# For Better Or For Worse 12/22/07 WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038 "2007-12-23T18:59:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/1 "2007-12-23T18:59:59Z")
[http://www.fborfw.com/strip\_fix/archives/002898.php](http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002898.php) Could somebody please explain what’s going on in this comic? This is like something I’d think up when I’m having one of those morbid moments. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/2 "2007-12-23T19:02:10Z")
He’s playing a joke on his daughter, pretending to have cut off one of his fingers. You can see it sticking up when it shows him with his back to the reader. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/3 "2007-12-23T19:03:38Z")
Didn’t your parents/grandparents/weird family members ever play the “missing finger” game with you? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/4 "2007-12-23T19:07:17Z")
Either that, or the Pattersons [really are going to start eating pieces of each other](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9296096&postcount=16). ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/5 "2007-12-23T19:09:48Z")
He’s teasing his daughter with one of those “games” that parents like to “play” with kids. It’s a bit weird and morbid, but lots of people think it’s really funny to pretend fingers are missing or you’re eating bugs or what have you. Most kids usually catch on quickly and play along. If she was one of the kids who didn’t catch on and was honestly upset by it, the comic would have had a far more disturbing tone. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/6 "2007-12-23T19:12:56Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Didn’t your parents/grandparents/weird family members ever play the “missing finger” game with you? [/QUOTE] No, but he told me that ground chuck was made from woodchucks and that the Colorado River was the Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/7 "2007-12-23T19:24:44Z")
Yeah, you can also see that his hand is nowhere near where he’s chopping in the first panel, emphasising that he’s joking. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/8 "2007-12-23T19:33:55Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] No, but he told me that ground chuck was made from woodchucks and that the Colorado River was the Arkansas. [/QUOTE] Heh…my dad told me lebanon bologna was horse meat. I didn’t eat lebanon for years… ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/9 "2007-12-23T20:41:22Z")
Where’s the blood? ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/10 "2007-12-23T21:39:10Z")
My dad played that trick on me when I was little and I passed out. He still feels bad about it. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/11 "2007-12-23T22:30:52Z")
perhaps the snow is getting high and they can’t get out of the house, and have to start eating each other… oh, oops! wrong family, wrong country. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/12 "2007-12-24T00:20:39Z")
If the cartoonist cares to finish the gag, he’ll pretend to find it in the salad. Then he’ll put his hands together, frowning, and there’s his finger, back together and good as new. While she’s marveling over that, he’ll find a loonie in her ear. Years later, she’ll figure out she was fooled, and kill him. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/13 "2007-12-24T00:29:20Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] Years later, she’ll figure out she was fooled, and kill him. [/QUOTE] Cool. They can do it like Funky Winkerbean where everyone ages a hundred years overnight, and she can kill him next week. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/14 "2007-12-24T00:35:11Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] If the cartoonist cares to finish the gag, he’ll pretend to find it in the salad. Then he’ll put his hands together, frowning, and there’s his finger, back together and good as new. While she’s marveling over that, he’ll find a loonie in her ear. Years later, she’ll figure out she was fooled, and kill him. [/QUOTE] The most likely followup is that she’ll take a knife and try to do the trick herself, to show Daddy what a big girl she is. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/15 "2007-12-24T00:35:54Z")
“Vyvyan! I think you cut off one of your fingers!” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/16 "2007-12-24T00:38:47Z")
[QUOTE=rocking chair] perhaps the snow is getting high and they can’t get out of the house, and have to start eating each other… oh, oops! wrong family, wrong country. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but it still feels good to imagine happening to the Patterfoobs… ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/17 "2007-12-24T01:11:01Z")
I wonder if FBoFW is trying to change overall stories, or is just plain trying to vault over carnivorous aquatic creatures. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/18 "2007-12-24T01:22:18Z")
[QUOTE=Scuba\_Ben] I wonder if FBoFW is trying to change overall stories, or is just plain trying to vault over carnivorous aquatic creatures. [/QUOTE] Much as I hate to say it, because I did love FBOFW long ago, that Charcharodon has long been jumped. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/19 "2007-12-24T05:38:49Z")
Wait, wait, um they’re _Canadians_? No wonder I never “got” this strip. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038/20 "2007-12-24T05:39:58Z")
[QUOTE=DJ Motorbike] Wait, wait, um they’re _Canadians_? No wonder I never “got” this strip. [/QUOTE] They’re worse than Canadians…they’re suburban Ontarians! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-better-or-for-worse-12-22-07-wtf/431038.md?page=2)