For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 23, 2012

Jon may be soon working on his kids mouth.

AIN’T THAT THE TRUTH!! LOL!

My bros. and I had a ‘Grandma-visit’ when we were still young, (in the 1970’s) and she’d been living out-of-State. At one point she offered to do the grocery shopping for our mom for dinner one night. When we got home, we were each the proud owners of boxes of sugary cereal that we were never allowed to have. Mom protested it, but not for very long, cuz one can never really argue with an Irishwoman who rarely gets to see her ‘Grand-babies’, as she used to call us. Great memories! :)

@hsawlrae: Do you mean because Michael may have a skating accident? In that case, there should be an apostrophe in your “kids.” If the apostrophe is before the S, it means you’re referring to Mike’s skating; if after the S it means both of the kids

Works for me!

The polite thing to do is thank the person helping to correct the unintentional errors and be more careful with future messages. Clarity isn’t a burden; it’s a gift.

Not to stir the pot, but the older I get, the more appreciate ‘little refreshers’ AND, just an additional thought: all the people on this site from around the world learning English may also benefit… Just sayin’ -

She knows! But Grandma can’t always get you everything, so also learn how to get it yourself.

I’ve been wondering for a while now: Do comments drop off after a certain number or time? There have been several days when I have wanted to read the original post that has interesting replies but I can’t find it.

Family Circus did a comic like this several years back…the dad was giving Jeffy a cracker, and he said “What’s the magic word to get what you want?” and Jeffy says “GRANDMA!!!!”

i shure aprecate the engluse leson. i ispecely lik to heer from peeple that luv to shoo how smart they ar.By the way, where’s Michael’s pads and head gear?

“What’s the magic word?”“I’ll tell!”“NO! that’s the magic word you use on your sister!”“Oh, Please”

Repeat: We’re commenting on comic strips -not composing a resume.(Composing resumes has become absolutely ridiculous!You can’t type one yourself and have a chance at a job interview.It’s gotten to the point one has to have resumes composed by a professional, and even custom tailored to the company/interviewer you are targeting.)At least for professional or engineering positions.

Note to fellow English majors: I know how it upsets all of us to see an apostrophe missing or out of place, but we need to make the supreme sacrifice and shut up about it.Re: Saving money: I’ll never forget how during WWII I saved my quarter per week allowance till I had $1.00 to buy a darling felt parachuter with a silkish parachute and a backpack full of candy BB’s. Ditto for later getting a gold-wash cocker spaniel statue. Still have him. Good times.

“I hate it when English teachers read these comments and feel they just MJST point out any errors. It demonstrates a definite lack of tolerance; and it’s as rude as a person with a sensitive nose coming into your house and telling you it stinks. The polite thing to do is overlook the errors, and spare us the English lesson.…………………………It’s really hard to keep quiet, but you’re absolutely right!

I place a lot of value on good grammar, but I agree with you. There’s a time and a place. This here ain’t English class.

He should be at a roller skating rink where it’s safer. And grandmas always come through for their little angels.

0:)

I’ll second the motion!

My goodness, people certainly are defensive about wanting to be able to communicate in an unclear and imprecise fashion. They fail to appreciate that grammatical rules are existent in order to allow for clarity. Ignorance is certainly one’s right to display, but a desire for clarity is just as acceptable. To decry a desire for clarity, going so far as to state that advocating it is rude and intolerable, does not bespeak an ability to think or communicate with clarity and condemns a desire for intellectual growth. ’Tis a sad state of affairs.

The only reason I butted in about the apostrophe was to understand better what he meant – I usually DO overlook typos and enjoy Lizzie’s look. Notice that I also erred about adding an S to “mouth.” – I didn’t mind being corrected – I appreciated it.

The placing of the apostrophe changes the meaning of the sentence, so it’s just as important to get clarification.

Did anyone who was interested get to see the cute little video I posted here last night regarding the roller skating babies? It was kind of late, which made me the last person of the day to comment and I don’t know how many people go back and read the previous day’s comments after they’ve left one of their own just to see what anyone else might have written after them. If you missed it and would like to see it, I’ve posted it here again for your convenience. Enjoy!

Babies on Roller Skates

Love Lizzie’s sweet little smile in the last panel today. What an absolute cutie pie she is!!!!!

There’s no need for tongue biting, GretchensMom, as a correction can be accepted as helpful without anger or resentment. Learning to communicate in a clear fashion isn’t some sort of punishment or chore, it’s more like learning to breathe fully. Illiteracy isn’t a right, it’s an impediment, and defending it instead of embracing it is nothing more than hugging miscommunication in a lover’s grasp.

I agree with ths pedantic behavior about spelling. To be fair, sometimes I have asked about differences in spelling and grammar, but only to clarify what the writer is trying to talk about. I hate those English teachers who take their work everywhere and feel that everybody in the whole wide world are their students. You never see math, science or geography teachers correcting people outside the classroom! :)

In the same way that kids cannot always beg their parents, Grandma may not have all the money in the world neither. Later strips would have an older Elizabeth (pre-teen) having been made to do more work and also being told that any school supplies she loses or exhausts will come out of her pocket to be replaced.