Everybody! Get It?
Today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse uses word play on the word “everybody”. Michael Patterson tells Lawrence Poirier that he “had to get somethin’ for EVERYBODY” where the word “everybody" is in large letters and bolded, so we poor hapless readers will get the joke. The problem here is that the readers are missing the crucial part of the setup for the joke.
Michael gets a present for everybody, which in his mind includes Michael. So, he eats his share of the box of chocolates. Lawrence is gobsmacked that Michael would do something like that. I cannot tell what Michael’s motivations are, aside from wanting to eat chocolate. It could be that:
1. Michael resents being told he has to buy something for everybody, so he eats the chocolates in revenge for having a present-buying mandate given to him by his parents.
2. Michael eats the chocolate out of innocence, since he is too young to realize that he can no longer wrap his gift and left unprotected, the chocolates will go bad between now and Christmas.
3. Michael eats the chocolate because of the word play. If Elly told Michael specifically to buy something for everybody, then Michael is mocking that command by intentionally doing a literal interpretation which included himself with “everybody.”
4. Michael is too stupid to realize that when Elly told him to buy something for everybody that did not include him.
In order to figure this out, you would need to see someone tell Michael for whom to buy presents and his reaction. Instead we see Michael relay this information to Lawrence rather matter-of-factly with no sly winks or body language to clue us in that he is in on the joke. Without that, it is impossible to tell if we should be laughing with Michael or laughing at Michael.
The way it looks, it appears answers (2) and / or (4) are correct. This strip is very similar to the "Elly yelling at the slow cooker" strip, which relies on Elly being an idiot for the joke to work. I think we may have another entry in the "character does something stupidly out-of-character for the sake of the joke" category.
Michael gets a present for everybody, which in his mind includes Michael. So, he eats his share of the box of chocolates. Lawrence is gobsmacked that Michael would do something like that. I cannot tell what Michael’s motivations are, aside from wanting to eat chocolate. It could be that:
1. Michael resents being told he has to buy something for everybody, so he eats the chocolates in revenge for having a present-buying mandate given to him by his parents.
2. Michael eats the chocolate out of innocence, since he is too young to realize that he can no longer wrap his gift and left unprotected, the chocolates will go bad between now and Christmas.
3. Michael eats the chocolate because of the word play. If Elly told Michael specifically to buy something for everybody, then Michael is mocking that command by intentionally doing a literal interpretation which included himself with “everybody.”
4. Michael is too stupid to realize that when Elly told him to buy something for everybody that did not include him.
In order to figure this out, you would need to see someone tell Michael for whom to buy presents and his reaction. Instead we see Michael relay this information to Lawrence rather matter-of-factly with no sly winks or body language to clue us in that he is in on the joke. Without that, it is impossible to tell if we should be laughing with Michael or laughing at Michael.
The way it looks, it appears answers (2) and / or (4) are correct. This strip is very similar to the "Elly yelling at the slow cooker" strip, which relies on Elly being an idiot for the joke to work. I think we may have another entry in the "character does something stupidly out-of-character for the sake of the joke" category.
posted by howard at 10:44 PM
8 Comments:
Huh, I read it has he bought a small box of chocolate for each person on his list, including himself, and has already eaten his box. When I worked childcare I used to get tiny boxes of chocolates with four or five pieces in them from a lot of the kids. The boxes normally cost a dollar or so, and that's what I imagined Micheal buying.
So if he had five dollars, bought five boxes of candy, ate one box, he still has four boxes left to give as gifts.
Anonymous,
You've put more thought into making sense of things than Lynn has. She clearly intends that there be a big, nasty row on Christmas morning because Mike did something stupid; providing him your means of escape is not something she can do.
I think age six is too young to have a present-buying mandate imposed. How does he even get to the store to buy presents--does he wander off to the shopping district by himself? This reminds me also of this strip, where Mike is off buying a present for Lizzie's second birthday (in the spring of his grade-one year) with not a parent in sight.
Anonymous,
Huh, I read it has he bought a small box of chocolate for each person on his list, including himself, and has already eaten his box.
This is possible, and it would mean Lawrence is gobsmacked by misinterpreting Michael to have bought only one box. However, I think the idea of the joke is that since he had to buy a gift for everybody, he bought one box of chocolates for everybody to share, including him. If he buys individual boxes then that is not a gift for everybody. Those are individual gifts. That was the way I interpreted it.
aprilp_katje,
This reminds me also of this strip, where Mike is off buying a present for Lizzie's second birthday (in the spring of his grade-one year) with not a parent in sight.
Milborough is that kind of town. I remember seeing strips with April showing up all over the place unescorted before she got her driver's license and thinking to myself, "Well I guess the mall is right next door." Everything is right within walking distance, and kids seem to be able to wander about freely, in stark contrast to the one strip where Elly tailed Michael walking over to Lawrence's house.
You may be interested to know that on a popular morning news program in Canada, called Canada AM, they are have a segment they call "Show Us you Mittens". Canadians send in photos of themselves wearing the official 2010 Vancouver Olympics red mittens (that have been sold at a few Canadian department stores). On Friday's show around 8:30 AM (I do not have any way to make a video of it) there was a Dr. Rod Johnston of North Bay, Ontario and his staff wearing red mittens outside their new dental building. His staff consisted of about 6 or 7 women and one of whom looked like she could be Lynn (or else he has a woman who looks quite similar on his staff).
Dr. Rod Johnston of North Bay, Ontario and his staff wearing red mittens outside their new dental building.
I found it! Go to the Canada AM page page and choose the link (to the right of the "Jeff's Videos" image at the top, center part of the page) called "Jeff's video: Red Mittens, pt 3." Note: I had an error a couple of times before I was able to view it--but persistence got me there. The woman in the middle does look oddly Lynn-like. (It's from a distance so that it's hard to make out details."
Laura White, a dental hygienist who works with Dr. Rod Johnston sent in the picture of Rod and 5 women, all in black pants and red mittens. I like the picture. It appears everyone can jump except Rod. It also answers the question, "As Lynn accused him over the years, does Rod Johnston really only hire beautiful, gorgeous women to be on his staff?" Apparently Rod does hire women who are physically fit enough to be able to jump simultaneously.
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