For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 14, 2010

“Female” and “gullible” are NOT synonyms!

spam flagged AGAIN. What does it take to get someone’s posting privileges revoked?

Okay, I admit that if I was Ellie, the strip would end with a smooch :)

Makes you wonder if Ellie likes music at all - surely if she did she’d be excited enough about a new stereo to come round pretty quickly! Maybe John should just say “it’s for YOU darling” and all would be well.

catlady, they’re spamming from various ip-numbers, it’s hard to stop it :(

Why not remove the login priv’s. It’ll slow ‘em down.

She should just tell him that this will be his birthday present, then she’ll be done with shopping for that.

Flagged.

I am not with Ellie on this. Sure, he should have talked with her about buying the stereo, but the whole “I bought a hand cranked can opener” shtick makes her totally unsympathetic. The guy agreed he should have consulted her and paid her a compliment - if she’s going to sulk, then it’s all about her, not him.

He’d better get himself to the store and buy her an ‘lectric can opener with all sorts of bells and whistles (like flowers from the florist, a night of dinner and dancing, and a box of chocolates.)

Nice try, John! However, it ain’t gonna work. Although, unless I missed something, Ellie neglected to mention that the can opener she purchased like a marytr, ended up costing her $140 +! People in glass houses should not throw stones…I know it’s not comparable to the $2000 John spent, but obviously they need to communicate more and get better priorities seeing as they have two children in the mix too.

As for the spammers, they’re all from China. Do a tracert on any of the websites they post, and they all end at a Chinese DNS or app server. If you look at any of their profiles, they are blank. Maybe if the admins required a complete profile before allowing posts, it might slow them down a bit. Or tracert their IP addresses when they sign up and block anything where the address ends in .cn – just a thought.

On my comment above – hundreds of us (at a minimum) bombarded the admins at USA Today about the same spammers. It took a few months, and I don’t know what they did, but the spam is all but gone from USA Today’s comments sections.

For two grand I hope John got a pair of headphones with it. Were I him I would start using them immediately.

I’m sorry John’s great line didn’t work, but I will store it in my memory for future use.

John, At times I make reservations Sometimes I go to florists Times like these need a jeweler

It’s time for Ellie to stop sulking and forgive him. I can understand her anger at first, but she’s really milkin’ it…lol

John, if you wanted to buy the cheapest, Ann Coulter is advertising here.

LOUDER! you need to scream LOUDER! get in his face and SCEAM LOUD!

there ya go

I’m not having that screaming in my face. Eff it.

Send her to the garage until she stops being a female dog.

I know how she feels. My husband goes out to lunch a couple of times a week, while I eat tunafish sandwiches. I went to lunch with some friends the other day, and got, “Why didn’t you just order the soup? Did you have to have the turkey sandwich? Why did you split the bottle of wine? You could have had coffee….” sheesh. I should have growled too.

A swing-and-a-miss though quite suave of him…

growling and screaming in his face – what a harpy. i hope she uses breath mints on a regular basis.

@cdward - well said.

I think it’s time to set up the stereo and put on some can opener music. Then they’ll both be happy. ;-)

Nah; popped foul; still strike 2. Good effort, though - bounced off the roof of the press box… you can tell because the way her eyes perk up in panel 3…..

This cartoon strip is one of the most adorable, real life strips in the paper. I can’t figure out why some people have to be so “analytical” with it. Just enjoy.

John, buy something to make her a HAPPY! Will ya?!

Oh great solution. You just spent an outrageous amount of money on a stereo system, so now you should go spend another outrageous amount of money to placate the wife you just minimized, denigrated, marginalized and generally insulted?

@jaeldid66–You have to be kidding! The two of you need to be in counseling. How dare he treat you like that. And I suppose you spent HIS money, too.

jaeldid66: My condolences at having such a backwards neanderthal for a husband. I applaud your self-control for not growling back at him after that particular conversation. *My* husband wouldn’t have gotten off so lucky if he had done something like that to me. Elly’s temper-tantrum would have been absolutely nothing compared to mine!

The comments here indicate that neither of them are right, neither is wrong, just different perspectives. Must be like real life.

Have any of you seen Why Did I Get Married?

I think you’d like it.

OK Guys. He is smarming her big time with that comment. Look at his face. He thinks she is going to fold. I have been married over 30 years and to be polite that would annoy the heck out of me. Say, OK I spent the money, I’m sorry for what I said and I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I Love You. (It’s over at that point as far as most spouses are concerned (male or female). We all make our mistakes. Just be sincere and give each other a kiss and a hug and that’s it. I love this comic but you have to remember that what takes a week in a comic probably took an hour in real life. It is also blown out of proportion because it is a comic. I don’t think E is a harpy or J is a loser. They have their moments and some of them are not good. Like RedSteph said, it must be real life.

Yeah, but it was good.

Here is a true story: I had this neighbor for many years. An attorney, now in his 70’s, NEVER HAD AN ARGUMENT WITH HIS WIFE. When he told me that, I said, “C’mon, that’s not possible, that’s not healthy, that’s not …….wha?” He said, as an attorney, I argue all day long. I don’t want to when I get home. And I never want to put a hurt look on my wife’s face. Most importantly, he stressed, “That’s not to say we’ve never disagreed. We have. We did it like we still loved one another.”

Makes me want to email him this strip about the “can opener and the stereo,” and all the comments all week long. Its a silly little thing and yet, it is universal. I wonder how many other countries and cultures this would relate to this

She doesn’t want an electric can-opener. Maybe she wants him to just quit insulting her (i.e., “my money,” and today’s comment) – GACKO! I’d do more than yell and I think the strip is a good illustration of women fighting for some rights back 30 years ago – I was one of them. Being nice didn’t get us the vote, and it didn’t get anything else we wanted either.

I just can’t stand her. How can he stand staring at that nasty face every day? It’s no different when she’s having a good day. Notice I didn’t say happy, because she’s only that at the expense of everyone else’s fun.

I’ve had enough of her incessant vileness. Turn up the stereo loud enough to drown out her big mouth, and enjoy it, John, even though you’re a doofis (as explained yesterday). & thanks for the addition to it Paul Jones.

Jaeldid66. I caught it when you said it the other day, about the sandwiches. I thought you may have been hinting that it was you who had to deal with that. I agree with Mythreesons and GretchensMom. To me, you sound sufficiently fed up with your situation to do something about it if you can. I hope you find a way to happiness, whatever it may take to safely achieve that. I know it’s easy for me to say, but the first time that ever happened to me, which it hasn’t, he’d be flushing tuna fish sandwich out of his sinuses for a long time before he got it all out. I’m not kidding. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

Ugh. He just equated marrying her with buying a possession. Manipulative and Not smooth at all. Really, really ugly, in fact.

I’m not much for music anymore, but if my guy wanted a bigger TV and we had the money for it- I’m all for that! I’m a single woman with 2 TiVos, after all ;->

Burn.