Sunday throat (1905); Peas with a knife (1828); Ears lowered (1947)

George Thompson george.thompson at NYU.EDU
Tue May 4 00:24:39 UTC 2004


In the humor of the early 20th C, (I'm thinking of cartoons here, maybe,) a touchstone of commonness was eating peas balanced on the blade of a knife -- that, and pouring coffee into the saucer to cool, then drinking it from the saucer.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African
Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998.

----- Original Message -----
From: Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>
Date: Monday, May 3, 2004 10:59 am
Subject: Re: Sunday throat (1905); Peas with a knife (1828); Ears lowered (1947)

> >      I eat my peas with honey
> >      I've done it all my life
> >      It makes the peas taste funny
> >      But they sure stay on my knife.
> >
> >Source unknown.  I heard it from my father sometime in the 1950's
> and I don't
> >recall having heard it from anyone else.
> >
> >          - Jim Landau
>
> I heard from my father in the 60s and 70s. (Variant: lns 3-4 They may
> taste kinda funny/but it keeps them on my knife.) I will ask him
> where and when he first heard it.
>
> Barbara Need
> UChicago--Linguistics
>



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