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In more modern parlance, a cartoon is a humorous drawing with a caption, or an animated set of drawings. This usage derives from Punch magazine in the 1840s, in which drawings parodied recent cartoons used for frescoes in the new Palace of Westminster. These were adapted to satirise events in contemporary politics. These satirical drawings soon gave way to simple jokes. Such drawings are still considered a form of comedy.
Cartoon can also refer to animated cartoon.
The word is often shortened to toon, which may be a corruption of Looney Tunes. Toon was popularized in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Toons are often anthropomorphized animals used in non-serious fiction. It is not generally used to in reference to anime characters. A major distinction between the two is the squash and stretch mannerism of American cartoon characters.