Smack vs. Hug
Today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse was originally published Friday, 9 January 1981. I believe Lynn Johnston is very close to synchronizing her reprints in 2010 with the original publication dates in 1981, and straight reprints will soon be upon us. Based on the very limited number of reprints published in November and December, 2009, I think Lynn Johnston will make up for that with lots of reprints in January – March, 2010.
This reprint clearly shows a return back to the “Elly in school” storyline and we see Elly eating a pencil and giving the Roget’s Thesaurus a big hug. This is a nice physical contrast to the hug which Mike is asking for in a fairly obnoxious way. The Pattersons were never big on corporal punishment and as a result you find many more strips featuring hugs than you find strips featuring smacks. The big difference I notice looking through the “hug” strips is that the kid who got the most hugs from the Patterson parents appears to be April. Not only that, but Elly giving one of her kids a hug is a fairly rare occurrence in the strips from the 1980s. In the later years she got much better at it.
That being said, here are ten reasons why Roget’s Thesaurus is better than Michael Patterson (and thus more deserving of a hug):
1. If you abuse a Roget’s Thesaurus, people will not write into Coffee Talk complaining about your bad parenting.
2. Roget’s Thesaurus does not criticize or antagonize its mother.
3. Roget’s Thesaurus does not have an evil Mother-In-Law.
4. There is a better chance of training Roget’s Thesaurus to write well than Michael Patterson.
5. Roget’s Thesaurus doesn't complain about your cooking.
6. Roget’s Thesaurus will not expect you to pay for its university education and then go off and get a useless Journalism degree.
7. You won’t have to send Roget’s Thesaurus to the farm in Winnipeg because of some girl it is dating.
8. You can put Christopher Nichols in a room with your Roget’s Thesaurus, and it won’t get into a fight.
9. Roget’s Thesaurus doesn't make a mess in your nice, clean house.
10. Roget’s Thesaurus doesn’t sulk or throw a temper tantrum.
This reprint clearly shows a return back to the “Elly in school” storyline and we see Elly eating a pencil and giving the Roget’s Thesaurus a big hug. This is a nice physical contrast to the hug which Mike is asking for in a fairly obnoxious way. The Pattersons were never big on corporal punishment and as a result you find many more strips featuring hugs than you find strips featuring smacks. The big difference I notice looking through the “hug” strips is that the kid who got the most hugs from the Patterson parents appears to be April. Not only that, but Elly giving one of her kids a hug is a fairly rare occurrence in the strips from the 1980s. In the later years she got much better at it.
That being said, here are ten reasons why Roget’s Thesaurus is better than Michael Patterson (and thus more deserving of a hug):
1. If you abuse a Roget’s Thesaurus, people will not write into Coffee Talk complaining about your bad parenting.
2. Roget’s Thesaurus does not criticize or antagonize its mother.
3. Roget’s Thesaurus does not have an evil Mother-In-Law.
4. There is a better chance of training Roget’s Thesaurus to write well than Michael Patterson.
5. Roget’s Thesaurus doesn't complain about your cooking.
6. Roget’s Thesaurus will not expect you to pay for its university education and then go off and get a useless Journalism degree.
7. You won’t have to send Roget’s Thesaurus to the farm in Winnipeg because of some girl it is dating.
8. You can put Christopher Nichols in a room with your Roget’s Thesaurus, and it won’t get into a fight.
9. Roget’s Thesaurus doesn't make a mess in your nice, clean house.
10. Roget’s Thesaurus doesn’t sulk or throw a temper tantrum.
posted by howard at 10:28 PM
11 Comments:
11. Roget's Thesaurus doesn't use all its synonyms as a means of insulting people who don't know what it means.
12. Roget's Thesaurus will not spend its life thinking that mercilessly picking on Liz for merely existing is the height of harmless whimsy or do so with a smug grin.
You should send something like this into Coffee Talk; even if you don't get on, you'll at least have given Steph or Beth something to laugh at.
The Pattersons were never big on corporal punishment and as a result you find many more strips featuring hugs than you find strips featuring smacks.
You get more hits if you search on "spank." The early strips give me the impression that Mike got spanked on a regular basis.
DreadedCandiru2,
You should send something like this into Coffee Talk; even if you don't get on, you'll at least have given Steph or Beth something to laugh at.
OK. Consider it done.
aprilp_katje,
You get more hits if you search on "spank." The early strips give me the impression that Mike got spanked on a regular basis.
Yeesh! There are quite a few of them. I would say that from 1979 - 1983, "spank Michael" clearly outnumbers "hug Michael".
I would say that from 1979 - 1983, "spank Michael" clearly outnumbers "hug Michael".
I guess this might provide some insight into how he ultimately turned out. I found an interesting strip by searching for "discipline": Lizzie's perception of Elly expressed via drawing.
Whoa. It's very telling that instead of laughing that one off, Elly flees the scene to completely fall apart. :(
Anonymous:
It's very telling that instead of laughing that one off, Elly flees the scene to completely fall apart.
Yes, it is; she never did quite get the hang of being a parent -- part of which is accepting being the bad guy once in a while.
aprilp_katje,
I guess this might provide some insight into how he ultimately turned out. I found an interesting strip by searching for "discipline": Lizzie's perception of Elly expressed via drawing.
This is a fascinating one. Although the early strips seem to have no problem showing Michael getting spanked, there is nothing that corresponds for Elizabeth or April. Lynn must have the usual understanding that it is OK to spank boys, but not to spank girls; which is the standard in the comic strip industry. Dennis the Menace and Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes can get a spanking for misbehaving but not L’il Orphan Annie. Instead of that, this strip shows the discipline of the daughter very indirectly and I must say, quite effectively.
It's also very telling that a search for "shack" does not bring up what I expected (the strips where the Pattersons spend a week in an old shack by mistake) but instead one of the many strips where Elly whines that Phil and Georgia happily had sex in unwedded bliss for years before getting hitched.
And that said strip is used to prove that JohnIsEvil.
It's also very telling that a search for "shack" does not bring up what I expected (the strips where the Pattersons spend a week in an old shack by mistake) but instead one of the many strips where Elly whines that Phil and Georgia happily had sex in unwedded bliss for years before getting hitched.
A search on "cabin" will get you the strips you're looking for. :)
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