For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 26, 2015

  1. Elaine
    Aspergers  about 9 years ago

    COME ON JOHN. WHY HURT HER FEELINGS?

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  2. Gig5
    Gigantor  about 9 years ago

    If she has two of them, aren’t they pigtails? A ponytail is one in the back.

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    jgarrott  about 9 years ago

    I’d call those dog ears, and John indeed stepped in it BIG time.

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    mkd_1218  about 9 years ago

    Careful, John! Your bully’s showing!

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  5. Excellent
    Mumblix Premium Member about 9 years ago

    Lynn’s Notes:

    My dad did say I had puny tails, and it was no joke. Ponytails were a big deal in those days. Long hair was admired. I wanted long hair so badly, I cried every time my mother cut it.

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    MIHorn Premium Member about 9 years ago

    Fathers can do so much damage! And saying “you’re too sensitive” or “can’t you take a joke?” just makes it worse. I still remember the mean things my dad said to me. And don’t say “just forget it” because it’s not that easy.

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    A Hip loving Canadian...  about 9 years ago

    She’s not handling this well.

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    masnadies  about 9 years ago

    Yes, this kind of thing is very normal from just about every male I’ve ever known, the joke and the “you’re too sensitive”. I try to ignore (avoid) people who do that, if they tend to joke about things that hurt my feeling (not my hair- it’s different for all of us). It’s very real- I’m sure most of us act more like this John than we’d like to admit, and with our frineds, it usually works (because we know how to (or not) rib them, and they know we love them)

    Names for hair have always confused me. “Plait” always confused me when I read it, braids were only called braids, and pig tails were the small side ones, pony in the back, just now learning “bunches”.

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    smorbie the great and beautiful  about 9 years ago

    @MiHorn, me too. My parents would say something mean and then say they were just teasing and I had to learn to take a joke. I can take a joke as well as anyone, but parents making fun of a child is not funny. And this strip wasn’t, either. He shouldn’t have said that to her. She was so proud of her hair, and he ruined it. Stuff like that doesn’t get forgotten.

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    eelee  about 9 years ago

    But the person making an insult it really means it but hiding behind the “jest” label.

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    goweeder  about 9 years ago

    There you go! Right there~Grounds for divorce!Child cruelty.

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    contralto2b  about 9 years ago

    At least we know where Michael gets it from.

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    toolgirl150  about 9 years ago

    I’ve grown to hate this new version of John. He’s such a di€k. And "too young to be so sensitive. What an a$$hole. Pardon the language. I know this is a family strip but it’s turning into a bit more of a real family strip than I would like.

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    summerdog86  about 9 years ago

    I had “puny tails” in the 50’s. I also wanted beautiful long braided hair. All my friends had braids with the French braided sides blended in. How I envied those girls. My mother just wasn’t clever enough, or care enough to learn to do it.

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    Templo S.U.D.  about 9 years ago

    Daughter sure cannot take a paternal prank.

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    Joan32  about 9 years ago

    We called those “tails” Cocker spaniel ears. None of the menin my life teased that cruelly. I forget that sometimes. I saddens me and I wasn’t the greatest mother then. But my kids do not remember the bad. Just the good.

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  17. Lucy2
    IQTech61  about 9 years ago

    I agree. When it was first published, I used to think it was funny. Times are changing.Elizabeth is not too young to be so sensitive. John is too old to be so insensitive.

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    LV1951  about 9 years ago

    We called them pigtails. Pony tail is one. Braids are braids.

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    LuvThemPluggers  about 9 years ago

    That kind of put down was common in my generation, from Mom AND Dad. The idea was, if you complimented a kid (boy or girl but especially girls) they would get a big head and be too full of themselves. Owie. This ‘toon would have been better if it was Michael making the sarcastic remark. I got plenty of ribbing from my 3 bros, too, but it wasn’t as painful.

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    tracybsmith  about 9 years ago

    Damn That was MEAN! I’ve noticed though, as long as I’ve read this comic, John seemed kind of mean. Some what verbally abusive.

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    tuslog64  about 9 years ago

    We have to be so careful what we say to women, but they seem to have the right to hurl anything they want at us?

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    patlaborvi  about 9 years ago

    I grew up in a large family (7th of 8) and everyone teased everyone else. The problem for me was that my family was saying the same thing in jest that the kids at school were saying to be mean and I was too young to know the difference. Even now it hurts when we get together and someone tries to tease me “just for fun” and then they say that I overreact.

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    arye uygur  about 9 years ago

    I’m a male and when I was 14, my father told me, “Your mother and I are good-looking people, how did you come out so ugly?” I took it VERY seriously.

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    QuietStorm27  about 9 years ago

    We called them ponytails no matter what, I always thought pigtails were short and ponytails were long though. As for John’s hurtful comment – I’m hoping that John wasn’t this cruel in real life. It looks like, according to Lynn’s notes, that her father was the cruel one that she portrayed here.

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  25. Pa220005
    Fido (aka Felix Rex)  about 9 years ago

    John — forget about the #1 Dad mug for Father’s Day. (Unless the “#1” is digital…)

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  26. Darth01
    ObsiWan Premium Member about 9 years ago

    You mean many an insult is weakly disguised as a jest

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  27. Mooseguy
    moosemin  about 9 years ago

    John! Teasing her is Michael’s job!

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    junemmoffatt  about 9 years ago

    John does the same thing to his wife. “Open mouth, insert foot”.

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    BeniHanna6 Premium Member about 9 years ago

    That is one Stupid Father.

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    AliCom  about 9 years ago

    My advice to Elly and Lizzy is ’don’t get mad/sad, get even’. When Jon gets old and developes a ‘paunch’ or looses his hair, make a joke about it. When men dish it out, they rarely can take it. Maybe instead of hugging him after he was rescued following the ‘canoe insident’, they should have held their noses and asked him to ride in the trunk.

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  31. Bunkieface2
    22Wu33/es Premium Member about 9 years ago

    Those aren’t ponytails, they’re pigtails

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    slsharris  about 9 years ago

    And your’e too old to be that cruel to a child. Here he is folks, back at home after his stupidity-generated adventure, mean, and back to normal!

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    tea62  about 9 years ago

    John. John. For that comment you’re in the dog house.

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    rfeinberg  about 9 years ago

    What an ASS!

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