For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston

For Better or For Worse

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Comments (36) (Please sign in to comment)

  1. onetrack0246

    onetrack0246 said, 3 months ago

    Good 1

  2. Locura

    Locura said, 3 months ago

    I remember this is part of why mom and dad always insisted on correct pronunciation around us and always using a full vocabulary. This strip, right here.

  3. hildigunnur

    hildigunnur said, 3 months ago

    Heh yes – we’ve always spoken to our kids as were they grown-ups. How on earth are they supposed to know correct pronunciation and vocabulary if it isn’t used around them?

  4. Tog

    Tog said, 3 months ago

    My parents always insisted on using correct pronunciation too. I wonder if that manifests itself these days in my refusal to use text speak on the odd occasion when I have to text someone. Or am I just an old curmudgeon. Me dunno.

  5. psychlady

    psychlady said, 3 months ago

    You wonder why? If I didn’t know this comic was being rerun, I would wonder if she will ever speak like an adult!! Get with the program, Elly!!!

  6. SUSAN NEWMAN

    SUSAN NEWMAN said, 3 months ago

    My parents mostly talked to each other in Yiddish, so I couldn’t understand what they were saying.
    Made me feel rejected.

  7. Mai Griffin

    Mai Griffin said, 3 months ago

    @Tog

    Well said. English grammar was easy for me when I started school because my parents spoke correctly. If something didn’t sound right, it was wrong! How sad it is that standards have fallen so low in eighty years.

  8. freewaydog

    freewaydog said, 3 months ago

    @SUSAN NEWMAN

    My mom spoke Yiddish to her friends or my aunt.

  9. Jean

    Jean said, 3 months ago

    I never spoke like this to my children once they were older than like 18 months or so. Up that point it is ok (IMHO) to speak in “baby language” to a child. Once they were up walking and feeding themselves, it was time to talk to them in real words.

  10. rusty gate

    rusty gate said, 3 months ago

    I suppose my parents spoke in baby talk to me, I know they did to my son and to many babies I saw them hold and care for. We, my wife and I, babied and goo-gooed our son and other infants.

    You know what, they all survived just fine, no speech impediments and it didn’t socially destroy them amongst their peers. I guess I’m in the minority here, but I have no problem with what Ellie is doing here, and what my parents and my wife and I have done, and will likely continue to do when our grandchildren come along. They will be just fine.

  11. T_Lexi

    T_Lexi said, 3 months ago

    @SUSAN NEWMAN

    My mom’s parents spoke German in front of the kids, so they couldn’t understand what was being said. Apparantly they did it way too much though, because to this day, my mom and her sibs all understand spoken German…

  12. Elsie Ross

    Elsie Ross said, 3 months ago

    knowing your mother tongue is great. My parents spoke German at home and that was how we all communicated at home. I found it hard in elementary school because I had a slight accent and you know how kids are.

  13. masnadies

    masnadies said, 3 months ago

    Scientists go back and forth on whether baby talk (or the sing-songy intonation) is good or bad. I just can’t do it, and I am proud every time someone asks one of my kids (at about age 3) “Can I?” and they respond “Yes, you may.” Of course, some “errors” of pronunciation, syntax, etc. are developmental and can’t be avoided.

  14. lightenup

    lightenup said, 3 months ago

    I’ve always talked in normal words and voice to my kids. My oldest always spoke more maturely, but my youngest had a couple of words that she had trouble with (i.e. “instresting”, “pafific”), so I guess it just depends.

  15. SeaFox10

    SeaFox10 said, 3 months ago

    I knew this kid that spoke baby talk at age 14!! It was his Dad’s fault! He always baby talked at that kid! The kids younger brother and sister did not talk like a baby!

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