Smells and Vomit – High Humour
Earlier this month, Lynn Johnston promised she would get off the negative and bring back the funny. There were those among us snarkers who believed that this would mean more jokes about bodily excretions (Lynn’s favourite subject) and sure enough, that’s what we are getting with today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse.
It used to be that Lynn relied heavily on babies and dogs to produce the excretions, but it appears that Lynn Johnston’s new protagonist in the bathroom humour department is young Lawrence Poirier. A few weeks ago, Lawrence had a problem with bowel movement shyness, and in today’s strip, young Lawrence appears to be highly sensitive to dog smell. Lynn’s Johnston’s last reference to “barf” was in this strip from 2002 using new-born Meredith. AMU Reprints has no reference to “hurl” or its popular alternatives “vomit” or “puke” in their archive of For Better or For Worse comic strips. We welcome "hurl" to the lexicon.
Ultimately the joke of the strip is that Lawrence is reacting more strongly to Farley’s odor because he is sniffing Farley’s back side, unlike Michael, who is sniffing Farley’s front side. Why Lawrence is sniffing Farley’s back side is the more interesting question. I have owned a few dogs in my life, and I can tell you that even at a young age, I knew which side of a dog not to sniff. Possible reasons Lawrence is doing this are:
1. For information. If Farley has been eating the same thing as Michael, a good butt sniff may give Lawrence the answer.
2. Rank with Michael. A higher ranking dog can sniff a lower one whenever it feels like it. A lower ranking one must sniff the upper ranking one when it shoves its bum in the other's face. Perhaps this is a sign that Lawrence now ranks lower in Michael’s favour than Farley. After all, Farley has a children’s book and a plushie – two things Lawrence doesn’t have.
3. Lynn Johnston has decided that bowel movement shyness is not enough for Lawrence’s repertoire of problems, and has decided to add being highly sensitive to smell to the list. If this continues on, then by the time Lynn gets around to reprinting the “Lawrence coming out” sequence of strips, readers will be relieved and say, “At last, something normal and average about Lawrence.”
4. In tomorrow’s strip, Lynn Johnston will reveal that young Michael Patterson has lost his sense of smell, as not only does Lawrence hurl, but several passers-by join him en masse. As the vomit flows freely, Lynn Johnston will cackle, “Now that’s funny.”
It used to be that Lynn relied heavily on babies and dogs to produce the excretions, but it appears that Lynn Johnston’s new protagonist in the bathroom humour department is young Lawrence Poirier. A few weeks ago, Lawrence had a problem with bowel movement shyness, and in today’s strip, young Lawrence appears to be highly sensitive to dog smell. Lynn’s Johnston’s last reference to “barf” was in this strip from 2002 using new-born Meredith. AMU Reprints has no reference to “hurl” or its popular alternatives “vomit” or “puke” in their archive of For Better or For Worse comic strips. We welcome "hurl" to the lexicon.
Ultimately the joke of the strip is that Lawrence is reacting more strongly to Farley’s odor because he is sniffing Farley’s back side, unlike Michael, who is sniffing Farley’s front side. Why Lawrence is sniffing Farley’s back side is the more interesting question. I have owned a few dogs in my life, and I can tell you that even at a young age, I knew which side of a dog not to sniff. Possible reasons Lawrence is doing this are:
1. For information. If Farley has been eating the same thing as Michael, a good butt sniff may give Lawrence the answer.
2. Rank with Michael. A higher ranking dog can sniff a lower one whenever it feels like it. A lower ranking one must sniff the upper ranking one when it shoves its bum in the other's face. Perhaps this is a sign that Lawrence now ranks lower in Michael’s favour than Farley. After all, Farley has a children’s book and a plushie – two things Lawrence doesn’t have.
3. Lynn Johnston has decided that bowel movement shyness is not enough for Lawrence’s repertoire of problems, and has decided to add being highly sensitive to smell to the list. If this continues on, then by the time Lynn gets around to reprinting the “Lawrence coming out” sequence of strips, readers will be relieved and say, “At last, something normal and average about Lawrence.”
4. In tomorrow’s strip, Lynn Johnston will reveal that young Michael Patterson has lost his sense of smell, as not only does Lawrence hurl, but several passers-by join him en masse. As the vomit flows freely, Lynn Johnston will cackle, “Now that’s funny.”
posted by howard at 10:14 PM
4 Comments:
howard,
Lynn Johnston has decided that bowel movement shyness is not enough for Lawrence’s repertoire of problems, and has decided to add being highly sensitive to smell to the list. If this continues on, then by the time Lynn gets around to reprinting the “Lawrence coming out” sequence of strips, readers will be relieved and say, “At last, something normal and average about Lawrence.”
That's probably what she's doing; not only is Mike's not being as squeamish a sign that he's normal, it's a validation of Elly's parenting. I bet you that you could find someone ready to blame Lawrence's newly-discovered issues on his mother's 'refusal' to give him a dad.
You could be right. In the back of my mind though, I have this fear that Lynn Johnston is thinking, "Gay people are more sensitive to things than straight." Then there is the other possibility that Rod's brother has sided with Rod in the divorce and since Lawrence is somewhat based on him, this is some sort of way of getting at him through her comic strip.
howard,
Then there is the other possibility that Rod's brother has sided with Rod in the divorce and since Lawrence is somewhat based on him, this is some sort of way of getting at him through her comic strip.
That does sound like something she'd do. It would also explain why Lawrence had more or less vanished in the last year of the strip.
Except for doing the flowers at the wedding, Lawrence was pretty much nonexistent in the strip in its last few years. Plus we never saw Connie and Lawrence Poirier together again, even at the wedding.
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