comic strip words revisited

[Dennis R. Preston]

Earlier than 50s for 'Notary Sojac,' a sign that hung on the wall
(with no relation to the strip goings-on) in the Gasoline Alley
strip, whose hero was one "Smoky Stover."

As for "potrzebie," this web account is linguistically correct (I'm
not sure about the aspirin bottle historical stuff):

"It's a Polish word - means something along the lines of "necessary"
(needed/required/wanted) modulo losses in translation.... Mad
publisher (in both senses) William Gaines encountered the word
"potrzebie" on a the label of a bottle of Polish aspirin.

dInIs (lirttle older'n LH; read the funnies in the early 40s)

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject:      comic strip words revisited
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Today's Zippy the Pinhead (courtesy of the Washington Post), a strip
>called "Schluburbia" contains this exchange:
>
>Nov shmoz ka pop?
>Notary sojac!
>Nize baby! Banana oil! Jeep!
>Potrzebie! Axolotl! Fershlugginer!
>Everything I know I learned from old comic strips...
>
>(Some of these I recall from my old Mad Magazine subscription in the 50s.)
>
>LH
>
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Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15-C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036
Phone: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755
preston at msu.edu

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