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Please donât take this as a personal attack, anyone, but I have a question. A few people have mentioned that they really donât like one or more of the characters portrayed in this strip (mostly itâs John and/or Elly). I would like to know, if you donât mind, why you still bother to read the strip. It makes no sense to me, as I âdropâ any strip from my repertoire if the characters or plot lines begin to annoy me. Would you please enlighten me? Iâm not asking this sarcastically, but would honestly like to understand.
Well, personally, I like the strip, but I have a theory, cutiepie(love that name! lol). I guess itâs like those characters on tv, the ones you love to hate, they make your blood boil, but youâre still back every week to watch themâŠ.maybe itâs the same with this strip.
Yup, these ARE the old strips. I find the characters close to real life, so I follow this strip especially every day. My favorite character, for a long time, became Farley. Michael grows up and starts calling Elizabeth Lizardbreath (or something like that). I relate to that too. Overall, the strip is endearing, sometimes in an offbeat way.
Well, youâre right, Cutiepie. We get hooked on cartoon strips that we like and grab our attention. Sometimes they get better with time, and sometimes, they annoy us. I tend to give the cartoonist some time to get out of his or her rut or off his/her soapbox, and if they do, I stay with the storyline. Otherwise, if I get annoyed long enough, I drop them.
So, I suppose the people that kvetch and complain are hoping for change before they give up completely.
Where do they get the money???? The guy is a dentist!!! I donât believe a new stereo and dishwasher is going to seriously put a dent in his bank balance. Bet he could even afford a new âlectric can opener!!
@ cutiepie29 - Because some people are born jerks and have no real life; theyâre unhappy with life and the only time theyâre less unhappy (I think theyâre genetically unable to actually be fully happy) is when theyâre complaining about something or criticizing somebody. Itâs sad but true.
Well, they are in Canada. How much do Canadian dentists get paid anyway? There health system is different and I donât think their doctors pockets get as fat as their American counterparts, especially when you throw in that GST.
Iâve always found Jon to be a very likable guy. And now Ellie can enjoy her new dishwasher AND the new stereo. She got the best of this one, with all her griping and whining~~
Okay, Elly really needs to let it go. She either wants a dishwasher or she doesnât. Although Iâm not a big fan of buying your way out of trouble, John has tried the apology route without success.
@cutiepie - good question, and Iâm looking forward to otherâs answers. Personally, I like this strip, and while there may be some days that Iâm not thrilled with it (like today), that occurs every couple of weeks or so, so Iâm fine with that. I donât take it too seriously and I certainly donât view it as a strip to criticize ad nauseum like others seem to do. I tend to ignore those comments, but it is tiring to read sometimes.
its a cartoon! the ongoing criticism of the couple or their parents is irritating at times. They are not perfect parents, or perfect spouses. Who is! But the nit picking seems to give them no room to be human. It is real life. The way parenting (I have 2 grown kids) and life really isâŠ. it is time to laugh at them and ourselves :)
I wonder that myself why people read the comics if it pains them so much. Kind of sounds masochistic to me. Why would you hit your head against the wall over and over again?
I had my own experiences with that. I couldnât stand the insensitive comments made at my newspaper online comment site so Iâve stopped going there. It was hopeless to try to reason with bigoted and cruel people.
I see the spammer changed his/her name and website. Still annoying. Do they think the intelligent people who read comics every day are going to fall for this?
I also like the slice of life reality but Lynn, the cartoonist, sometimes caries the storyline too far. Like when Ellyâs friend took off after Ellyâs brother. Priorities folks. However, I intend to follow as long as its on and gripe when I think I need to. Also, compliment when it is necessary.
Marilyn, apparently said (and now flagged) spammer has the idea we must be stupider than he is. I mean, how on earth could we possibly identify him when he keeps changing names? (Sorry, my sarcasm got away from me again)
this strip is all nostalgia for me. I took the paper just for this strip way back when. My son and daughter were the same age as Michael and Lizzie. Their interaction was so much like my own kids. I really loved watching them grow up.
As a single mom, I couldnât relate much to Elly and Jonâs relationship, but I felt sorry for Connie. I had no self-esteem either back then.
Anyway, I could go on and bore you all, but thatâs why I love this strip and have hardly ever missed a day
I never understood the wonder of a dishwasher. I can hand wash my dishes in a quarter of the time it takes to load, wash, and unload a dishwasher. And I know plenty of families who never do unload it and canât put in dirty dishes, anyways. Itâs always full of the last clean load.
And donât give me the âgermâ theory. Those families get sick with the same things as mine, even tho their dishes are cleaned in hotter water than I can use.
And the things leak water a time or two. And fade dishes, bend forks, and leave water spots on glasses and silverware. Make noise, use electricity. Oh, and donât forget that I see you rinsing off all those dishes even before they go inside.
(re: âmy moneyâ he saidâŠâŠDH came home with a pull behind garden disc to go with the tractor, Sat.)
you also have to realize that the cartoonist Lynn is/was writing these strips based on her own life, and friends lives,, so in reality she is portraying herself as a âmouthy stay at home momâ in a comical way,, and if she wants to poke fun at herself then i say,, LET HER!
As I remember, Lynn decided to mostly rework the strip starting back at the beginning. I read the comments partly because some still remember the first time around. Iâve only read any daily and regularly since being semi-retired/self employed, so I enjoy when someone points out how an arc was done differently than the original ;-)
this strip was mostly a lame parody of real life (i.e. a cartoon!) when it first ran. now itâs even more so the second time around because itâs so dated.
even so i canât resist looking in every day â for me itâs like peeking at a car or train wreck â impossible to resist.
everybody comes to the comics for different reasons, i really enjoy my right to be as snarky as i want with any of them; in fborfw i tolerate the lameness of the story lines because i really like the good artwork and facial expressions.
Cutiepie, go back and read last weeks strips, then tell US why you now canât stand anymore of Ellyâs non stop, psychotic ranting and raving. Itâs that simple. I donât mean it sarcastically, either, but I think some people come here to criticize the comments and donât bother to read the strips that are being commented about. The comments fit each dayâs strip. When people argue with the same sentiment that can usually be found in 60 comments, they didnât read the strip!
To further understand theâ why do you read it if..â. âphenomenonâ Read This.
WELL! Once again, John equates Elly to a free maid! GO John, you DOOFIS! Wait until it sinks in, and she goes off on another week of screaming and yelling about how he doesnât see her as a woman, just a MAID!
jaeldid66: He sounds like a sexist pig. Have you considered divorce? That would show him.
I believe everyone has the right to be as snarky as they want on these boards, but I donât see the reasoning behind criticism of Elly. Her reactions are normal for a SAHM. It is an inherently humiliating scenario, so of course she is naturally going to be prickly, resentful, and always in a bad mood. Thatâs to be expected. It would be much, much worse if she were some sort of robotic, cheery âyes, dearâ Stepford wife.
Iâve mentioned this before and Iâll say it again. Each person interprets this comic and others in their own way and based on their own experiences/background. It is insulting and arrogant to state that oneâs own opinion is the âcorrectâ one. The only person who can tell us the âproperâ interpretation of this strip in the author herself.
Cutie⊠Iâm with you and royman and a few others. Iâve never understood people who wallow in displeasure as much as some of them on here⊠like Mrs. Luke. That article in the link was a sad commentary in itself. The term âlove to hateâ never made much sense to me.
I agree that there are no âcorrectâ ways to view a strip but for pete sakes⊠the utter acid that comes outâŠ. Iâm just glad that some of these people use the same signon name all the time so I know which comments to ignore.
As for todayâs strip⊠if I was Elly, I would have still been mad because it was ANOTHER large purchase that hadnât been discussed. I donât care if it would make my life easier⊠he still isnât treating it like a partnership. Itâs nice of him to try⊠but he completely missed the point of the original argument.
I really wish Lyn would have left the strip as it was. I am curious about Michael and Deannaâs family, and Lizzieâs marriage! The strip could have focused on the next generation of Pattersons. This is all just rehashing, and it is odd because you already know what is going to happen in the future!
Lynn has retired and doesnât want to do new daily strips. The plan is to now run only the old strips, so you will see the Pattersonâs grow like before. Lynn has hinted that she may do a new book of strips where she had left off, in the future. You will need to buy it, tho.
I suppose everyoneâs a sell-out eventually. Didnât do too badly â dishwasher is better than a can opener â but, again he should have asked, and it never occurred to him (typical of the pre-80âs male). Unfortunately, the Elly-bashers really remind me of too many men back in the day when they simply saw (and portrayed) any woman who was stuck but maybe trying to change her life as a raging, bra-burning, neurotic shrew. I think Elly is in a time of transition where she is aware she doesnât deserve this but doesnât yet see what to do about it. The little dumplings that she is saddled with are not always cute, cuddly and angelic. Sometimes they are brats and thatâs hard to deal with 24/7. I couldnât do it so I just didnât have kids during that era (thank God).
And there it is ⊠the way to a womanâs heart is through her dishwasher! Who knew?!?!?
I absolutely love my dishwasher! Iâve had one in every place Iâve ever lived since I got married and moved out of my childhood home (which did not have a dishwasher ⊠unless you count *me* as being the dishwasher!) 21 years ago and I would never be without one ever again!
Having said that however ⊠I agree with Mirthiful in that here we go again. While Elly may love the dishwasher, hereâs yet another expensive purchase (although not as expensive as the $2,000.00 stereo, Iâm sure) made by John without first discussing it with his wife beforehand. Their marriage is a pretty sad and horrific train wreck sometimes.
cutiepie29: Personally, I like the strip even if the harpie wife and her denser-than-dirt husband get on my nerves sometimes. The FBorFW comic strip is like a daily soap opera on paper (rather than t.v.). You may not always like some of the characters or even the current storyline but eventually, it moves on to another s/l that you may like a lot better. I think that thereâs just something about this particular comic (even if you canât quite put your finger on it) that keeps you coming back for more, day after day.
Iâve always wanted a dishwasher, mostly because a dishwasher can stand water much hotter than my poor hands. I know most dish soaps are antibacterial, but I still say the best way to kill the germs is to run the dishes under scalding water for a minute or two.
Yeah, I saw that. Thank you for answering. I did the copy and paste routine also but got different results. Thatâs the way it goes sometimes. At least allâs well that ends well.
MrsLuke
Thank you for that link, I enjoyed reading the article.
If you didnât read the article, and only judged it by itâs name, you also donât read the strip, you just criticize the comments, just like I was saying in my first comment.
Elly is a self important, raving, lunatic with a foul disposition and a big, screaming mouth. I find that intolerable. Nobody should have to live with what she does. 90% of us call a spade a spade. I donât see anyone siding with John either, so if the comments are so upsetting to you, DONâT READ THEM! Nobody is going to change their mind to accommodate a couple of political correctness addicts. Look where political correctness got this country. Iâll say it the way I see it. If you donât like it, too bad. Donât read the comments, what ever, but this daily quest to have everyone explain WHY they comment the way they do is redundant, boring, and antagonistic.
âDonât pick on Elly!!!â What do the people who cry this daily SEE, when they read this strip? I see Elly brutalizing everyone who comes in contact with her, including the readers! If YOU DONâT see that, you need to sharpen your comprehension skills, or quit making excuses for what may just be your own behavior.
I donât care if folks pick on Elly â and your article link was interesting MrsLuke. I can see why you might hate her â itâs just that I donât. I donât care if you hate her, I guess I just find it as hard to understand as you find it hard to understand my point of view. I think she is a victim of her time. Maybe for those who didnât live thru the 60âs & 70âs battles women had to endure even be spoken to civilly, (sp?) they wouldnât understand (but I think you said you were old enough for that era (maybe Iâm wrong)). His remark last week about âHIS moneyâ certainly hit a nerve with me. I guess I just donât get as mad at her â maybe I should, but I donât. I sure donât think she deserves a punch in the chops as someone suggested earlier (I work with a Center for Abused Women, so that also hits a nerve). So go ahead and hate her â but you have to allow folks who donât hate her to say what they feel too.
I started reading the strip as a young teenager (too many years ago lol) and followed it until the end, am now interested to see the beginning which I missed the first time around.
Yeah Ellie is pretty self centred and annoying - so was I at that age - my character evolved, so did Ellieâs!
One reason I come back to this strip after leaving it time and time again is that something holds Elly and John together. In spite of all their fights, their marriage does have some kind of a solid foundation. I donât understand it, and thatâs like real life too. I know lots of marriages in which I wonder how they keep going but they do. And lots of others that end in divorce which comes as a complete surprise to me.
Rina â there is such a thing as ânegative attention is better than no attention at all.â Maybe thatâs what the attraction is between John & Elly. There is also something to the idea that folks who never fight arenât really having much in the way of communication or much of a relationship at all. Sometimes they wake up one day and say âwhat am I doing here?â And sometimes they find someone else who does inspire an emotional response in them.
Lindz, I wasnât even responding to you, if that makes you feel better. Your last comment comes as a complete surprise to me. I was talking to the ones who started this today and keep on going. You and I are pretty much in agreement. I do see your point.
I donât condone violence at all. I donât think anybody ever did, except Susan in both of her comments. I didnât see any outrage from you at her suggestion in her final sentences, which I wonât repeat, because if I quote it, my whole comment will end up deleted for it. You canât say that you ever saw me say such a thing, because I think you can tell, Iâm the last one that would ever let someone smack me around. I also donât like living with screaming and yelling, and ranting and raving out of control, which is all she ever does. They should know at the shelter you work at that her behavior is also abusive. They take kids away for that!
I also think that we ALL define our comments well enough to rule out anything other than criticism of ACTIONS in this strip. Other than John being an idiot, he never hit her. She however is highly abusive with her words and behavior. After this past week, we have all had enough of her behavior. It was unrelenting and it continued today too! She canât feel all that limited if she behaves the outrageous way she does. She thinks sheâs so smart, yet as many keep pointing out, she never uses her big girl words to define and correct the issues in her life, she just behaves the way she did all week instead, and it never solved her problems.
This was written in the 80âs, and I really canât say that the same discrimination of women that existed in the 60âs and 70âs really continued into the 80âs, unless people let it. In the 80âs, I donât know anyone who thought they were the property of their husbands, as they may have in the 60âs and early 70âs.
Anyway, I look at the comments as what 50 people a day are saying about what Lynn Johnston wrote as a story line. Iâm not taking them as a personal attack, unless theyâre calling me out by name and personally attacking me, and not the other 40 people who said the same thing I did. It happens every day, and nobody cares about that, just that someone called Elly a raving lunatic when her big mouth was open as wide as a cave for 4 panels, and she proved it 15 days in a row.
My personal opinion never much mattered to people before, the way it seems to here. I also donât know why my comments stand out so much more than the other 40 people saying the same thing, but I think they should get an equal turn at the questions and personal attacks from the PC bunch too!
And since when did anyone ever have to ask my permission to speak their piece? They do it anyway, the same as I do. That accusation is outrageous.
If people donât like whatâs going on in this 30 year old soap opera strip, complain to Lynn Johnston. I donât write the thing. She created these characters, and their personalities arenât an accident. Take it up with her. I canât do anything but comment on what she put out there.
I also stick up for Elly plenty. I did today too, but nobody sees THAT. Noooooo.
Iâm tired of having everything I ever say twisted into pretzels and spat back at me as something I never said. This is ridiculous. You only have yourselves to blame now. Iâm sick of you all. When you finish chasing off everyone who sees the truth in this NOT funny strip, you can all agree and gush about how wonderful the bitter, screeching shrew is. Tootle-oo! You happy now?
I wasnât attacking you at all and youâre right we do often agree (probably as much as we disagree). Certainly, I think we agree about right and wrong regarding what goes on between married folks in arguments. Youâre probably right that by the 80s, women were asserting themselves more, but they were still nowhere near equal â theyâre not equal today (saw an article yesterday â still 77 cents on the dollar). I think women in the 80s were still fighting the battle tho and some of them probably got pretty hot about it. My big thing with the whole scenario that has been played out for over a week now is the fact that he said it was HIS money â outrageous!! You seem to react more strongly to her behavior ( which I admit has not been very adult), while I see him as more than just a doofus (or whatever you called him) I think he really doesnât get it about what might really tick off a women who sits home with his kids 24/7. And I guess I know how it would tick me off if I was in her shoes. So â her character bugs you most and his character bugs me most but I donât go as far as you and Susan â I canât bring myself to hate either of them. But I do understand better now where youâre coming from. Thanx again for the article!
Brother_James437 said: A dishwasher, how romanticâŠâŠ..NOT!!!
No, a dishwasher may not be as âromanticâ in the same sense as jewelry, flowers, candy, etc. are ⊠but Iâd rather have my dishwasher than a big expensive diamond ring! Is any of that âromanticâ stuff going to do my dishes for me??? I think not!!!
I live in Canada, and dentists do very well, indeed. My daughterâs orthodontist has yachting magazines on his table to read. Our basic medical plans donât really cover the dentist. You need Blue Cross or a similar plan, usually provided by the employer as a benefit.
ejcapulet almost 15 years ago
It better be a really good dishwasher.
cutiepie29 almost 15 years ago
Please donât take this as a personal attack, anyone, but I have a question. A few people have mentioned that they really donât like one or more of the characters portrayed in this strip (mostly itâs John and/or Elly). I would like to know, if you donât mind, why you still bother to read the strip. It makes no sense to me, as I âdropâ any strip from my repertoire if the characters or plot lines begin to annoy me. Would you please enlighten me? Iâm not asking this sarcastically, but would honestly like to understand.
thetraveller4 almost 15 years ago
Well, personally, I like the strip, but I have a theory, cutiepie(love that name! lol). I guess itâs like those characters on tv, the ones you love to hate, they make your blood boil, but youâre still back every week to watch themâŠ.maybe itâs the same with this strip.
doublepaw almost 15 years ago
I still follow the strip but lately Ely spends most of her time screaming about something. She needs to buy that store and get some outside interests.
leedb almost 15 years ago
I miss the old strips!
delaterra almost 15 years ago
These ARE the old strips!
NE1956 almost 15 years ago
Yup, these ARE the old strips. I find the characters close to real life, so I follow this strip especially every day. My favorite character, for a long time, became Farley. Michael grows up and starts calling Elizabeth Lizardbreath (or something like that). I relate to that too. Overall, the strip is endearing, sometimes in an offbeat way.
lightblade77 almost 15 years ago
Where are they getting all this money from?
alan.gurka almost 15 years ago
Well, youâre right, Cutiepie. We get hooked on cartoon strips that we like and grab our attention. Sometimes they get better with time, and sometimes, they annoy us. I tend to give the cartoonist some time to get out of his or her rut or off his/her soapbox, and if they do, I stay with the storyline. Otherwise, if I get annoyed long enough, I drop them. So, I suppose the people that kvetch and complain are hoping for change before they give up completely.
woodwork almost 15 years ago
Where do they get the money???? The guy is a dentist!!! I donât believe a new stereo and dishwasher is going to seriously put a dent in his bank balance. Bet he could even afford a new âlectric can opener!!
royman53 almost 15 years ago
@ cutiepie29 - Because some people are born jerks and have no real life; theyâre unhappy with life and the only time theyâre less unhappy (I think theyâre genetically unable to actually be fully happy) is when theyâre complaining about something or criticizing somebody. Itâs sad but true.
athomas917 almost 15 years ago
Well, they are in Canada. How much do Canadian dentists get paid anyway? There health system is different and I donât think their doctors pockets get as fat as their American counterparts, especially when you throw in that GST.
arsmall almost 15 years ago
LOL! For every dime I spend my hubby spends a dollarâŠ
Jascat almost 15 years ago
Iâve always found Jon to be a very likable guy. And now Ellie can enjoy her new dishwasher AND the new stereo. She got the best of this one, with all her griping and whining~~
lightenup Premium Member almost 15 years ago
Okay, Elly really needs to let it go. She either wants a dishwasher or she doesnât. Although Iâm not a big fan of buying your way out of trouble, John has tried the apology route without success.
@cutiepie - good question, and Iâm looking forward to otherâs answers. Personally, I like this strip, and while there may be some days that Iâm not thrilled with it (like today), that occurs every couple of weeks or so, so Iâm fine with that. I donât take it too seriously and I certainly donât view it as a strip to criticize ad nauseum like others seem to do. I tend to ignore those comments, but it is tiring to read sometimes.
Stephen Kliewer Premium Member almost 15 years ago
its a cartoon! the ongoing criticism of the couple or their parents is irritating at times. They are not perfect parents, or perfect spouses. Who is! But the nit picking seems to give them no room to be human. It is real life. The way parenting (I have 2 grown kids) and life really isâŠ. it is time to laugh at them and ourselves :)
BigHug almost 15 years ago
I wonder that myself why people read the comics if it pains them so much. Kind of sounds masochistic to me. Why would you hit your head against the wall over and over again?
I had my own experiences with that. I couldnât stand the insensitive comments made at my newspaper online comment site so Iâve stopped going there. It was hopeless to try to reason with bigoted and cruel people.
Iâm baffled too.
Mythreesons almost 15 years ago
I see the spammer changed his/her name and website. Still annoying. Do they think the intelligent people who read comics every day are going to fall for this?
pawpawbear almost 15 years ago
I also like the slice of life reality but Lynn, the cartoonist, sometimes caries the storyline too far. Like when Ellyâs friend took off after Ellyâs brother. Priorities folks. However, I intend to follow as long as its on and gripe when I think I need to. Also, compliment when it is necessary.
ejcapulet almost 15 years ago
Marilyn, apparently said (and now flagged) spammer has the idea we must be stupider than he is. I mean, how on earth could we possibly identify him when he keeps changing names? (Sorry, my sarcasm got away from me again)
Nelly55 almost 15 years ago
this strip is all nostalgia for me. I took the paper just for this strip way back when. My son and daughter were the same age as Michael and Lizzie. Their interaction was so much like my own kids. I really loved watching them grow up.
As a single mom, I couldnât relate much to Elly and Jonâs relationship, but I felt sorry for Connie. I had no self-esteem either back then.
Anyway, I could go on and bore you all, but thatâs why I love this strip and have hardly ever missed a day
oh, and flag the evil spammer
Jaedabee almost 15 years ago
Never underestimate the power of a good dishwasher!
ninmas almost 15 years ago
i like the strip. but i feel like elly is a bit too harsh at times.
runar almost 15 years ago
These arenât the old strips - itâs a reboot of the strip done in Johnstonâs earlier style.
summerdog86 almost 15 years ago
I never understood the wonder of a dishwasher. I can hand wash my dishes in a quarter of the time it takes to load, wash, and unload a dishwasher. And I know plenty of families who never do unload it and canât put in dirty dishes, anyways. Itâs always full of the last clean load.
And donât give me the âgermâ theory. Those families get sick with the same things as mine, even tho their dishes are cleaned in hotter water than I can use.
And the things leak water a time or two. And fade dishes, bend forks, and leave water spots on glasses and silverware. Make noise, use electricity. Oh, and donât forget that I see you rinsing off all those dishes even before they go inside.
(re: âmy moneyâ he saidâŠâŠDH came home with a pull behind garden disc to go with the tractor, Sat.)
keltii almost 15 years ago
you also have to realize that the cartoonist Lynn is/was writing these strips based on her own life, and friends lives,, so in reality she is portraying herself as a âmouthy stay at home momâ in a comical way,, and if she wants to poke fun at herself then i say,, LET HER!
vldazzle almost 15 years ago
As I remember, Lynn decided to mostly rework the strip starting back at the beginning. I read the comments partly because some still remember the first time around. Iâve only read any daily and regularly since being semi-retired/self employed, so I enjoy when someone points out how an arc was done differently than the original ;-)
traciann76 almost 15 years ago
I missed this comic the first time aroundâŠwhen does April come onto the scene?
Wildmustang1262 almost 15 years ago
I would take it and be happy to use it as much as I want to! :-)
Elly, for peteâs sake, get a life and take it! :-/
billdi Premium Member almost 15 years ago
this strip was mostly a lame parody of real life (i.e. a cartoon!) when it first ran. now itâs even more so the second time around because itâs so dated. even so i canât resist looking in every day â for me itâs like peeking at a car or train wreck â impossible to resist. everybody comes to the comics for different reasons, i really enjoy my right to be as snarky as i want with any of them; in fborfw i tolerate the lameness of the story lines because i really like the good artwork and facial expressions.
mrslukeskywalker almost 15 years ago
Cutiepie, go back and read last weeks strips, then tell US why you now canât stand anymore of Ellyâs non stop, psychotic ranting and raving. Itâs that simple. I donât mean it sarcastically, either, but I think some people come here to criticize the comments and donât bother to read the strips that are being commented about. The comments fit each dayâs strip. When people argue with the same sentiment that can usually be found in 60 comments, they didnât read the strip!
To further understand theâ why do you read it if..â. âphenomenonâ Read This.
WELL! Once again, John equates Elly to a free maid! GO John, you DOOFIS! Wait until it sinks in, and she goes off on another week of screaming and yelling about how he doesnât see her as a woman, just a MAID!
jaeldid66 almost 15 years ago
Wish my husband would buy HIS way out of trouble. He just tells me to get over it and ignores me until I do!
rowena28 Premium Member almost 15 years ago
jaeldid66: He sounds like a sexist pig. Have you considered divorce? That would show him.
I believe everyone has the right to be as snarky as they want on these boards, but I donât see the reasoning behind criticism of Elly. Her reactions are normal for a SAHM. It is an inherently humiliating scenario, so of course she is naturally going to be prickly, resentful, and always in a bad mood. Thatâs to be expected. It would be much, much worse if she were some sort of robotic, cheery âyes, dearâ Stepford wife.
BigHug almost 15 years ago
Iâve mentioned this before and Iâll say it again. Each person interprets this comic and others in their own way and based on their own experiences/background. It is insulting and arrogant to state that oneâs own opinion is the âcorrectâ one. The only person who can tell us the âproperâ interpretation of this strip in the author herself.
kfaatz925 almost 15 years ago
Har HAR. Good one, John!
mirthiful almost 15 years ago
Cutie⊠Iâm with you and royman and a few others. Iâve never understood people who wallow in displeasure as much as some of them on here⊠like Mrs. Luke. That article in the link was a sad commentary in itself. The term âlove to hateâ never made much sense to me.
I agree that there are no âcorrectâ ways to view a strip but for pete sakes⊠the utter acid that comes outâŠ. Iâm just glad that some of these people use the same signon name all the time so I know which comments to ignore.
As for todayâs strip⊠if I was Elly, I would have still been mad because it was ANOTHER large purchase that hadnât been discussed. I donât care if it would make my life easier⊠he still isnât treating it like a partnership. Itâs nice of him to try⊠but he completely missed the point of the original argument.
jbowsher almost 15 years ago
I really wish Lyn would have left the strip as it was. I am curious about Michael and Deannaâs family, and Lizzieâs marriage! The strip could have focused on the next generation of Pattersons. This is all just rehashing, and it is odd because you already know what is going to happen in the future!
summerdog86 almost 15 years ago
Lynn has retired and doesnât want to do new daily strips. The plan is to now run only the old strips, so you will see the Pattersonâs grow like before. Lynn has hinted that she may do a new book of strips where she had left off, in the future. You will need to buy it, tho.
lindz.coop Premium Member almost 15 years ago
I suppose everyoneâs a sell-out eventually. Didnât do too badly â dishwasher is better than a can opener â but, again he should have asked, and it never occurred to him (typical of the pre-80âs male). Unfortunately, the Elly-bashers really remind me of too many men back in the day when they simply saw (and portrayed) any woman who was stuck but maybe trying to change her life as a raging, bra-burning, neurotic shrew. I think Elly is in a time of transition where she is aware she doesnât deserve this but doesnât yet see what to do about it. The little dumplings that she is saddled with are not always cute, cuddly and angelic. Sometimes they are brats and thatâs hard to deal with 24/7. I couldnât do it so I just didnât have kids during that era (thank God).
Gretchen's Mom almost 15 years ago
And there it is ⊠the way to a womanâs heart is through her dishwasher! Who knew?!?!?
I absolutely love my dishwasher! Iâve had one in every place Iâve ever lived since I got married and moved out of my childhood home (which did not have a dishwasher ⊠unless you count *me* as being the dishwasher!) 21 years ago and I would never be without one ever again!
Having said that however ⊠I agree with Mirthiful in that here we go again. While Elly may love the dishwasher, hereâs yet another expensive purchase (although not as expensive as the $2,000.00 stereo, Iâm sure) made by John without first discussing it with his wife beforehand. Their marriage is a pretty sad and horrific train wreck sometimes.
cutiepie29: Personally, I like the strip even if the harpie wife and her denser-than-dirt husband get on my nerves sometimes. The FBorFW comic strip is like a daily soap opera on paper (rather than t.v.). You may not always like some of the characters or even the current storyline but eventually, it moves on to another s/l that you may like a lot better. I think that thereâs just something about this particular comic (even if you canât quite put your finger on it) that keeps you coming back for more, day after day.
Gretchen's Mom almost 15 years ago
W6BXQ, John:
I left a message for you on yesterdayâs board regarding your question about the wiki address I listed in my previous comment.
notinksanymore almost 15 years ago
Iâve always wanted a dishwasher, mostly because a dishwasher can stand water much hotter than my poor hands. I know most dish soaps are antibacterial, but I still say the best way to kill the germs is to run the dishes under scalding water for a minute or two.
W6BXQ, John almost 15 years ago
GretchensMom
Yeah, I saw that. Thank you for answering. I did the copy and paste routine also but got different results. Thatâs the way it goes sometimes. At least allâs well that ends well.
MrsLuke
Thank you for that link, I enjoyed reading the article.
Brother_James437 almost 15 years ago
A dishwasher, how romanticâŠâŠ..NOT!!!
mrslukeskywalker almost 15 years ago
If you didnât read the article, and only judged it by itâs name, you also donât read the strip, you just criticize the comments, just like I was saying in my first comment.
Elly is a self important, raving, lunatic with a foul disposition and a big, screaming mouth. I find that intolerable. Nobody should have to live with what she does. 90% of us call a spade a spade. I donât see anyone siding with John either, so if the comments are so upsetting to you, DONâT READ THEM! Nobody is going to change their mind to accommodate a couple of political correctness addicts. Look where political correctness got this country. Iâll say it the way I see it. If you donât like it, too bad. Donât read the comments, what ever, but this daily quest to have everyone explain WHY they comment the way they do is redundant, boring, and antagonistic.
âDonât pick on Elly!!!â What do the people who cry this daily SEE, when they read this strip? I see Elly brutalizing everyone who comes in contact with her, including the readers! If YOU DONâT see that, you need to sharpen your comprehension skills, or quit making excuses for what may just be your own behavior.
lindz.coop Premium Member almost 15 years ago
I donât care if folks pick on Elly â and your article link was interesting MrsLuke. I can see why you might hate her â itâs just that I donât. I donât care if you hate her, I guess I just find it as hard to understand as you find it hard to understand my point of view. I think she is a victim of her time. Maybe for those who didnât live thru the 60âs & 70âs battles women had to endure even be spoken to civilly, (sp?) they wouldnât understand (but I think you said you were old enough for that era (maybe Iâm wrong)). His remark last week about âHIS moneyâ certainly hit a nerve with me. I guess I just donât get as mad at her â maybe I should, but I donât. I sure donât think she deserves a punch in the chops as someone suggested earlier (I work with a Center for Abused Women, so that also hits a nerve). So go ahead and hate her â but you have to allow folks who donât hate her to say what they feel too.
amongthestars almost 15 years ago
I started reading the strip as a young teenager (too many years ago lol) and followed it until the end, am now interested to see the beginning which I missed the first time around.
Yeah Ellie is pretty self centred and annoying - so was I at that age - my character evolved, so did Ellieâs!
RinaFarina almost 15 years ago
One reason I come back to this strip after leaving it time and time again is that something holds Elly and John together. In spite of all their fights, their marriage does have some kind of a solid foundation. I donât understand it, and thatâs like real life too. I know lots of marriages in which I wonder how they keep going but they do. And lots of others that end in divorce which comes as a complete surprise to me.
lindz.coop Premium Member almost 15 years ago
Rina â there is such a thing as ânegative attention is better than no attention at all.â Maybe thatâs what the attraction is between John & Elly. There is also something to the idea that folks who never fight arenât really having much in the way of communication or much of a relationship at all. Sometimes they wake up one day and say âwhat am I doing here?â And sometimes they find someone else who does inspire an emotional response in them.
mrslukeskywalker almost 15 years ago
Lindz, I wasnât even responding to you, if that makes you feel better. Your last comment comes as a complete surprise to me. I was talking to the ones who started this today and keep on going. You and I are pretty much in agreement. I do see your point.
I donât condone violence at all. I donât think anybody ever did, except Susan in both of her comments. I didnât see any outrage from you at her suggestion in her final sentences, which I wonât repeat, because if I quote it, my whole comment will end up deleted for it. You canât say that you ever saw me say such a thing, because I think you can tell, Iâm the last one that would ever let someone smack me around. I also donât like living with screaming and yelling, and ranting and raving out of control, which is all she ever does. They should know at the shelter you work at that her behavior is also abusive. They take kids away for that!
I also think that we ALL define our comments well enough to rule out anything other than criticism of ACTIONS in this strip. Other than John being an idiot, he never hit her. She however is highly abusive with her words and behavior. After this past week, we have all had enough of her behavior. It was unrelenting and it continued today too! She canât feel all that limited if she behaves the outrageous way she does. She thinks sheâs so smart, yet as many keep pointing out, she never uses her big girl words to define and correct the issues in her life, she just behaves the way she did all week instead, and it never solved her problems.
This was written in the 80âs, and I really canât say that the same discrimination of women that existed in the 60âs and 70âs really continued into the 80âs, unless people let it. In the 80âs, I donât know anyone who thought they were the property of their husbands, as they may have in the 60âs and early 70âs.
Anyway, I look at the comments as what 50 people a day are saying about what Lynn Johnston wrote as a story line. Iâm not taking them as a personal attack, unless theyâre calling me out by name and personally attacking me, and not the other 40 people who said the same thing I did. It happens every day, and nobody cares about that, just that someone called Elly a raving lunatic when her big mouth was open as wide as a cave for 4 panels, and she proved it 15 days in a row.
My personal opinion never much mattered to people before, the way it seems to here. I also donât know why my comments stand out so much more than the other 40 people saying the same thing, but I think they should get an equal turn at the questions and personal attacks from the PC bunch too!
And since when did anyone ever have to ask my permission to speak their piece? They do it anyway, the same as I do. That accusation is outrageous.
If people donât like whatâs going on in this 30 year old soap opera strip, complain to Lynn Johnston. I donât write the thing. She created these characters, and their personalities arenât an accident. Take it up with her. I canât do anything but comment on what she put out there.
I also stick up for Elly plenty. I did today too, but nobody sees THAT. Noooooo.
Iâm tired of having everything I ever say twisted into pretzels and spat back at me as something I never said. This is ridiculous. You only have yourselves to blame now. Iâm sick of you all. When you finish chasing off everyone who sees the truth in this NOT funny strip, you can all agree and gush about how wonderful the bitter, screeching shrew is. Tootle-oo! You happy now?
lindz.coop Premium Member almost 15 years ago
I wasnât attacking you at all and youâre right we do often agree (probably as much as we disagree). Certainly, I think we agree about right and wrong regarding what goes on between married folks in arguments. Youâre probably right that by the 80s, women were asserting themselves more, but they were still nowhere near equal â theyâre not equal today (saw an article yesterday â still 77 cents on the dollar). I think women in the 80s were still fighting the battle tho and some of them probably got pretty hot about it. My big thing with the whole scenario that has been played out for over a week now is the fact that he said it was HIS money â outrageous!! You seem to react more strongly to her behavior ( which I admit has not been very adult), while I see him as more than just a doofus (or whatever you called him) I think he really doesnât get it about what might really tick off a women who sits home with his kids 24/7. And I guess I know how it would tick me off if I was in her shoes. So â her character bugs you most and his character bugs me most but I donât go as far as you and Susan â I canât bring myself to hate either of them. But I do understand better now where youâre coming from. Thanx again for the article!
mrslukeskywalker almost 15 years ago
I think you should look back at what I DID say regarding John in this arc. You seem to have missed a lot.
Anyway, had enough of this. Bye. Find yourselves a new villain. Being here feels just as nasty as living in Ellyâs nuthouse.
BooksLover almost 15 years ago
She work hard at home, and she didnât deserve those words, but he apologized, so I think itâs time for her to drop the subject for good :-)
Gretchen's Mom almost 15 years ago
Brother_James437 said: A dishwasher, how romanticâŠâŠ..NOT!!!
No, a dishwasher may not be as âromanticâ in the same sense as jewelry, flowers, candy, etc. are ⊠but Iâd rather have my dishwasher than a big expensive diamond ring! Is any of that âromanticâ stuff going to do my dishes for me??? I think not!!!
bluetopazcrystal almost 15 years ago
athomas917-
I live in Canada, and dentists do very well, indeed. My daughterâs orthodontist has yachting magazines on his table to read. Our basic medical plans donât really cover the dentist. You need Blue Cross or a similar plan, usually provided by the employer as a benefit.