For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 09, 2013

wasn’t there some “as seen on TV” exercise thing that used that as it slogan in the 80s? I seem to remember something like that but not completely sure.

Actually, howtheduck, that mantra dates back much farther than Judy Bloom (and yes, I’ve actually read the book you’re talking about, as well as a couple of Judy’s others). It goes back to at least the 1950s, if not earlier, so Lynn was right, and Elly would have said this in back in her high school days (which, as you correctly note, would have been somewhere between 1961 and 1965). Nice try, though — thanks for playing!

Yep, I have a feeling that women have been singing that ‘anthem’ since time began….myself included. Alas and alack, the chant doesn’t seem to work that well no matter how often you say it. Lol. If it did, we wouldn’t see such a continual rise in the use of implants.

I was in High School ’62 to ’66, and I heard the this. Well before Judy Blume.

Yes Howtheduck …this is a very old rhyme. And there is a second part! Supposedly to be used in “old age”..it went "One, two, three, four..over the shoulder, hit the floor!

I just cannot understand why so many folks come to this comic to, apparently, try their darndest to pick on the lady who wrote them! WHATS UP WITH THAT??

If you dislike her so much..don’t come here…it as simple as that! Why show everyone what mean little minds you have?

I was one of the “lucky” girls that didn’t need the enhancement and I HATED it. I never wore tight sweaters and tried to hide it as much as possible. Never have been able to see the point in wanting big bust lines. Nothing fits right, you get odd looks, and most guys just want to get their hands on them and do not care about you as a real person. I finally found a man that cared about me as a person and learned to use them correctly. lol Stick with what God gave you and stop trying to improve on his creation.

“The bigger the betterthe tighter the sweaterWe MUST…”

It was in use long before that book. Where do you think Blume got it from, anyway? She didn’t make it up.

We used this slogan in junior high and high school in the 1960s—well before it appeared in Judy Blume’s book. I think it falls in the category of “folk medicine.” Didn’t work, either.

We chanted: Thrust, thrust, for bigger busts. I think it was my PE teacher who taught us the chant. This was high school in the mid-sixties.

No, it did not originate with Judy Blume. I have never read that book, although I have read reviews. I went to high school 1955-61 and WE gals said Lynn’s version. Who knows where it started? It is in the same class as “Step on a crack – break your mother’s back”!

it takes two baby

Agreed, I was in school well before Judy Blume’s book ~ she borrowed a saying that had already been around for years.:-)

Believe me, this way predates Judy Blume! I’d heard this well before Blume ever published!

We chanted this in the late fifties. Judy Bloom probably remembered it — rather than originating it.

It predated the ’70s by a good chunk. We were saying it in the fifties and sixties, and it would appear there are variations.

What we said was:

I must, I must, I must improve my bust.I better, I better, so I can wear a sweater.

;-)

BBP, she’s wearing bowling shoes because they’re easier to draw. Ever try to draw running shoes?

“We must – we must – we must develop our bust.” Key word being “develop.”Saw that in one of those teen movies in the 1980s.Also, Cindy Williams’ character did a variation of that with a couple more lines on “Laverne and Shirley.” Then in came Laverne with her “main squeeze” and Shirley nearly died of embarrassment. Different day, that was.

But…YOU insulted the writer of this comic! That was my point, exactly!

Thank goodness I never heard that chant (or remember hearing that) when I was in school. It would have been an annoyance. Big busts were “in” in those days, but I was always glad I didn’t have all that stuff to carry around and worry about. My mom, on the other hand, was a flapper during the time when women were supposed to tape themselves, and she was, like, a D. A couple of women I knew had silicone implants, the implants burst, and the women underwent all kinds of illness and had to have the implants removed. (One of them recently had her eyelids tattooed so she wouldn’t have to put on mascara.) Ugh.

I remember seeing it in a Carry On movie likely filmed in the 50’s, possibly “Carry on girls”.