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The family surname Broon is the Scots for Standard English "Brown," as indicated by the nameplate that occasionally appears on the front door of their flat. Also, when a family member is addressed by a non-Scot (i.e. an Englishman or an American), he or she is addressed as Mister or Miss Brown.
Early strips written in the 1930s featured less dialogue where most of the pictures told the story, this was more common in Oor Wullie strips however the occasional Broons strip did this too.
During the 1970s stories drawn by Tom Lavery, another character named Dave MacKay was regularly featured. Dave was Maggie's long-term boyfriend and later her fiancé, although the latter aspect only featured in the original Sunday Post strips, with all mentions of the engagement removed for the annual reprints. Although his father was an old school friend of Paw, his mother was upper–middle-class, much to the chagrin of Paw and Maw. (Despite the Broons' perpetual deference to their social 'betters'. Many comical premises were built on the family's attempts to impress members of the landed gentry, or the clergy. Many storylines featured Paw bringing shame on the family by being seen wearing torn trousers or working clothes by the 'Meenister' (Church of Scotland vicar).) Maggie's character also changed during this time, becoming more posh (and, unlike the rest of the Broons, spoke Standard English rather than Modern Scots). When Peter Davidson took over from Lavery, the character was dropped without explanation.[1] The 2012 special annual The Broons and Oor Wullie: Classic Strips from the 70's reveals the fate of the character which was created specially for this book.
Most of the humour derives from the timeless themes of the "generation gap," stretching the money as far as possible, and the constant struggle for each family member to live in a very small flat with the other nine Broons. In the end, the family always support one other, getting through life with a gentle good humour as they argue amongst themselves.
Another staple of the series is misunderstanding: inevitably the bairn or the twins mishear something Granpaw or another family member says, and the whole family act on it until the truth is revealed in the final panel. An example is where the twins are told by Daphne that she's bringing her boyfriend up to dinner and that he is half Polish and half French. While Maggie makes a French salad and Paw finds a flag from each country, Hen asks if they know the man's name – Angus MacKay. Hen and Paw go with the twins to see his shop. It turns out he's a French-polisher – "polish" being pronounced the same as "Polish" in Scots.
When Maggie and Daphne ask where their clothes are and Granpaw tells them that "their sister has them," both think he means each other; Maggie and Daphne fight, when in fact the Bairn took them to dress up.