What she's missing

Over at the Boston Globe Word blog, Jan Freeman asks what a recent Curtis cartoon can mean. I've tried for three days to leave a comment with my guess, and haven't been able to, so here it is.

She asks:

Why is it a good thing Coach Otlowski wasn't hired to teach English, aside from his general abusiveness? The only thing nonstandard in his speech is "chubbery," which seems like a reasonable enough coinage as a noun for collective chubbiness -- and more appropriate than "flab" for a bunch of kids.

Am I missing something?

I think so. I don't think the cartoon has anything to do with language. If you look at the cartoon, you'll see that Curtis is skinny, and all the kids he's sitting with are fat. Curtis won't be the target of the coach's wrath. On the other hand, he's always in trouble with Mrs. Nelson, his teacher. So it's good for him that this mean guy isn't teaching a subject Curtis has trouble with.