Dinner and Sex
Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse reminded me a lot of the list date between Anthony and Elizabeth. There’s seems to be a running theme of formal dinners and sex with the Pattersons. In today’s new-run Elly flat out tell John it has been so long since they had a formal date with just themselves that the last time was when Elizabeth was conceived.
We know that Michael was an oops baby, but with this new-run we also get the impression that Elizabeth falls into this category too. A planned pregnancy, for example, does not usually come with a night of passion following a formal dinner date. However it is possible that the message Elly is giving is that they were trying to conceive Elizabeth, but there was something about prime rib which made her particularly fertile. We already know she has a thing for prime rib.
The real implication of the statement is that Elly has sex infrequently with John. For Elly to pinpoint Elizabeth’s conception to their actions after a formal dinner date implies that Elly and John, at the time of Elizabeth’s conception, were not having sex very often, possibly less often than once a month. If it were more often than that, then Elly would be less certain she knew the exact moment when Elizabeth was conceived.
The other implication is that Elly and John decided not to use birth control in the heat of the moment or Elly pulled a “Deanna” on John.
All I can say is that this is proof positive of the statement, “Don’t feed the Pattersons.”
We know that Michael was an oops baby, but with this new-run we also get the impression that Elizabeth falls into this category too. A planned pregnancy, for example, does not usually come with a night of passion following a formal dinner date. However it is possible that the message Elly is giving is that they were trying to conceive Elizabeth, but there was something about prime rib which made her particularly fertile. We already know she has a thing for prime rib.
The real implication of the statement is that Elly has sex infrequently with John. For Elly to pinpoint Elizabeth’s conception to their actions after a formal dinner date implies that Elly and John, at the time of Elizabeth’s conception, were not having sex very often, possibly less often than once a month. If it were more often than that, then Elly would be less certain she knew the exact moment when Elizabeth was conceived.
The other implication is that Elly and John decided not to use birth control in the heat of the moment or Elly pulled a “Deanna” on John.
All I can say is that this is proof positive of the statement, “Don’t feed the Pattersons.”
posted by howard at 11:37 PM
9 Comments:
howard,
The real implication of the statement is that Elly has sex infrequently with John. For Elly to pinpoint Elizabeth’s conception to their actions after a formal dinner date implies that Elly and John, at the time of Elizabeth’s conception, were not having sex very often, possibly less often than once a month.
The fact that this is played for laughs that don't come at either person's expense implies something else: that this is normal. In Lynn's world, people have a brief period of frenetic sexual activity in the first few years of marriage followed by sex once every few months. It's just how it goes in Foobville and people who want more are deviants and freaks.
Here I was thinking prime rib causes strokes. It's so deadly that even its presence in the building is enough to stroke out an especially vulnerable person. ;)
The comic you linked reminded me of another reason you shouldn't feed the Pattersons: they always make horrible smacking and slurping noises when they eat.
muzition, when that strip ran, I was certain that Elly was eating the prime rib as she drove her car, and that's what I wrote up at ARB. I had to do a whole retcon about her going back and getting a second prime rib from Anne. Really, I don't know what LJ was thinking giving Elly the Pattersnarfing sounds when she wasn't even snarfing.
DreadedCandiru2,
In Lynn's world, people have a brief period of frenetic sexual activity in the first few years of marriage followed by sex once every few months. It's just how it goes in Foobville and people who want more are deviants and freaks.
Yes, and deviants and freaks = men, especially cheating men, like Rod Johnston. John Patterson is one of the few good men in town. He seems remarkably undisturbed when Elly points out the association of fine dining and procreation. However, there have been several strips in the past where Elly withheld sex for comedy purposes. I know a lot of women find those kinds of strips to be amusing; however if you hardly show the couple being affectionate, those strips lose their effect. The woman turns from a person using sex to make an occasional point with her spouse to a person who is using the lack of sex to destroy their relationship with their spouse. My guess is that if John has been without sex for long enough, it no longer makes any difference to him if Elly offers or not. That’s the way he seems in today’s new-run. He can turn his attention to Ted McCaulay, who might have had possibilities if he didn’t drink too much in public. After all, he toasted to Ted, just like he toasted to Elly.
aprilp_katje,
Here I was thinking prime rib causes strokes. It's so deadly that even its presence in the building is enough to stroke out an especially vulnerable person. ;)
I would not discount this as another possibility. In fact, if Elly had eaten the prime rib herself, we might be looking at another pregnancy.
Muzition,
The comic you linked reminded me of another reason you shouldn't feed the Pattersons: they always make horrible smacking and slurping noises when they eat.
Smacking and slurping noises and bits of food flying in the air. Like big noses, Lynn thinks it is funny that the Pattersons are disgusting eaters, even to the point at Christmas of 2007, when they were all growling at Mira Sobinski for saying a long prayer which kept them from their food. I remember the strip where Elizabeth picked at Thérèse Caine for being picky about Anthony’s table manners and said you shouldn’t try to change someone. In my mind that meant, Anthony was a perfect eater by Patterson standards.
I've heard from friends who charted a number of physical signals when trying (ultimately successfully) to get pregnant. Apparently from charting you can figure out to within a few days (maybe even the day?) when you got pregnant.
However, these are the *Pattersons*. I can't see them being that careful. Maybe if they were *trying* for a baby - nah, not patient enough, even in the neverwhen (as opposed to the 70s) where this is more "done". Plus they'd be doing it more and it wouldn't be such a shocking "we had dinner and -whoa- a baby!" thing.
It really does sound like either (i) they very rarely made love or (ii) they got drunk and forgot some contraceptive precaution they usually use.
And given the general Patterfoob "roommate" attitude, that is waaaaayy more than I want to think about Elly and John's sex life.
InsertMonikerHere,
I've heard from friends who charted a number of physical signals when trying (ultimately successfully) to get pregnant.
That’s true. At least with my wife, there were some definite physical signals. I was able to figure out exactly when it was my wife got pregnant with our son, and then the doctor confirmed it. This was back in the 1990s. I don’t know if doctors were as sophisticated back in the 1970s.
And given the general Patterfoob "roommate" attitude, that is waaaaayy more than I want to think about Elly and John's sex life.
“Roommate” attitude is right. We have seen Elly refuse John on a number of occasions. I would be hard-pressed to remember an occasion where Elly was the aggressor. With the story of Tracy and Gordon Mayes, she got pregnant during the storyline when the Pattersons stood in for them at the garage and gave them a little vacation. With Liz and Anthony, aside from the Verano wedding and the list date, they were almost completely passionless. There is a sense with almost every couple in this strip that sex only occurs on special occasions and is not a part of the couple’s regular lives. The only exception to this is Rudy and Candace, not counting that bizarre Candace who showed up at Liz’s wedding.
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