foreign legion, so it’s quite possible that he’s actually Scottish. Maybe ‘Crock’ is a corruption of ‘Craig’ ? Suddenly his ornery attitude makes a lot of sense.
This is by *far* the best Mary Worth storyline since Weelbur falling off the ship. It almost makes up for the Olive tale that preceded it.
Crooky — Somehow selling toasty warm windows in the Sahara turned out not to be a sure-fire sales pitch. . .
MW: Meanwhile in NYC, Olive’s mom hears her saying “Pompous Axx! Pompous Axx!” and laughing through her bedroom door.
@Hibbleton: And you are unanimous in this!
MW: The storyline resolves by Sunny passing out from carbon monoxide exposure, revealing to the couple their imminent danger and the reason their adult brains are operating at a less-than-normal diminished capacity. Pets are awesome! Huzzah!
MW: “Pompous Axx!
Academic Haxx!
About as appealing
As a bowl of SPLAXX!”
Crock: Better response — “I live in the fucking Sahara, numbnuts!” [slam]
Crock-“No but my privates do.”
Mary Worth:
“Did you hear what that malicious bird called me?”
“Ian, I promise you I won’t let him watch ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood’ or ‘Barney & Friends’ anymore!”
For Peanuts fans (which I hope is all of us), last night I sat in on a zoom meeting by the New York Giants preservation society for a presentation of “How Willie Mays became the Catalyst for A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The summary is that Lee Mendelson did a documentary on Willie Mays in 1963 and then decided to go from the world’s best player to the world’s worst, Charlie Brown. This was the first time Peanuts was animated, although A Boy Named Charlie Brown never aired, but from it came A Charlie Brown Christmas special.
The presenter last night, Mark Mancini, wrote this up in an article (linked here).
If anyone wants to watch the entire zoom presentation from last night, it’s linked here.
To be fair to Crock, in my experience “I’m drunk” is a reliable way to get out of a lot of conversations (relationships, jobs, etc).
Alice: I’ve heard of alternate universes, but what’s an “alternative” universe? One where people take the skinheads bowling? Where Nazi punks fuck off and soup is good food? Where, if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side would be such sweet paradise? Anyway, I have to question whether a universe where someone willingly and unironically rocks a bow tie-ballcap combo is in any way “real.” At least, I hope it’s not.
MW: Sunny learned to call Ian a pompous ass not from watching BritBox, but by reading the comments on the Comics Curmudgeon website. Next, we’ll discover that Sunny has gone into the desk drawer, extracted Ian’s financial info, and called the bank using Ian’s voice to withdraw all of the Camerons’ retirement savings.
MW: It’s more likely that Sunny has been watching Frasier reruns and will soon be perched on Ian’s head.
DT And today, boys and girls, we continue our lesson about Engineering, how the whole structure of an item like a car is modelled and tested by professional engineers to work for maximum safety and strength, and how willy-nilly extreme modifications for aesthetics makes the car vulnerable to breakage and failure!
HnL Yeah, I see her point as I shop for “charity in someone’s name” gifts for certain people. At least ask for *something* to unwrap like your fave candy/ coffee/ booze, please!
MW: If Sunny learned to swear from British TV, he’d be saying “pompous arxx”
MW: I’m liking that this is turning into a weird inverted version of ‘The Raven’, where a bright colorful bird drives a married man into madness for no other reason than that it’s funny. A real feel-good story!
I love the new direction that Mary Worth is taking. I hope we get weeks and months of this pompous axx being humiliated by the bird.
Is anyone else waiting for Ian to serve Toby a suspiciously small Cornish hen for dinner?
@Charterstone: Dune: An “alternative” universe is one in which everyone gets sushi and doesn’t pay.
@Tonio: Only if it’s an outdoor Charterstone banquet prepared by Mary Worth, and she also serves Wilbur a suspiciously small fishstick. In fact, that would be a great ending to the entire strip. I don’t think Gary Larson would sue.
DT: a literal worm’s eye view. Is Rojo going off road? Actually makes sense since the police cruiser is unlikely to follow.
RMMD: June comes to see why no patients are being roomed but is drawn into the gabfest vortex. No gets seen today!
JP: great delivery Charlotte – now the zinger. “Naw, I’m good. Dad, and mom are always sneaking around with their secrets as if no one doesn’t know. Grandpa is seriously depressed but no one gets him help. So here is fine. Let’s go horse!”
MW: Right Toby, blame the Brits and PBS. Is Masterpiece theater showing Trainspotting? Then Sunny would call Ian “a f@$&ing bl##dy wanker c”&t”. We can only hope!
Clearly Toby is the source of Sunny’s delinquency.
Crankshaft: oh no ! The cardinal is coming into the house. Will it be Sunny 2: cardinal red!
Phantom: poison darts are so hard to dose properly.
MW: Ian fell for the oldest trick in the book: assuming facts not in evidence. No way Toby is watching educational television.
CS – The cardinal is injured? Whoda THUNK it?
Mary Worth: “Maybe he heard it on reruns of Are You Being Served? They call Ian an ass on that show all the time!”
Honestly delightful!
Ian. I am begging you to chill the fuck out. Because from where I’m sitting, it appears that you have been ranting about this bird for hours, if not actual days. At this rate, you’re going to drive your wife into the arms of [[checks notes]] Wilbur, and I know you have basically zero imagination, but even your Wellbottom-obsessed ass can conceive of how humiliating THAT would be. (She’s leaving the bird with you, by the way.)
GT: “I’m sorry, my parents don’t speak English. They speak EKG.”
Dustin Yes, it’s hard to imagine anything more hilarious than a bartender telling a male customer to avoid trying to sex up his female customers until he’s over-served them.
At this point, Ian is less a blowhard and more like a blowmedium.
I’ll grant ‘pompous’ though.
Mary Worth: Even if Sunny is only repeating words he heard as a kind of avian game, he has a real talent for assigning the right phrases to what’s in front of him.
Crock: Poor Crock! He can’t even eat his plate filled with fried cat food in peace.
My favourite recent exchange with a telephone scammer was when I realized how easily “ducts” and “ducks” could be mistaken, and she ended up getting her supervisor because I kept talking about how I do need my fifteen ducks cleaned. The last time they called I just swore at them and hung up. It really depends on my mood and what I’m doing at the time, so what I’m saying is, oh my gods, I’m empathizing with friggin’ Crock, damn it.
***
Yes, of course Toby and Ian watch PBS. Mary says she does while actually just watching procedurals on CBS. We crap on Wilbur all the time, and for good reason, but I suspect he’s the only one at Charterstone with a Netflix subscription.
Will Ian someday publish a book called “The Autobiography of Pompous X.?”
Aww, Crock is just cranky because he’s only a floating head and arms in the morning. Luckily by the second panel his shapeless but delicious brown food has provided him with enough nutrients and bio-matter to develop his torso.
This right here is why my parrot only gets to listen to the Shipping Forecast. Nothing like going to sleep at night to the squawk of the weather. “Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, awk. Southwest gale chrrp 8 to storm 10, veering squawk west, severe gale 9 to pompous axx violent storm 11. Rain, then squally chirp showers. Poor, becoming moderate.”
MW: Sorry, are they still fighting about the bird? I was distracted by Ian’s tie, which doesn’t look long enough to go around his neck, much less be tied.
Uh, when a parrot is uttering a phrase, isn’t the most likely explanation that some human said that phrase around it? Especially when the phrase is “pompous ass” and the humans who spend time around the parrot also spend time around Ian Cameron?
@Baffled in Buffalo: well done! Chirp! Weak!
(Appropriately named) Crock – How dare you interrupt my cow pie repast….
MW – Is Pompous Fat-Ass Chinbeard a common expression on the BBC?
Adios Amigos, DJ.
@Banana Jr. 6000: No, Toby does not want a divorce, because otherwise she wouldn’t be able to keep herself in the vapid dilettante lifestyle she’s become accustomed to on her own (“meddler adjacency” isn’t a marketable skill after all.)
A Scotsman of rather large mass,
Has loudly decried in tones crass,
The acts of bird Sunny
Who thinks it’s quite funny
To repeatedly squawk “Pompous Ass!”
MW – Oooh! Salty Brit TV! Sunny better cool it with the Pompous Axx talk, maybe switch it up to “smeghead?”
“No, it is the sirocco that keeps us warm and toasty, the hot breath of the Sahara constantly blowing, sand, dust, and flies, they get into everything. How I long for the gentle breeze of the ponente, warmth caressing my skin, or even the cold fury of bora, promising ice. How I miss the Côte d’Azur and the haunting call of the mistral through the mountains. But no. The state calls me here, to the very edge of civilization, to face the scream of the sirocco for France, for glory! I turn away from you, tempter, for here, as a soldier of the Foreign Legion, I live and die, come heat or cold. I dream my bones return to Paris but, should they just become a lonely milestone in the desert, I shall ever be in France.”
@Ken:
MW: Sorry, are they still fighting about the bird? I was distracted by Ian’s tie, which doesn’t look long enough to go around his neck, much less be tied.
That’s his school tie….grade school.
Crock – Hello, again, hello/
I just called to say “can I interest you in a totally free estimate on replacement windows for your home in the desert!”
MARY WORTH: Toby is right. “Pompous Axx” is one of the new puppets on Sesame Street (Oscar the Grouch’s “snooty” cousin, I think,)
MARY WORTH (2): To be fair, “Pompous Axx” is going to be Ian nickname in the press when he’s on trial for chopping up Sunny into parrot mcNuggets
PBS is an adult British network?
I thought that it was a non-profit American network catering mostly to children, boring historical shows and Antiques Roadshow.
I mean it did air Doctor Who in the past so… maybe?
@The Rambling Otter: You’re right about what PBS is, it’s just that they have always shown a lot of British shows, some of which used to be considered pretty salty when The Beverley Hillbillies was the biggest show in the States.
@The Rambling Otter:
I thought that it was a non-profit American network catering mostly to children, boring historical shows and Antiques Roadshow.
Watched the original Belgian Professor T on PBS. Definitely not for children…or boring.
Hmm, all my comments are awaiting approval.
@2+2=7: Chopping up Sunny wouldn’t lead to trial (“It’s not against any religion, to want to dispose of a pigeon” — RIP Mr. Lehrer), but I’m a little worried this might suddenly go grimdark with Ian strangling Toby with that necktie.
Mary Worth: Toby should have said, “How do we know he wasn’t calling me a pompous axx?” They could have all had a good laugh about that, even if Ian didn’t (though he would, being narcissistic and dumb) shout, “Hey, I’m the pompous ass around here!”
Lockhorns: “Arthur’s” looks like the saddest cross between “Moe’s Tavern” and “Trees Lounge” imaginable. No wonder Leroy is a regular.
HtH: We are two panels away from Hagar choking the ventriloquist’s dummy.
MW – Toby only watches Brit TV when Ian’s away, because he’s supposed to be limiting his sodium intake.
@Everything Is Better With Monkeys: Yeah, I watched the Great Performances airing of Next to Normal a few months back, and the amount of colorful language that got modified was almost comical. Anyone tuning in to watch a musical about a family coping with deep-seated trauma, mental illness, drug abuse and suicide can handle a couple F-bombs…
Don Abundio, translated:
“I’ve lost my ball in that stand of trees for the last time”
“You know what I’m talking about?”
“I do”
“I already hear the chainsaws!”
@TheDiva: I don’t know what I did to anger the content gods this time. Self-harm mention, maybe?
@The Rambling Otter: Yeah, PBS aired Dr. Who and a lot of other British shows — Red Dwarf, Blake’s Seven, Monty Python. It may have been a long-range deal, that balanced out with BBC America airing Star Trek: TNG, NCIS and Law and Order.
@Little Blue Bicycle: If that’s true, they thought their daughter’s performance was a code blue.
GIL THORP: People have criticized the unrealistic way Sunny the Parrot has learned words, but it seemed to have better linguistic skills then this one girl’s parents, who seem to only be fluent in squiggle-line.
Crock: Because he seals the gaps in his home with scotch… tape? *shrug* That’s all I got.
MW: Not going to send an MP3, but I choose to believe it is pronounced just like /axx/ is in IPA: an open front unrounded vowel, followed by a geminate voiceless velar fricative.
MW: How salty Brit TV can be? Where has Toby been? It’s been about fifteen years since the heyday of Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones; you don’t have to look far to find American shows that would make John Trevelyan have an apoplexy.
Crock: I guess in the world of Crock, the ultimate way to own someone annoying is to insult yourself. “I’ll call myself an alcoholic, that’ll show this asshole!”
Mary Worth: The funniest part about this is that it shows Karen Moy is evidently so sheltered and puritan that she considers PBS to be the television channel notorious for hardcore explicit content.
The brutal enforcer of White French dominion in Africa forgets the brutality of his job by getting drunk on Scotch instead of Cognac. In the Crockverse French imperialism continues to exist but the Americanisation of French culture is even more intensive, this is like Sartre’s worst nightmare!
MARY WORTH: I’m surprised too, Toby. I thought Sunny would have called Ian a “pretentious motherclcuker.”
Rotary phones… popularized by the 1920’s. Cold calls… the first ever was as early as the 1910’s, but really popularized by the 1950’s… Storm windows… popularized by the 1930’s… Huh… I guess today’s real joke is the five minutes I lost googling about the historical accuracy of a Crock strip.
MW- You’re gonna get it,Sunny! That “pompous ass” walked 47 miles of barbed wire. He’s gotta cobra snake for a necktie! Now who does he love? “All Creatures Great And Small?” Rubbish!
C’shaft: Now here’s the sort of cheerful holiday content we’ve come to expect from Tom Batiuk!
Dustin: Spoken like a man who has absolutely roofied at least one date.
GT: “Not around you anyway, gringo.”
JP: “It’s nice being with you, Neddy. You don’t care about anyone else’s problems.”
Lio: Good, now can you FINALLY drop the “3I/Atlas alien conspiracy” jokes?
Luann: I question Brad’s usefulness on an ornamental (or any other) level.
RMMD: “Would you mind taking my kids for Christmas? I’m frankly sick of this crap.”
Why does Crock have a phone?
Why does Crock have a phone?
WHY ARE THERE STORM WINDOWS??
You know what would have actually been a good joke? Crock gets a similar (and not anachronistic) message but delivered by carrier pigeon. Imagine getting a message by carrier pigeon regarding your horse’s extended warranty.
@Ken: “I’m a little worried this might suddenly go grimdark with Ian strangling Toby with that necktie.”
I would say that autoerotic asphyxiation would be a possibility, except that “Ian” + “erotic” anything is a mathematical impossibility.
RMMD: ”Christmas was so exciting when I was a kid. Now the only gifts I get from my friends are coupons for new hairdressers.”
BF: What Slut Friend wants is a French boyfriend who’s really busy at the office, making money. Benoit would have impressed her more if he’d sent his People for the pickup at de Gaulle.
If I’d appeared in Crankshaft for a solid week, I’d be suicidal too.