223: Now We're Gitty-Gitty-Gitting SomewhAHAHA!

Explanation
In the original, the "most sacred form of noble warfare" was the water balloon fight, with the details being hammered out with that in mind. In this edit, it's the tickle fight, with details being hammered out in much the same spirit.

The author's note makes reference to a strip in which Bud and Jacob find Tiffany curled up in a ball exceedingly cute. One of the author's comments on the strip turns "CUTE" into a backronym for "Curled-Up Tiffany Ets" and attempts to use it as a unit of measure for cuteness.

The title of this strip is an edit of the title of the original strip, modified so that one thing people sometimes say when tickling someone is substituted for "getting", while laughter replaces part of the "where" in "somewhere".

The author writes:
What if the "most sacred form of noble warfare" were a different kind of fight? And how cute would this be, measured in Curled-Up Tiffany Ets (CUTEs)? (And would SI prefixes work as they usually do, or on the principle of smaller = cuter?)

In this version of events, it was clarified off-panel that "swimsuits" mean "shorts for the boys, and age-appropriate bikinis for the girls".

The longer, nicer version of that one answer is "No, but we will be making sure everyone's used the bathroom before we even start."

Dionne is much meaner here. Dude.

Original Precocious strip: 2009-04-09, 2009-04-09.

Transcript
{Bud is at a table with two sheets of paper and a writing utensil on it.} Bud: Ladies and gentlemen, we are here to discuss the terms of this current Gemstone Estates civil war. {Jacob is sitting on a locked box with "Weapons" and "Games" written on it; "Weapons" is crossed out, however.} Bud: Two sides have formed, and they have agreed to do honorable battle. {Dionne sits on a chair while Suzette sits on the floor.} Bud: The fight shall involve the most sacred form of noble warfare... {Autumn and Tiffany sit side by side.} Bud: ...the tickle fight. Tiffany: War is awesome! {Autumn looks at her.} {All participants gather around a table.} Bud: Alright, here are the basics. Each kid can only be tickled by two kids maximum. If you can't stand any more, you are out of the war. We'll all be wearing swimsuits only to prevent passive defenses. Last standing side wins. What else do we need? Tiffany: What counts as giving up? Should we say so? Are we out if we laugh? {Bud side-eyes Dionne.} Bud: No, you should say so, but hurting others should also count. Dionne: Why are you looking at me? Someone 1: I assume we're using fingers only... Someone 2: Standard four tickle spots only? Someone 3: Right: Underarms, ribs, tummy, and feet. Someone 4: Let's keep the fight to one room so no one plays cheap and hides away. Dionne: I feel persecuted Someone 4: Well, you have problems with ethics, Dionne. Dionne: So can we break kids' fingers? Someone 4: See! That's what I mean! Someone ?: It's just tickle-'til-they-give-up people! Don't be obnoxious! Someone ?: If we wet ourselves, can we have a time-out? Someone ?: No, you big baby! Suzette: Can we please stop fighting so we can start tickle fighting?