"Call me a cab/taxi" (1901)

Wilson Gray wilson.gray at RCN.COM
Sat Feb 19 18:32:43 UTC 2005


Isn't the protagonist in this class of joke referred to as a "hipster"?
Or is this a dialect split between blacks and whites? Here are a couple
from the '50's.

Hipster standing at the bus stop.
Square walks up, asks the hipster,
"Crosstown bus pass this way?"
Hipster answers, "Doo-dah. Doo-dah.

Hipster watches a square do push-ups.
Finally, he taps the square on his shoulder and says,
"You might as well stop now, man.
"Your girl, she been done gone."

-Wilson Gray

On Feb 18, 2005, at 11:34 PM, James C Stalker wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: =?utf-8?Q?=22Call?= me a =?utf-8?Q?cab/taxi=22?=
> (1901)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> How about the ancient joke (c. 1970).  A hippy (with all the
> implications,
> esp. high), comes upon an accident.  The victim of the accident says:
> "call
> me an amulance."  The hippy says, "Ok, man.  You're an ambulance."
>
> These live on.  Any new ones?
>
> Jim
>
> Laurence Horn writes:
>
>> At 10:38 PM -0500 2/18/05, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>>> This probably comes from a humor magazine such as Life, Puck, Judge,
>>> or
>>> Texas Siftings. Here it is in the mouth of a famous American.
>>> ...
>>> ...
>>> ...
>>> ...
>>> (GOOGLE)
>>> _The  Coffee Place's Joke Stack_ (http://www.thecoffeepla
>>> ce.com/Jokes/aaaaabjk.html)
>>> The Coffee Place's Joke  Stack. "Call me a taxi," said the fat man.
>>> "Okay,"
>>> said
>>> the doorman. "You're a taxi, but you look  more like a truck to me."
>>> ...
>>> ...
>>> www.thecoffeeplace.com/Jokes/aaaaabjk.html - 2k - _Cached_
>>
>> How about the local variant--
>>
>> Make me a malted.
>> Pffft--you're a malted.
>>
>> larry
>>
>>
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>
>
> James C. Stalker
> Department of English
> Michigan State University
>



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