What The Duck – By Aaron Johnson – http://whattheduck.net

Transcript

Box 1. Man: I don’t want any prints, albums, or DVDs. Just put all my photos on the cloud.
Box 2. Man: Not that kind of cloud.
Box 2. Duck: That’s not a cloud.
Box 3. Duck: That’s my business going up in smoke.

Vocabulary

prints (n.) /prɪnts/ here; photos printed on paper
album (n.) /ˈælbəm/ a book in which you keep photographs
the cloud (n.) /klaʊd/ an online service where files can be stored (also called cloud storage)
cloud (n.) /klaʊd/ a grey or white mass in the sky, made up of very small floating drops of water
going up in smoke (phrase): if something is going up in smoke, it means that it is burning

This comic strip is using the two different meanings of the word cloud as a pun. The man uses the figurative use of the word (internet cloud), whereas the image shows the literal meaning of the word (here: a cloud of smoke).
More and more people don’t keep their photos on paper or in albums anymore. Most people store their photos on their computers and we now see many people moving their electronic documents to the cloud. Cloud storage is sometimes considered safer and more accessible than a personal computer.
Another underlying feature in this comic is that the business of freelance photographers is not safe and is often subject to disasters …

Paying attention articles in this comic strip is particularly interesting:
- box 1: … the cloud
- box 2: that’s not a cloud
“the cloud” refers to the internet cloud storage. Both the speaker and the listener know what “the cloud” refers too.
“a cloud”: the use of “a” shows that we are taking one possible example within the category of possible clouds that are in the sky.