For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 27, 2024

It’s a lie Elly, face it.

April has you Elly. Shouldn’t you set a better example for her?

April’s ability to say “th” in the second panel, disappears completely in the 3rd panel.

Yeah Elly. You failed to remember that kids her age have everything in black and white. Nothing gray. You should’ve since you’ve raised your older two.

I’ve never understood the need of some people to lie about their age. Denying my age wouldn’t make me live any longer, it just seems strange.

It’s a lie that everyone knows is a lie but just plays along with.

Courtesy of Jack Benny, isn’t it?

Our mom never lied about her age so neither do we. It comes in handy when I’m needing help and can say I’m 87 or sorry, your dealing with an old lady.

Just say it’s a fun lie, it won’t hurt

It is a lie but everybody knows it.

Isn’t it a pun because grey refers to hair color?

Way to mix up a child.

Writing child’s talk is not all that easy!

It’s hippie era morality of convenience.

Even though I don’t like her, I gotta feel sorry for April—having such a hypocrite for a mother!

Wow, Elly! you’re only 39? You look like you’re at least mid-forties! You’ve really let yourself go!!

Just say “39, one more time”

Kids like knowing boundaries, you’re trying to stretch yours and that’ll be trouble down the road.

I’m not an expert seamstress, but would it be a good idea to use a black thread on the sewing machine when sewing a white shirt or dress? Or whatever that is.

Or as Pres. Reagan said at his 75th birthday press party “We are celebrating the 36th anniversary of my 39th birthday”.

I wouldn’t mind being 45 again…

Elly should point out to April there are good lies and bad lies.

April telling her Grandma she really likes the socks and ugly sweater Grandma gave for Christmas is a good lie.

There are neutral lies, like lying about ones age where it’s not important (like getting into a bar or medicare fraud).

Then there are bad lies, like “The border is secure” or “The President is mentally competent”

How to prep your child for a life of therapy 101

If an incorrect statement is made knowing that the listener knows it is incorrect, and there is no intent to deceive, then is it a lie?

I’m so happy that the comments for this comic strip have not taken a turn towards politicians lying.

Just the 6th Anniversary of being 39

Elly showing her true “colors”.

Sheesh! people tell little white lies all the time. For ex.“How r u today?” answer.. “just great” ( load of bull since they’re not feeling well and owe rent money and utility bills.) HUH!“Hi nice to see you” (just being nice since they don’t even like that person)

I’m proud of my gray hairs. I earned everyone of them, some of them the hard way.

Wow! Ellie really stepped into that one!

I grew up in a household where everything was black and white. Things were either good or bad, answers were either yes or no, it was either day or night. It took a very long time to wrap my mind around the fact that there are gray (grey?) areas…and the older I got, the less and less I found things were either on one side of the spectrum or they other, and there are different shades of gray.

Elle just failed a parental ’teaching moment"….

It’s more of a joke than a lie. That’s how I’d explain it, if I did that kind of thing…which I don’t. I’m turning 60 in October & not only am I proud of it, I’m looking forward to it.

I always say I am 39+s&h – I’m really 82.

How about just saying something like, "I’m old enough to …

… to know better."?

People think I’m younger than I am. Not sure if it’s because I look younger to them or if they think I act immature.

Which explains why books like The Lies My Mother Told Me and The Lies My Teacher Told me are such popular books.

The colors will confuse April.

Lies, dam[ned] lies and statistics

The grey area is what is showing along the part in her hair. Coloring, another lie told by some as they age.

Not me. I wouldn’t want anyone to think I look and act like I do at an age any younger than I am. As a matter of fact, it’d be easier to believe I’m much older. Sigh.

Nothing grey about it. It is what it is. A lie.

At least not since Jack Benny started the trend.

But all your friends who just threw you a party KNOW how old you are. What is the point in lying about it now?

Absolutely.

If it’s not a white lie it’s a grey area

Does not count in dog years.

Face it, April. Your mother is full of crap!

El-Lie!

There was a strip in the B.A. era (Before April) where Elizabeth screws up and destroys a milk bag. Rather than admit she was goofing off and caused an accident, Elizabeth cries wolf about being mugged. I know for a fact that Elly did not shrug off Elizabeth’s whopper by saying “Everybody does it; it is just something people do”. :P

I don’t understand why anyone would lie about his or her age. There are basically two types of situations where it comes up: ones where you need to give your DOB for some sort of official purpose, and ones where you don’t. In the former, you usually need to verify your age, so unless you’ve got a fake ID or something your lie is easily exposed (and now you’ve potentially committed perjury). In the latter . . . why not just refuse to say? There are no consequences for doing so.

When Michael was at summer camp and got caught with his head in a hole in the wall of the girls’ shower, Brian Enjo wrote his mother about how Michael was made to work in the kitchens as punishment. What Brian failed to mention is that he and some other kids egged Michael on and was a participant in the Peeping Tom behavior. By failing to mention his participation to his mother and blaming the whole thing on Michael, Brian committed a sin of omission. Ergo, that is a lie.

Women!

This is one reason I never lied about my age. People hate me for being too honest. I don’t look my age either, which bugs me. I earned my years and they +don’t show_. Oh well, I can gloat at the ones who say they hate me for looking younger.. shallow petty people.

You wrinkles will give you away.

Elly’s nose is potato-shaped. How long will it be by this time tomorrow?

the one thing I remember about being 39 was dreading I was going to be the big 4-0 in a year.

i would LOVE being the big 4-0 now. What a fool!!

8^)

I would be more worried that April takes away from this conversation that younger is automatically better than the definition of an acceptable lie.

there are lies and there are alternative facts.

I have never understood people who are sensitive about age. A person is still the same age whether other people know it or not.

YES, Elly. It’s a lie.

I tell my college students, truthfully, that I was born during President So-and-So’s Administration. I might as well say Washington or Lincoln for all it registers.

Matthew 12:36, Elly….

Another thing I have never understood. If i tell people I am “39” and years later I am still saying that, everyone knows it’s a lie. I turned 56 this year. I can’t change it, so I refuse to care about it. Maybe in four years I might learn how to care about it but don’t hold your breath.

Lying is not a bad thing when the truth would be worse. When my father died we pretended his mother had not died a few months before; it would be senselessly cruel to tell him.

We can also recall Les Miserables, in which the nun Sister Simplice was asked by Inspector Javert if she knew where Jean Valjean is. Sister Simplice was renowned for always telling the truth, but she lied to Javert for the greater good.

My mother could never understand women who lied down their ages. She said “This is why young women are scared of getting older, you have 55 year olds saying they’re 39! Well, if that’s what you look like at 39, anybody would be scared to see 55!”

Consequently, she always said she was older than she was, until she was actually old. Of course, Mommy being Mommy she couldn’t help launching into the entire explanation every time and sometimes for no reason at all, so I’m not sure what effect this all had on people’s perceptions.

Today would be her 75th birthday if she hadn’t passed away two years ago. She actually went to the hospital on her birthday that year, and they weren’t able to wake her again before her death.

Wow, Elly. Way to teach your daughter ethics. NOT.

And remember April, if the nice gentleman ask you, you are five.

Listen to the little lady, Elly.

The drawings!……

How come this kid always has intelligent things to say, or ask, but says it in baby talk? C’mon stop with the baby talk!

I honestly never understood the reason for lying about something we can do absolutely nothing about. It’s the same with gray hair… I’m somewhere in my 60’s (I can’t count that high), and do have some gray, but, it usually only shows in certain light. But, I’ve always maintained that the color does not hurt the operation.We can get plastic surgery, until we end up like Joan Rivers, who, when she managed to smile, only succeeded in pulling up her stockings.I’m going to just grow older in the manner in which I am supposed to. If I’m lucky, when I grow up (I should have said “if”), I’ll be like my neighbor, who is a 101 yr. old WWII Vet, who still lives alone, and drives better than a lot of people 1/3 his age.

No wonder kids are so confused sometimes. LOL

There’s a killer on the road

Got the IQ of a toad

Make that gate lock stay

Don’t let your children play

If John kept up his fly

Farley would still be alive

Killer on the road

It shouldn’t be a grey area. Ever.

It’s not even a lie, not really. It’s a joke.

Or like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, where the protagonist Peter Hatcher is told to be on his best behavior as his father is hosting a pompous couple who are clients of his. The wife of the couple gives Peter a picture dictionary, which gets him thinking to himself “Was she told of my age? I have used a regular dictionary since I was in third grade.” The words that come out of Peter’s mouth are “Thank you; I can use this.”

My Mom never lies about her age, neither do I, and if I was younger and she tried to lie about her age to me I would know she was lying because I know the year she was born and know it was exactly 22 years before i was born so I just add 22 to my age and I get her age.

Parents hate it when kids corner t hem in their hideout

Jack Benny has already patented the “39 years old” excuse

Anybody see Julie Andrews on Channel 13 yesterday?In her middle 80’s and still looks like a dream

Nah, it’s a Jack Benny thing ! ;-)

A “fib” is also a lie. A social lie is also a lie. So is “shading the truth”. But social lies are what keep the human commjunity be able to co-exist.