My mum used to call my Pop “Johnny.” And also, Pop gave Mum the picture of him with a navy sailor and wrote “To the one I love, Johnny” What was wrong with that? :-)
Nothing at all, Wildmustang, if that’s what he actually preferred to be called. Most men, however, outgrow the nicknames of childhood when they become adults, and they consider it an insult to use those names once they’ve outgrown them.
John sees “Johnny” and even worse, “Johnny Jump-Up” as insulting because his mother is in essence treating him like a little boy instead of like the grown man that he actually is. Moreover, he sees it as undermining his authority over Michael because she’s not treating John as an adult in front of Michael. That’s the reason for John’s dirty look in the last panel.
Wildmustang1262 said, about 9 hours ago
My mum used to call my Pop “Johnny.” And also, Pop gave Mum the picture of him with a navy sailor and wrote “To the one I love, Johnny” What was wrong with that? :-)
Nothing at all, Wildmustang, if that’s what he actually preferred to be called. Most men, however, outgrow the nicknames of childhood when they become adults, and they consider it an insult to use those names once they’ve outgrown them.
John sees “Johnny” and even worse, “Johnny Jump-Up” as insulting because his mother is in essence treating him like a little boy instead of like the grown man that he actually is. Moreover, he sees it as undermining his authority over Michael because she’s not treating John as an adult in front of Michael. That’s the reason for John’s dirty look in the last panel.