I've actually done this thing, with the hands, in real life. I believe the joke here, which is a little subtle, is that Charlie Brown doesn't know how to tell time.
This strip is notable for, I believe, being the origins of Charlie Brown's distinctive zig-zag "Crayola" shirt. (hangashore pointed it out in the Metafilter thread first.)
And further confirmation Charlie started out younger than Patty...
ReplyDeleteYah. The general ordering of most of the major characters in Peanuts is surprisingly easy to determine, considering that so many characters were introduced as infants:
ReplyDeleteAges oldest to youngest:
Shermy & Patty > Charlie Brown > Snoopy > Schroeder > Lucy > Linus > Sally > Rerun.
Woodstock is probably after Sally but before Rerun in age.
Violet, Peppermint Patty and Marcie are harder to figure out. Violet seems to be younger than the others (although she later becomes almost a variant of Patty, if I remember right). Peppermint Patty must certainly be slightly older than Charlie Brown (she's better-developed physically), and Marcie is younger than her and probably also CB.
Anyway, after Peppermint Patty joined the cast (I refuse to use the word "gang"), the characters seemed to gel. Several others were introduced (both before and after her appearance; she was introduced to ol' Chuck by largely-forgotten character Roy), but of them all only Marcie (who is almost a 'B' side to P.Patty, largely inseparable) and Rerun seemed to become part of the major cast.