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

COME ON JOHN. WHY HURT HER FEELINGS?

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

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

Careful, John! Your bully’s showing!

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.

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.

She’s not handling this well.

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”.

@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.

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

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

At least we know where Michael gets it from.

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.

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.

Daughter sure cannot take a paternal prank.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

You mean many an insult is weakly disguised as a jest

John! Teasing her is Michael’s job!

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

That is one Stupid Father.

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.

Those aren’t ponytails, they’re pigtails

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!

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

What an ASS!