Some of my recent New Yorker rejects [OC]

[u/Casual_Deviant]

[u/Jacob_Laye]

My only personal nitpick is that peeing and crying should have been pissing and moaning, but that’s just me. These are great!

[u/GrokLobster → u/Jacob_Laye]

That one is my personal favorite. But also I like comparing the literalism of 'peeing and crying' against the aphorism, because I think it points out exactly what the hell it is you're actually saying.

[u/AsstBalrog → u/Jacob_Laye]

I think that's worth a re-work OP, might sell that way?

[u/Casual_Deviant → u/AsstBalrog]

I actually disagree — I think it’s funnier the original way!

[u/stillreallylikespace → u/Casual_Deviant]

Yupp you're right, the comic props the absurdity and discordance of the second door with the common expression on the first. "Pissing and moaning" is just common slang too, where's the punch if you replace the original with a standard phrase?

[u/AsstBalrog → u/Casual_Deviant]

Well, it's an interesting example of the fine-grained wording choices that one has to make in creative endeavors. Especially with humor.

Tough calls here will usually involve trade-offs between pretty good choices. IMO your original wording sticks closer to a direct opposite of the original term, which is important, but "pissing and moaning" is more broadly familiar, and that can be useful. Often--as with several of your other toons--"getting it" relies on prior contextual knowledge, and the second wording has that here.

[u/Stormin_the_Castle → u/AsstBalrog]

ChatGPT-ass comment

Anyway, the original version is funnier.

[u/AsstBalrog → u/Stormin_the_Castle]

Well, tastes vary, that's why there's a trade off here. With these kinds of things, I usually go back and forth, test driving different wordings, and seeing which one finally feels best. Sometimes it's a tough call. It may be correct that OP got it right the first time, but editing is all about evaluating alternatives.

And if you think this is ChatGPT, you can't tell your ass from a hole in the ground.

[u/Stormin_the_Castle → u/AsstBalrog]

No, I don't think this comment is. But, unfortunately, I have to interact with LLMs a lot at work, and your previous comment sounded exactly like the response you'd get from feeding the conversation/context into ChatGPT or Gemini, complete with: "interesting example of ___ in [generic subject matter]," "your original sticks closer to," the em dashes where many would have used parentheses or commas, quotations around an extremely common idiom that doesn't require them, and "__ has that here."

ETA: Of course I can't be sure you did use an LLM, but that's why I said "ChatGPT-ass comment," and not "ChatGPT wrote this" because it sounds like it, even if that's not the case

[u/AsstBalrog → u/Stormin_the_Castle]

Fair. Sorry for the salt. AI is producing a world where one can't be certain about anything anymore.

[u/Phormitago → u/Jacob_Laye]

I'm partial to Piss and Tears

[u/R_Schuhart → u/Jacob_Laye]

Piss and vinegar.