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Cow Tools

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Cow Tools is a single-panel cartoon by American cartoonist Gary Larson, published in his newspaper series The Far Side on October 28, 1982. It shows a cow standing beside a row of crudely shaped, unidentifiable tools it has apparently made, captioned only with the words Cow tools. The cartoon offered no explanation of what the objects were or how a cow could have made them, and it became notorious for confusing and frustrating readers who wrote to newspapers seeking an answer. Larson later said the joke was simply that a cow tool would be primitive and strange, not that any specific object had a hidden meaning. Cow Tools is now remembered as one of the most famously misunderstood cartoons ever published and has become a recurring reference and internet meme. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Partially Attested
Year Created
1982 1
Source gives the publication date, 1982-10-28; the creation date itself is not stated
Medium
Medium (category)
Cartoon 1
Medium
Black and white single-panel cartoon 1
Connections

Created By

Gary Larson, Artists
Source Cow tools (Wikipedia)

In Form

Comics, Art Forms
Source Cow tools (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Cow tools (Wikipedia)
  • Lead, sentence 1
    published on October 28, 1982
  • Description
    single-panel black and white cartoon
  • Lead
    "Cow tools" is a cartoon from The Far Side by American cartoonist Gary Larson, published on October 28, 1982.
  • In Form: Comics, Lead sentence
    "Cow tools" is a cartoon from The Far Side by American cartoonist Gary Larson, published on October 28, 1982.
  • Created By: Gary Larson, Wikipedia intro
    "Cow tools" is a cartoon from The Far Side by American cartoonist Gary Larson, published on October 28, 1982.
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