First, the fact: I'm a big fan of Jim Davis' comic strip, Garfield, Scott Adams' comic, Dilbert, and the sitcom Seinfeld.

Garfield Vs Dilbert

Recently I've been reading Dilbert comic strips from mid 90s; and I couldn't help but notice some striking similarities in the way both Jon Arbuckle (Garfield's owner) and Dilbert (Dogbert's owner) crave to get a date or how they ruin their date, when they have one. There are similarities in the sarcastic comments made by Garfield and Dogbert too, toward their owners Jon and Dilbert respectively.

Dilbert Vs Seinfeld

Unlike Dilbert, Seinfeld is too smart to get as many dates as he like; but it appears both Dilbert and Seinfeld follow the same etiquette when they run into the same person more than once in the same day. For instance, in one of the Dilbert strips titled Hallway Etiquette, Scott suggests the following simple three rules, with Dilbert as one of the characters in the comic strip:

1. First hallway meeting of the day: Greet Good Morning / Afternoon / Evening.
   
   
2. Second hallway meeting of the day: Raise your eye-brows and give a tight-lipped smile.
   
   
3. Third hallway meeting of the day (and there after): Sneeze to avoid eye contact, try to hide etc.,

I don't remember the exact Seinfeld episode (there are just too many), but in one of those 176 episodes, Jerry Seinfeld makes similar suggestions to his audience in the opening monologue or to his friends, George Costanza, Elaine Benes and Cosmo Kramer, in the play.

In another Dilbert comic strip, Dilbert and his co-worker asks a lady "When's the baby due?". "Can't a woman go off her diet for one day without getting that question??" replies the irked lady, just like the character Maryedith responds to Kramer's "Are you sure you're not pregnant?" in The Parking Space episode of Seinfeld.

It is a small world - I wonder who inspired whom.
___________
Technorati Tags:
Garfield | Dilbert | Seinfeld