QuoteProject
I was terrible at straight items. When I wrote obituaries, my mother said the only thing I ever got them to do was die in alphabetical order.
Erma Bombeck
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote humorously reflects on the writer's struggle with traditional writing formats.

Erma Bombeck uses this quote to highlight her difficulties with structured writing, specifically when it came to obituaries. The humor lies in the absurdity of suggesting that the deceased should arrange themselves alphabetically, showcasing her self-deprecating wit and the idea that writing doesn't always have to follow strict conventions.

Themes

WritingHumorObituariesCreativitySelf-Deprecation

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a writing workshop to break the ice and discuss different writing styles.

More from Erma Bombeck

We've got a generation now who were born with semiequality. They don't know how it was before, so they think, this isn't too bad. We're working. We have our attache' cases and our three piece suits. I get very disgusted with the younger generation of women. We had a torch to pass, and they are just sitting there. They don't realize it can be taken away. Things are going to have to get worse before they join in fighting the battle.
Erma BombeckRead
You hear a lot of dialogue on the death of the American family. Families aren't dying. They're merging into big conglomerates.
Erma BombeckRead
Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It's the only thing "real" men do that doesn't seem to threaten their masculinity. To women, it's on the same domestic entry level as putting the spring back into the toilet-tissue holder or taking a chicken out of the freezer to thaw.
Erma BombeckRead
Not everyone is comfortable with the kissing ritual. My husband is one of them. Her refuses to press lips with anyone except his wife, mother, and dog. If someone wanted to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he would refuse until he had been formally introduced.
Erma BombeckRead
There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.
Erma BombeckRead
Maybe age is kinder to us than we think. With my bad eyes, I can't see how bad I look, and with my rotten memory, I have a good excuse for getting out of a lot of stuff.
Erma BombeckRead

Similar quotes

I just want a hot cup of coffee,black,and I don’t want to hear about your troubles.
Charles BukowskiRead
Sailors ought never to go to church. They ought to go to hell, where it is much more comfortable.
H. G. WellsRead
Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.
George CarlinRead
Sometimes I lie awake at night thinking about all the dumb things I do every day... If I live to be eighty and I do ten dumb things each day... That would be about two hundred and ninety thousand dumb things... When you add up all the dumb things you do, it's best to use round figures.
Charles M. SchulzRead
It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.
MoliereRead
There is no vaccine against stupidity.
Albert EinsteinRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.