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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

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