E B Who?

[F, Calla & Luca]

As you may know our resident humorist and blogger, Laurie of Fudge and Vern fame, recently had the idea that she was somehow the new incarnation of E B White. Now she has had many good ideas but this wasn't one of them. I think it was a brainstorm with some electrical static.

E B White wrote for the New Yorker, wrote a few wonderful children's books,  and was one of the authors of a book on English usage. Does this sound like Laurie? I hear a resounding no in the background.

This is what he looked like.

I guess he did like dogs but does he look like Laurie? I hear a resounding no in the background.

EB White also said some witty things.

"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it."

"Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts."

"To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year."

Now that last one to anyone who has read Laurie's writings makes any resemblance preposterous. Why she has 7 Christmas trees (at least I hope it was Laurie who said she had this many trees)  : )

So while a was flossing my teeth last night I had my brilliant idea. Allow me to digress, oh you can't prevent me : ) I find that while riding my lawn tractor, driving, taking a shower and yes, flossing my teeth, ideas flow. The ideas do not always seem brilliant when the activity is over but this one passed the test of time, namely one hour. Our Laurie is the new incarnation of Erma Bombeck. E B for sure, I don't know where the White came from except for said electrical static.

"Erma Bombeck, who found the funny in the everyday experiences of being a wife and mother".

Many on DK are too young to remember her but she was very funny. She not only came from the midwest like Laurie, but as usual with my Laurie connections, Laurie even resembles her. Maybe the midwest has a small, but select, gene pool : )

She liked dogs too although she said, " He that lieth down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas." Unlike our Laurie though, Erma did say:

"My dog, Harry, has a problem. He is the only dog in our block who is a dog.All his other canine friends are next-to-humans who wear little sweaters, watch their weight and are literally members of families. They have high IQs and do extraordinary things. This is making my dog neurotic." Sadly, Laurie does dress her dogs, a lot.

Erma Bombeck was extremely witty too, but not more so than our Laurie. She said:

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'." Sounds like Laurie blogging away, no?

"Do you know what you call those who use towels and never wash them, eat meals and never do the dishes, sit in rooms they never clean, and are entertained till they drop? If you have just answered, "A house guest," you're wrong because I have just described my kids." Sounds like Laurie in her always flattering recollections about her girls.

 

"I haven't trusted polls since I read that 62% of women had affairs during their lunch hour. I've never met a woman in my life who would give up lunch for sex." Sounds like Laurie, end of discussion.

Erma wrote columns and books such as The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. And, All I know about Animal behavior I learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room.

So I rest my case. Laurie is not the next EB White but the next Erma Bombeck. Long may her career thrive.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I had forgotten all about Erma, but you're right she and Laurie do have a lot in common.  I just went back and read more of her quotes and they are clearly "of one mind".  We need to find Laurie a book deal.  I'm thinking the fact that she's received such acclaim here on DK and is now a published author (the Pontoon magazine), should be all she needs to line up a really lucrative book contract.  Then she'll be well on her way.  Oh, and I haven't thought about the Leohmann's dressing room in years...good times.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Thanks for the education F! She sounds like she was an extrodinary woman - Just like our Laurie! I loved those quotes from her.

Laurie, I can't wait to read your christmas blogs this year. Something tells me they will be very entertaining.

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

I think that is a high compliment and also spot on! We really could use a modern day Erma Bombeck (and I think Laurie is the perfect candidate). 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ha, well we can't control our minds.

[F, Calla & Luca]

You are welcome. I forgot the Elderly Braggart part or I would have worked it in : ) But you do remind me of Erma. I really found EB White interesting . He wrote Charlotte's Web and The Trumpeter Swan, which I actually read to my kids. I liked it. But he is also famous for Strunk and White, the Elements of Style about writing, which I bought years ago I think and there it sits. Sometime I do wonder, well often, about the mind but this thought honestly came to me as I said it did.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am not so sure I like that you are thinking about me as you are flossing your teeth :) LOL

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, F!! I take this as high praise indeed as I always loved Erma Bombeck!! High praise indeed!  Now, as for the EB White. When I wrote that discussion, I did a search for authors with initials and when I came upon one I knew, with the initials E.B., I knew I could spin that into elderly braggart :) I never researched beyond that! You know me...LOL!! This I like....a lot!!

P.S. I did have 7 Christmas trees, but this year we are making big changes :)

[Bonnie and Kona]

Here, here! F. Long may Laurie's career thrive. She certainly follows in the genre of the beloved Erma B.