Dilbert (character)
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Dilbert is the eponymous main character of the Dilbert comic strip. He has a rare condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical, an idea that was explored in the animated television episode titled "The Knack". He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an Electrical Engineering diploma and is an engineer. Although his ideas are typically sensible and occasionally even revolutionary, they are seldom carried out because of his powerlessness. He is easily frustrated by the incompetence of his cow-orkers (most often the Pointy-Haired Boss) and is often sarcastic and snide. Dilbert's unusual name was suggested to Scott Adams by a co-worker; Adams later found that the name likely came from a cartoon character used by the United States Navy during World War II (according to Seven Years of Highly Defective People).
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[edit] Relationship with other characters
Dilbert lives with his pets, Dogbert and Ratbert, and the three dinosaurs Bob, Rex, and Dawn. Dilbert works among strange and wonderful co-workers, including Alice, Wally and Asok and many other guest characters. He is currently single as a result of his poor social skills, although he has been on many dates and was in a relationship with a woman named Liz for two years between 1994 and 1996. While he is frequently seen having dates with eligible women, the dates almost invariably end in disaster, usually in surreal and bizarre ways. Dilbert has only two notable friends, Dogbert and Wally. Dilbert loves computers and technology, and will spend much of his free time playing with such things.
[edit] Family
Dilbert's mother appears once in a while in the comic and the animated series. She is frequently referred to as "Dilmom". While apparently a great Scrabble player, she has been accused of cheating in many strips and in the animated series. In the series, she dances on the table top when she wins a game of Scrabble.
Dilbert's father never appears in the series or the strip, as he has spent his whole life, since 1992, at an "All you can eat" restaurant in the mall. (As far as we know, he has still not eaten all he can eat.)
[edit] Physical appearance
Dilbert usually has no visible mouth or eyes. In more recent strips the mouth has been drawn on occasions when Dilbert is eating, surprised, furious, or nervous, and in the television series his mouth is drawn when he is speaking. Dogbert looks very much like Dilbert, with glasses and no mouth; his mouth likewise appears when he is speaking in the animated series.
In all but the early strips his tie is curved upward. While Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, has offered no definitive explanation for this, he has explained the tie at least as a further example of Dilbert's lack of power over his environment. A second explanation given by Adams in the Dilbert FAQ is that "he is just glad to see you". Adams has also hinted that the tie may be displaying an aversion to him. Additionally, in Seven Years of Highly Defective People, Adams wrote: "Many readers asked me to allow Dilbert to lose his innocence with Liz, so to speak. But I didn't see any way I could do that in a comic strip and get it past the editors. So I developed a secret sign. I told the people who receive the Dilbert newsletter that if Dilbert ever got lucky with Liz, I would draw his normally upturned necktie flat one day." The flat-necktie strip was printed on August 9, 1994.
[edit] External links
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| Characters: | Alice • Asok • Catbert • Dilbert • Dogbert • Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light • Pointy-Haired Boss • Ratbert • Wally • Minor characters |
| In other media: | Animated series • Books • Plop: The Hairless Elbonian |
| Terms: | Cow-orker • Imaginary productivity |
| Other: | Scott Adams • Dogbert's New Ruling Class • Elbonia • Dilberito |
