To Shriek or Shreik? That is the Question.
We have another learning moment for Elly Patterson in today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. Lizzie is somewhere between the ages of 1 – 2, which means that she probably has somewhere between 8 – 20 teeth. Chewing should be no problem for her.
Usually the difficulty most toddlers have with pencils at their age is in gripping them. There are larger-sized pencils with easier grips and blunted edges on the side of the pencil which does the marking. The thinner pencils are usually not a good idea because they are sharp, they break easily, and the child has a hard time holding them. For the chewing child, you want to avoid pencils with erasers on the end which can be chewed off. If you are going to try your child on a sharper pencil, then it is typically recommended that you monitor your child. Ultimately Elly learns a valuable lesson in parenting (she missed with her first child) and she appears to be fortunate that Lizzie has not injured herself with those pencils.
Artwise, we are undergoing an interesting trend with the button noses. Prior to July, there were almost no button noses in the new-runs and none in the reprints. In July, button noses started reappearing. In August, they are in full flourish. I wonder if the reprints coming up are taken from Lynn’s button nose stage of drawing kids.
Astute observers of spelling will note that Lynn chose the States’ spelling of “coloured”, without the “u”. What may get more of you is the spelling of the word “shreik”. According to AMU reprints, there are 3 other occasions in the strip since 1996, where the word has been spelled that way. The word “shriek”, in contrast, has appeared 10 times in the strip according to AMU reprints. I don’t which of these is considered to be the Canadian spelling.
Usually the difficulty most toddlers have with pencils at their age is in gripping them. There are larger-sized pencils with easier grips and blunted edges on the side of the pencil which does the marking. The thinner pencils are usually not a good idea because they are sharp, they break easily, and the child has a hard time holding them. For the chewing child, you want to avoid pencils with erasers on the end which can be chewed off. If you are going to try your child on a sharper pencil, then it is typically recommended that you monitor your child. Ultimately Elly learns a valuable lesson in parenting (she missed with her first child) and she appears to be fortunate that Lizzie has not injured herself with those pencils.
Artwise, we are undergoing an interesting trend with the button noses. Prior to July, there were almost no button noses in the new-runs and none in the reprints. In July, button noses started reappearing. In August, they are in full flourish. I wonder if the reprints coming up are taken from Lynn’s button nose stage of drawing kids.
Astute observers of spelling will note that Lynn chose the States’ spelling of “coloured”, without the “u”. What may get more of you is the spelling of the word “shreik”. According to AMU reprints, there are 3 other occasions in the strip since 1996, where the word has been spelled that way. The word “shriek”, in contrast, has appeared 10 times in the strip according to AMU reprints. I don’t which of these is considered to be the Canadian spelling.
posted by howard at 11:07 PM
6 Comments:
If you are going to try your child on a sharper pencil, then it is typically recommended that you monitor your child. Ultimately Elly learns a valuable lesson in parenting (she missed with her first child) and she appears to be fortunate that Lizzie has not injured herself with those pencils.
She laso learns what crayons are for and why they should be the first thing a child uses to draw with.
I don’t which of these is considered to be the Canadian spelling.
It's spelled 'Shriek' everywhere they spell English correctly and consistently; since Lynn puts the 'fun' in 'functionally illiterate', we get crap like this.
I wonder if the reprints coming up are taken from Lynn’s button nose stage of drawing kids.
For this FOOBAR, I used a collection-one strip as the reference for the Michael of the first and third panels, and a collection-two strip as the reference for the Michael of the second panel. So I think your guess is correct.
DreadedCandiru2,
It's spelled 'Shriek' everywhere they spell English correctly and consistently; since Lynn puts the 'fun' in 'functionally illiterate', we get crap like this.
As far as “shriek” is concerned then, Lynn seems to be putting the ‘rant’ in ‘ignorant’.
aprilp_katje,
For this FOOBAR, I used a collection-one strip as the reference for the Michael of the first and third panels, and a collection-two strip as the reference for the Michael of the second panel. So I think your guess is correct.
That’s very interesting. Lynn went from trying to imitate her old style back in September to pretty much doing her new style by January. I wonder what inspired her to try and alter her style again to match her second year style?
Lynn has done her big changes the last few years starting in September, i.e. the hybrid year, the new-run year, etc. The only announcement we have seen of anything was the idea of straight reprints and the time for that was “soon”. I wonder if that is going to be starting in September, and these button noses are to help us get ready for it.
That’s very interesting. Lynn went from trying to imitate her old style back in September to pretty much doing her new style by January. I wonder what inspired her to try and alter her style again to match her second year style?
Good question. I wonder if she's convinced herself that she really is reproducing her old style. She may have reached a point where she tells herself, "I've got this down! I don't need to refer to an old strip to draw a newrun!" Then maybe she's perused collection #2, noticed the change in nose-style, and decided she needs to refer to old strips "for a little while."
I wonder if that is going to be starting in September, and these button noses are to help us get ready for it.
I suspect this could be true. Though she might feel compelled to create some new "holiday" strips, since she's already used her year-two Christmas/New Year's arcs. So maybe it will be mostly reprints September through early January, then all reprints thereafter.
aprilp_katje,
I suspect this could be true. Though she might feel compelled to create some new "holiday" strips, since she's already used her year-two Christmas/New Year's arcs.
And she used up the year two introduction to Farley. The real question has to do with the money. Would her syndicate charge less money for straight reprints vs. 50% reprints? If it's about the same, then her only motivation for continuing new strips is personal. If it's not the same, then Lynn can scale back the percentage of new-runs to 25% a month and still meet a criterion of mixed new and old work.
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