GROWL
What does “GROWL” mean? It was a pretty common term in the old For Better or For Worse and was last used in a reprint on 12/9/2007. In the 12/9/2007 strip, I can assume that it means one of the parents yelling at the kids about something that has no particular worth or meaning, otherwise actual words would be shown. However, in today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, John Patterson actually uses “GROWL” to send his son running off in terror and claims that “GROWL” was “the best reason (he) could think of” for young Michael to go to bed.
Having encountered this situation in real life on more than one occasion, I can tell you the answer I give my son or daughter usually is: “You are doing (this) in the morning and if you don’t get enough sleep you are cranky the whole day long, which no ones likes, especially me.” This usually works, because it is an effortless task to recall a moment when my kids didn’t get enough sleep and were cranky. Comparatively speaking, John Patterson’s reaction is yet another example of poor, parenting on the part of a Patterson. You can tell from Elly’s sideways glance at John’s explanation for the “GROWL” she does not necessarily approve. Of course, from an historical perspective, Elly did quite a few “GROWL”s herself, so she really has no leg to stand on.
Ultimately, we end up with a strip, where the punchline of the strip is that the father says that he was not capable of coming up with one good reason why his child couldn’t stay up late, and so he resorted to making a noise that the son would consider so threatening that he would not only go to bed, but run to go to bed. It’s almost like the argument “Because I said so” or “Because I am the daddy”, except the panel where Michael is running to go to bed makes John’s answer less benign than those answers. When I think to my own time as a parent and think, “What would I have to say to my son to get him to run like that?” It would be a pretty severe response. From this perspective, “GROWL” may be a much better choice than John Patterson saying, “If you don’t go to bed right now, I am going turn your bottom red.” The effect may be the same, but “GROWL” is less threatening to the reader, who probably won’t think too hard about what “GROWL” really means. They will just think, “Oh, I’ve done that before, when my son challenged me and I couldn’t come up with an answer. This comic strip is so funny, because it is like Lynn Johnston has a camera in my house.” This is the mainstay of this strip: Things are funny not because they are funny, but they are funny because they happened to me the same way.
Having encountered this situation in real life on more than one occasion, I can tell you the answer I give my son or daughter usually is: “You are doing (this) in the morning and if you don’t get enough sleep you are cranky the whole day long, which no ones likes, especially me.” This usually works, because it is an effortless task to recall a moment when my kids didn’t get enough sleep and were cranky. Comparatively speaking, John Patterson’s reaction is yet another example of poor, parenting on the part of a Patterson. You can tell from Elly’s sideways glance at John’s explanation for the “GROWL” she does not necessarily approve. Of course, from an historical perspective, Elly did quite a few “GROWL”s herself, so she really has no leg to stand on.
Ultimately, we end up with a strip, where the punchline of the strip is that the father says that he was not capable of coming up with one good reason why his child couldn’t stay up late, and so he resorted to making a noise that the son would consider so threatening that he would not only go to bed, but run to go to bed. It’s almost like the argument “Because I said so” or “Because I am the daddy”, except the panel where Michael is running to go to bed makes John’s answer less benign than those answers. When I think to my own time as a parent and think, “What would I have to say to my son to get him to run like that?” It would be a pretty severe response. From this perspective, “GROWL” may be a much better choice than John Patterson saying, “If you don’t go to bed right now, I am going turn your bottom red.” The effect may be the same, but “GROWL” is less threatening to the reader, who probably won’t think too hard about what “GROWL” really means. They will just think, “Oh, I’ve done that before, when my son challenged me and I couldn’t come up with an answer. This comic strip is so funny, because it is like Lynn Johnston has a camera in my house.” This is the mainstay of this strip: Things are funny not because they are funny, but they are funny because they happened to me the same way.
posted by howard at 10:10 PM
6 Comments:
howard,
Ultimately, we end up with a strip, where the punchline of the strip is that the father says that he was not capable of coming up with one good reason why his child couldn’t stay up late, and so he resorted to making a noise that the son would consider so threatening that he would not only go to bed, but run to go to bed.
This is why the strip fails so miserably. It's not in John or Elly to tell a child "You have to go to bed because you need more sleep then we do" or "If you don't get enough sleep now, you'll be cranky all day tomorrow and won't be able to play" or something like that. That would mean that they thought of their kids as something other than a nuisance. Watching these peevish dingdongs growl and mope because children are what they are and then whine about how they never had any good memories makes me ill.
I'm sorry you had to come back to this crap. I know you look forward to how low Lynn can sink but this seems too low.
Reason 2,608,546 to hate John Patterson. I'm with you, howtheduck. When my son resists bedtime, we remind him that he needs a good night sleep so he can enjoy (activity). He's five, but he knows the difference between well rested and not. No growling. Pattersons are made of fail.
Ooh, and I almost forgot--I've started a new blog, FOOBAR. :)
DreadedCandiru2
It's not in John or Elly to tell a child "You have to go to bed because you need more sleep then we do" or "If you don't get enough sleep now, you'll be cranky all day tomorrow and won't be able to play" or something like that.
Even if John said something like, “Because I said so” or “Because I am the daddy” or something else like that, then the humour would still work; because his excuse would still be a poor excuse. Instead Lynn resorted to growling to scare the child.
aprilp_katje,
I've started a new blog, FOOBAR. :)
Congratulations on the new blog and its very interesting perspective on things.
Thanks, howtheduck. :)
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