Sensible or insensitive? Perhaps too complex.

First day of Carnival. No Red Masque in the vicinity and orange juice, no amontillado. I use one idle first hour to upload something easy, not perfected, but that could give rise to an advanced, participative class in which the linguistic concepts mentioned in the cartoon would be elaborated and exemplified. As usual, not only the meaning of concepts per se, but also the associations they may raise and the ambiguities they may lead to in the personal world of a person who does some grammar, some pragmatics and some creative work. Time of class over! Next activity! The term "patient subject" and Safo's example have been taken from Talmy Givón. 1993. English Grammar I. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, Benjamins, 110-1.

When I first saw this New Yorker contest cartoon this morning I immediately thought of multiple relations in a tree node. Am I not complex! Iconic resemblance and specialized knowledge could make my witticism difficult to understand to many. It would not be popular as a joke. However, it can be used as an illustration to account for some systemic complexities.