[Ads-l] the Drink Canada Dry joke

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Update to previous message: Barry asserted in his article that the
"Drink Canada Dry" advertising slogan was circulating by January 1925;
hence, the May 1925 headline writer who composed "THIRSTY AMERICANS
DRINK CANADA DRY" may have been referencing the slogan.  Garson


On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 3:05 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> Barry's earliest citation for the "Canada Dry" joke is dated October 11, 1927.
>
> An interesting precursor appeared in a May 1925 article headlined
> "THIRSTY AMERICANS DRINK CANADA DRY" which described a large group of
> Prohibition era Americans visiting Canada to drink beer (not ginger
> ale). The headline was a jocular exaggeration, but the humor was not
> based on the "Canada Dry" beverage wordplay. There was another form of
> wordplay. The word "dry" refers to the lack of water/fluid and the
> lack of alcohol.
>
> Date: May 27, 1925
> Newspaper: The Iowa Recorder (The Greene Recorder)
> Newspaper Location: Greene, Iowa
> Article: THIRSTY AMERICANS DRINK CANADA DRY: 200,000 GALLONS CONSUMED
> IN FOUR DAYS:
> By Auto and By Rail They Invade the New Land Where the Amber Fluid Flows
> Quote Page 1, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt - the humor is in the headline not the body excerpt below]
> Windsor, Ont., May 24.—Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are
> marching—marching off the ferryboats at the rate of a thousand every
> ten minutes—marching up the main street of this little city, that has
> been re-christened America's filling station—marching past the windows
> of the office in which these lines are written—marching into the
> restaurants and hotels that are dispensing the famous four-point-four.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Below is a July 1925 citation containing an instance of the "Canada
> Dry" beverage wordplay.
>
> Date: July 7, 1925
> Newspaper: Honolulu Star-Bulletin
> Newspaper Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
> Article: Down to Cases With Case
> Quote Page 6, Column 3
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "DRINK CANADA DRY," says a sign in one of Honolulu's principal
> Streets. From what we are able to learn, a lot of Americans are trying
> to do it.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Below is another instance of the joke in the form of a telegram in August 1926.
>
> Date: August 30, 1926
> Newspaper: Chicago Tribune
> Newspaper Location: Chicago, Illinois
> Column: A LINE O' TYPE OR TWO
> Quote Page 10, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> AH, YES, IT'S QUITE A TASK THESE DAYS.
>
> A62C MS 22 WK 1046A AUG 29 62 R H L
> SIGN IN CORNER DRUG STORE QUOTE
> DRINK CANADA DRY UNQUOTE STOP CANT
> DRINK CANADA DRY STOP TOODAM BUSY
> DRINKING UNITED STATES DRY
>              HERBLOCK 1103A
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 2:13 PM, paul johnson <paulzjoh at mtnhome.com> wrote:
>> There was a version of this that went:  Family takes their heavy drinker to
>> see Seagram's distillery, points out size of building and lights on all
>> night,  "See dad, you can't drink Canada Dry"
>>
>> "Yes, but I got them working nights"
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 6/8/2017 12:13 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>>>
>>> on my blog, with credit to ADS-L and Barry Popik:
>>>
>>> https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/06/08/an-old-resultative-joke/
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Can T_ _ _ p speak while Putin drinks a glass of water?
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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