Elly versus saying what she means.....

[dreadedcandiru2]

One of Elly's less charming traits is her reluctance to get out there and tell people exactly what's on her mind. For some reason or another, she thinks it's polite to either obliquely allude to what she wants or flat-out not say what she means. People around her are supposed to read between the lines and know exactly what she's saying despite her not saying it; if they don't, she loses her composure and starts to yell, gripe and pout about her selfish family and their refusal to listen to her. She does this a lot because she's married to an intensely literal-minded human being; most of the tension in the strip is the result of John's touching but countre-productive belief that his wife will say what she means and mean what she says. This, of course, fails him because she will not do either. I'll bet you that John was walking Liz down the aisle, he had yet to learn that Elly hated being a housewife.