Saturday 25 November 2006

The Wife

I'm not quite the last person in the world you'd expect to start a blog, so there are still a few left for those of you who may have been thinking about getting one.

Now, I have always liked the definite article, used instead of the possessive pronoun, in 'the wife', though wives do not tend to be fond of it. It has an unpretentious earthy working class Britishness about it. It's the antithesis of the socially aspiring person who talks of 'my electrician' or 'my chiropodist' or 'my bank manager', as though all of these good folk were being kept in a room at the back of the house, or at least on retainers. It also reminds me of an old tv show, Meet the Wife , famously mentioned in a Beatles' song, which we never missed in our house when i was a wee'un.

It reminds me too of 'The Mammy' of Irish usage, and celebrated in the wonderful old photo on Brendan O'Carroll's book, which I confess i just bought for the cover and haven't read. What a glorious photo, from when the mammy wore kickarse boots and marched to the shops with a big bag in each hand, and when men were useless bastards, if we are to believe Angela's Ashes and its ilk. Lately in our house the Wife has found herself ennobled with that other nostalgic title, and she seems to have accepted this with a degree of affection. After all, is the definite article not good enough for the Queen?

However, my story: my wife (for I am but a coward when all is said and done), Anne , has lately added a new word to the English lexicon. Caught on the phone during dinner, she yessed her way through a conversation while mentally rehearsing her exit line- thanks for ringing... thanks for phoning?- and when she finally found a break in the traffic to speak it, it came out as 'thanks for roning'. This is now the exit line of choice in our house, even when a telephonic device is not involved.

In the old days I'd have made a one-page 'Alec' out of this , but today we squander our narratives in a blog.

posted by the old man

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7 Comments:

Blogger Michael Nicolai said...

As a fan of your writing I would like to welcome you to the "blog-o-sphere". As a fan of the Alec strips, I would ask you to please save your best stories. Only C-grade material and lower is acceptible on blogs.

27 November 2006 at 11:59:00 GMT-5  
Blogger robsalk said...

Eddie - Welcome to the pond; the water's fine. You're right to consider the dangers, though. Over the last few years, my blog has been a sinkhole for thousands of words that could have been productively employed in "real" projects. You'd like to think you're saving the best lines for the paying customers, but it's hard to say sometimes...

27 November 2006 at 12:05:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Leigh Walton said...

Could it be? The most readable man in comics comes a-blogging? Fantastic news!

27 November 2006 at 12:35:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Maria Pena said...

Hey Alec
Maria Pena here, from the 'Fox Comix' days...

Good to see you in cyberspace... you've given me something to think about with this post - yes, blogging is a big time sucking activity for both poster and readers... but I wonder whether this could be a good opportunity to illustrate each post with a couple of frames, (maybe too much work?) which might get the juices flowing and, who knows? spawn the next storytelling extravaganza. I might have a go myself...
Look forward to more,
M

27 November 2006 at 17:25:00 GMT-5  
Blogger Bob Horner said...

Love your comics. I put a couple of your 5 or 6 page comics in with my all time favorite list of short stories. I'll definitely be adding yours to the small handful of blogs I check out.

27 November 2006 at 23:22:00 GMT-5  
Blogger James Robert Smith said...

"In the old days i'd have made a one page Alec out of this..."

Alas.

28 November 2006 at 17:38:00 GMT-5  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i like th way you are using it so far! My favourite's th computer-destroying picture. (Reprinted it in my own journ, hope you don't mind, but if you do I'll take it down straightaway.)

5 December 2006 at 09:17:00 GMT-5  

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