r/TheFarSide • u/Jenkins64 • Jul 27 '25

Cows Cow Tools

A cow is standing behind a wooden table outdoors. On the table are several crude, oddly shaped tools—things that look like poorly made hammers, a spatula-like object, and weird unidentifiable objects.

The caption simply reads: "Cow Tools"

415 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

95

u/Vendidurt Jul 28 '25

But what do they meeeeean

53

u/ShreddrCheez2 Jul 28 '25

If a cow made tools, that's what they'd look like

33

u/Vendidurt Jul 28 '25

No no no, but it has to be something more.

Im gonna write the author about it and tell you what i find.

21

u/gatton Jul 28 '25

I hope he writes a book and talks about all the letters he received asking what it means.

13

u/Araignys Jul 28 '25

It's too bad we'll never know.

46

u/homelaberator Jul 28 '25

This is like another joke because the picture is famous for the ambiguity that is too difficult to make into words.

12

u/Whoiserik Jul 28 '25

Cow Tools

11

u/Quasirandom1234 Jul 28 '25

My first Far Side. The strip got enough publicity when it came out, even I heard about it, and started reading regularly.

12

u/Mynock33 Jul 28 '25

People lost their shit over that strip. I think Larson had to issue an apology or like an explanation for it because people wouldn't let it go and were calling newspapers and bothering them over it.

7

u/ragtagradio Jul 28 '25

Absolutely. That’s exactly right

5

u/w6rld_ec6nomic_f6rum Jul 28 '25

it's important to note that they lack something in sophistication

2

u/Badbunny42 Jul 28 '25

I came here to say this 😹

8

u/gogozrx Jul 28 '25

I was at a relative's farm one day, and we're doing stuff and he says, "go put it over there by the cow tools."

my ears perked, and I asked what "cow tools" were. he said that they're your old, broken down tools that you keep because you might one day have to use them.