Otto Soglow is confusing us again, this time in the September 8, 1928 issue of The New Yorker (click for a full-size image).
I'm not stupid; I assume the joke is that the diver left his suit to join the mermaid underwater. But does it make sense that my first thought was that she'd EATEN him? And does it seem strange that I still halfway believe that this was Soglow's intention?
I agree with your first observation as the explanation.
ReplyDeleteBut I definitely had the same concern as you did for the diver. I thought perhaps that mermaids are much like a female praying mantis, eating their mates.
Maybe they are? Maybe they eat sharks for breakfast?
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, she killed him...
ReplyDeleteWas Otto Soglow another of Stephen King's pseudonyms?
ReplyDeleteShe certainly has that look in her eye.
ReplyDeleteIf Otto Soglow were really Stephen King, there would HAVE to be dialog, and the diver would have to say "Ayuh."
Hah! Maybe he did say it, but we couldn't hear it on account of he was underwater.
ReplyDeleteOh jeez, you're right!
ReplyDeleteHe MUST have been Stephen King, then. :)