It Makes No Sense
My family and I just got back from seeing Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and the movie was filled with things that did not make any sense. And when I say they didn’t make any sense, it was one of those pictures where the car ride home was filled with my kids saying things like, “Why did they do that, daddy?” and all I could say was, “I don’t know. I guess someone thought it would be funny.”
Today’s For Better or For Worse is the same way. The rule Elly has established in today’s For Better or For Worse is that young Michael can play with young Farley the dog, so long as Michael prevents the dog from licking him. Dogs lick. Puppies lick. If you play with a dog, you will get licked. This makes no sense.
As for the use of saliva as a cleaning agent, I must admit in a desperate moment, I have used that method. Of course that meant being nowhere near a source of water and without my wife, who used to carry a portable packet of Wet Wipes wherever she went. Why Elly would clean Michael while he was in the middle of eating and with readily-available water is beyond me. This makes no sense.
What you have then is a strip where not only does the setup make no sense, but the punch line also makes no sense. I think the joke was supposed to be about Elly’s hypocrisy when it comes to cleaning with spittle and it was supposed to ring true with parents who have used spittle to clean a child. Instead, the joke comes off as “Elly is a crazy woman, obsessed with irrational cleaning urges.”
Today’s For Better or For Worse is the same way. The rule Elly has established in today’s For Better or For Worse is that young Michael can play with young Farley the dog, so long as Michael prevents the dog from licking him. Dogs lick. Puppies lick. If you play with a dog, you will get licked. This makes no sense.
As for the use of saliva as a cleaning agent, I must admit in a desperate moment, I have used that method. Of course that meant being nowhere near a source of water and without my wife, who used to carry a portable packet of Wet Wipes wherever she went. Why Elly would clean Michael while he was in the middle of eating and with readily-available water is beyond me. This makes no sense.
What you have then is a strip where not only does the setup make no sense, but the punch line also makes no sense. I think the joke was supposed to be about Elly’s hypocrisy when it comes to cleaning with spittle and it was supposed to ring true with parents who have used spittle to clean a child. Instead, the joke comes off as “Elly is a crazy woman, obsessed with irrational cleaning urges.”
posted by howard at 12:30 AM
11 Comments:
I hate to say this, but back in the 1970s and early 1980s, I knew some mothers who were like this. Their obsession often had a lot more to do with appearances than actual cleanliness. They were the mothers who cleaned faces with spit, because the appearance of dirt was worse than the actual danger of germs. I was always grateful that my mother just did a dry wipe or let us stay dirty if there was no water. Spit cleaning your kid is, IMHO, disgusting, and all my friends were embarrassed to have their moms do it to them. I saw more than one mom do it in the middle of a kitchen, with the sink tap at hand. Bleh.
I think that there are far fewer mothers like this today because clean freaks are now also germophobes. Lynn is showing how out of it she is...again.
Lynn has to show us how out of it she is; that's because she's so out of it, she thinks she's in and wants to take us all with her.
I think Lynn is also setting up another new-run/old-run joke echo. Watch out for the strip where puppy-Farley lick-lick-licks an ecstatic Michael for two panels, followed by Lizzie, who has been looking on, giving her brother a kiss on the cheek, which he rejects with a disgusted "yecch."
I'm happy to say I've not spit-cleaned my boy's face. The one time I was tempted was when he'd just gotten into line to go into his school and I suddenly noticed (in the bright sunlight) that he had schmutz on his face. Fortunately, I also realized I had some bottled water and kleenexes in my tote bag, so I used those. Phew. :)
april-patterson,
I think Lynn is also setting up another new-run/old-run joke echo. Watch out for the strip where puppy-Farley lick-lick-licks an ecstatic Michael for two panels, followed by Lizzie, who has been looking on, giving her brother a kiss on the cheek, which he rejects with a disgusted "yecch."
The funny thing is that that's the one I expected to see today followed by a new-run like this. Weird, huh?
qnjones,
I saw more than one mom do it in the middle of a kitchen, with the sink tap at hand. Bleh.
I have no recollections like this from my childhood in the 1960s, but it’s possible I was oblivious to it. I remember growing up hearing about kids who needed to wash their hands and wash behind their ears, and I never understood the “behind their ears” thing until I read “Huckleberry Finn” some years later. Nevertheless, if water was available or a bathroom, that was used instead of spit. I remember being embarrassed about damp clothes from them being wiped by water in a washroom to get rid of food or dirt stains. The 1970s must have been a strange time for parents to prefer spit to water.
I think that there are far fewer mothers like this today because clean freaks are now also germophobes.
Absolutely. Little bottles of Purell hand sanitizers carried in purses. No towel or water needed.
aprilp_katje,
I think Lynn is also setting up another new-run/old-run joke echo. Watch out for the strip where puppy-Farley lick-lick-licks an ecstatic Michael for two panels, followed by Lizzie, who has been looking on, giving her brother a kiss on the cheek, which he rejects with a disgusted "yecch."
New-run/old-run joke echo. That’s a nicer name for it than “reusing old material Lynn just reprinted because Lynn has gotten so senile she think doing jokes 2 times in a row is funny.”
dreadedcandiru2,
The funny thing is that that's the one I expected to see today followed by a new-run like this. Weird, huh?
She has reversed them before, like with Marie the hygienist, where the new-run came first.
Personally, I like how Lizzie's gone, in the space of a couple weeks, from taking her first wobbly steps to just sorta standin' around, with good posture, casually eating an ice cream cone.
dreadedcandiru2:The funny thing is that that's the one I expected to see today followed by a new-run like this.
Same here. Though I was curious to see whether Lynn would include the non-Farley arc that comes right after the adoption story in the collection--Elly going back to school. I guess she doesn't think that's heartwarming like the "Farley" stuff. All Farley, all the time, for the foreseeable future?
howtheduck: That’s a nicer name for it than “reusing old material Lynn just reprinted because Lynn has gotten so senile she think doing jokes 2 times in a row is funny.”
Oops, I didn't' mean to be nice. Let's do your way. ;)
dlauthor,
Personally, I like how Lizzie's gone, in the space of a couple weeks, from taking her first wobbly steps to just sorta standin' around, with good posture, casually eating an ice cream cone.
This is the problem with Lizzie. While she is making these great strides in her accomplishments, no one notices. Possibly this is because they are distracted that Richard Nichols is now the same height as Michael Patterson, when he used to be smaller than Lizzie. With that sort of thing going on, how can the mere act of baby going from crawling to walking to standing with good posture even rate?
aprilp_katje,
Same here. Though I was curious to see whether Lynn would include the non-Farley arc that comes right after the adoption story in the collection--Elly going back to school.
The storylines that were important to the adult characters seem to have been eliminated in the new-runs. Anne gave birth. Connie had that triangle with Phil and Ted. Elly was constantly trying to find ways to get out of the house. Aside from the Shania Twain story, the focus has been almost entirely upon the kids and pet(s).
I guess she doesn't think that's heartwarming like the "Farley" stuff. All Farley, all the time, for the foreseeable future?
I have made jokes about this, but I seriously think that we are going to see a lot of Farley while Lynn is pushing that plush doll, her 2009 calendar featuring Farley and the children’s book about Farley.
I didn't' mean to be nice. Let's do your way. ;)
I like your “new-run/old-run joke echo” better. It has a nice ring to it. I’ll just think “senile comics creator”.
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