Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz for January 22, 2017

The fellow who wrote it must not be as obligated as C.B.

Hey, that’s how I felt about math homework when I was his age!

Yeah, I read the bridge column for years, but it might as well have been written in Finnish, because it never made any sense to me, either!

That’s how I felt about Christie’s novel “Cards on the Table.” I had to skip all those descriptions of bridge hands and was afraid I’d miss an important clue.

Love that lamp. What a sample of the times.

I knew that Bridge was a big deal in the fifties, nearly at fad level for a time. But it’s still strange to see how often Schulz weaves this into his strips of the day.

I unlike Charlie Brown didn’t feel obligated, but for some reason I used to read Goren’s column and then later Sharif’s, never understanding what I was reading. I guess I was the dummy.

Our local newspaper had a bridge column in the 70’s. But I never ran across anyone who played the game or knew how (I still don’t).

I used to read the bridge column back in the ’70s, when I also listened a lot to Yes. The bridge column and the lyrics to “Tales from Topographic Oceans” made about the same amount of sense.

I used to think that one had to read “everything” printed in the paper and I marvelled at my parents’ ability to do that every day. With the state of our local paper now, decades later, I could but I don’t because it’s mostly stuff of little personal interest. For another confusing situation, try reading the Flashman book that involved a cricket game. Sorry I can’t remember the title but I have no idea how the game is organised after reading that one.

I used to think the same thing. I was a big fan of Omar Sharif, but his bridge column didn’t make any sense to me.

Back when I was working we played Euchre during breaks and lunch time.

If you don’t know the rules, reading about bridge is like reading a foreign language. Maybe it still is even if you do know the rules, I wouldn’t know.