[Ads-l] The peasants are revolting (Comic: The Wizard of Id)

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Mon Jun 5 14:52:55 UTC 2017


Oops.  That last brief message was intended as a response to a message from a grad student who proposed meeting Friday at 1:00.  Nevermind.

LH


> On Jun 5, 2017, at 10:50 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
> Perfect.
>> On Jun 5, 2017, at 8:24 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> Thanks for your responses, Wilson and Geoff.
>> 
>> An instance of the "penniless versus Nicholas (nickel less)" wordplay
>> appeared in a 1922 issue of "The Gargoyle", the student humor magazine
>> of the University of Michigan. "The Gargoyle" acknowledged "The
>> Harvard Lampoon".
>> 
>> [ref] 1922 January, The Gargoyle, Section: Advertising, Unnumbered
>> Page, Published by the students of the University of Michigan, Ann
>> Arbor. (HathiTrust Full View) link [/ref]
>> 
>> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015071373487?urlappend=%3Bseq=187
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Sweet Young Thing—Why, I can't marry you. You're penniless.
>> Hopeful Young Man—That's nothing, the Czar of Russia was Nicholas.
>> —Harvard Lampoon.
>> [End excerpt]
>> 
>> Here is an instance a few months later acknowledging "Vaudeville News".
>> 
>> [ref] 1922 March 27, The Muncie Evening Press, Broadcasting Jokes,
>> Quote Page 4, Column 6, Muncie, Indiana. (Newspapers_com)[/ref]
>> 
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Cents Less
>> Sweet Young Thing—I can't marry you. You are penniless.
>> Young fellow—That's nothing, the czar of Russia was Nicholas.
>> —Vaudeville News.
>> [End excerpt]
>> 
>> Garson
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Jun 5, 2017 at 12:27 AM, GEOFFREY NUNBERG <nunbergg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> The version I recall hearig from a Russian-American friend many years ago had a closing snapper:
>>> 
>>> —The peasants are revolting.
>>> — I know, they’re nauseating.
>>> — But they’re penniless.
>>> — So what, I’m Nicholas.
>>> 
>>> Geoff
>>> 
>>>> Date:    Sun, 4 Jun 2017 14:31:04 -0400
>>>> From:    ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM <mailto:adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>>
>>>> Subject: Re: The peasants are revolting (Comic: The Wizard of Id)
>>>> 
>>>> Back in March, I initiated a thread about a line in the comic "The
>>>> Wizard of Id". Now there is an article on the Quote Investigator
>>>> website on the topic:
>>>> 
>>>> “The Peasants Are Revolting” “You Can Say That Again”
>>>> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/06/03/revolt/ <http://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/06/03/revolt/>
>>>> 
>>>> [Begin acknowledgment]
>>>> Great thanks to Fred Shapiro whose inquiry about famous quotations in
>>>> comic strips led QI to formulate this question and perform this
>>>> exploration. Special thanks to the mailing list discussants: Randy
>>>> Alexander who found the “The Marvelous Land of Oz” citation, Jeff
>>>> Prucher who located the Pogo citation, and James A. Landau who found
>>>> an instance of the 1955 joke. Thanks to Barry Popik for his research
>>>> on this topic. Also, thanks to Arnold Zwicky for his linguistic
>>>> analysis and presentation of several examples.
>>>> [End acknowledgment]
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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