The Change in the Pub
As in this strip from last year, with today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston seems to be establishing Ted McCaulay more as the guy with whom John Patterson spends time with at pubs watching hockey. In the past, the one time John Patterson went out to socialize with Ted McCaulay by himself during the evening ended up with John reaffirming how he preferred married life, while Ted suggests they ask girls to dance. However, in the new-run Lynn Johnston added to go along with it, she has John Patterson talk about how he talked to some girls.
Historically speaking, the pub is where Ted McCaulay does spend his time chasing women as you can tell from this storyline. I find this change to be especially interesting because I remember getting a comment from an Anonymous person who knows Rod Johnston personally, who claimed he was not the kind of man who liked going to pubs. Why would the new-runs try to reposition John as the pub-goer?
Ironically, we have a strip coming up from April 15, 1981, where John does essentially the same thing Elly does in this strip, while Elly goes to the pub. In fact, if this strip is any indication, Elly is the one known for going to pubs without John. The reason Elly and John don’t go to pubs together anymore was revealed in this 2002 strip. I find it interesting that John mentions they would go to pubs to go dancing. I have a hard time imagining Elly Patterson ever dancing in a pub.
Historically speaking, the pub is where Ted McCaulay does spend his time chasing women as you can tell from this storyline. I find this change to be especially interesting because I remember getting a comment from an Anonymous person who knows Rod Johnston personally, who claimed he was not the kind of man who liked going to pubs. Why would the new-runs try to reposition John as the pub-goer?
Ironically, we have a strip coming up from April 15, 1981, where John does essentially the same thing Elly does in this strip, while Elly goes to the pub. In fact, if this strip is any indication, Elly is the one known for going to pubs without John. The reason Elly and John don’t go to pubs together anymore was revealed in this 2002 strip. I find it interesting that John mentions they would go to pubs to go dancing. I have a hard time imagining Elly Patterson ever dancing in a pub.
posted by howard at 10:16 PM
8 Comments:
English-speaking Canadians are far more likely to say "bar" than "pub." The fact that Lynn Johnston has her characters use the word "pub" is a good indication of just how far out of touch with mainstream life she sometimes is.
As for Elly, I would imagine that she would go out drinking and dancing with John up until they were married but stopped as soon as she could make John see that it was "unseemly" for a married couple to go out and enjoy themselves like that. And John obviously became a homebody quickly, since, within the timeframe of the strip, he seems happier spending time at home than going out with either Elly or Ted.
I have a hard time imagining Elly dancing anywhere in public, especially after her hideous "hoop ya" (or whatever it was) dance of attempted "self affirmation" in front of her mirror. (can't find the strip)
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English-speaking Canadians are far more likely to say "bar" than "pub."
Thank you. This has been driving me mad every time Lynn uses it. I think it's part of her drive to prove what an Anglophile she is: think of the Bung and Wattle and whatever the name of the local Ye Olde Englisshe-Style Theme Pubbe (TM) John and Ted visited in the newruins, when the story would have been just as possible if they sat in the sports bar area of a restaurant.
Hoop-Yah strip. John's wise not to take Elly dancing.
Observation: if you search the catalogue with "pub" as a keyword, there are no results.
Edit: fixed hyperlink.
It is interesting that Lynn would turn John into the sort of bar-crawling idiot she, Elly and Liz are; it seems to me that someone is playing the defame game with her hated ex. As for Elly's unfunky, formal dancing, she looks like she's Elaine Benes trying to imitate Bono.
And now for something completely different: This strip from the "Windsor Arms" arc suggests that Connie grew up in Milborough, not Quebec.
Wasn't Lynn Johnston's mother a war bride from England? It may be that she picked up her terminology and (drinking habits) from that side of the family.
Wasn't Lynn Johnston's mother a war bride from England? It may be that she picked up her terminology and (drinking habits) from that side of the family. .
Lynn's mother was not a British war bride. She grew up in Vancouver and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. She met Lynn's father, who was from Ontario, while they were both serving in England.
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