[Ads-l] Joke: Television: It's called a medium because it=?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99s_?=never well done (UNCLASSIFIED)

Ben Zimmer bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
Thu Jul 25 23:14:23 UTC 2019


And then there's Richard Lederer's quip, "A good pun is like a good steak:
a rare medium well done." I see variations on that theme in the newspaper
databases going back to the '70s.

On Thu, Jul 25, 2019 at 6:36 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks, Bill. That is great. The citation you found certainly fits
> into this set of wordplay jokes although I do not quite follow the
> humor. Inspired by your efforts I found a version of the joke that I
> do understand in November 1949.
>
> [ref] 1949 November 22, The San Francisco Examiner, Day and Night with
> Radio and Television by Dwight Newton, Quote Page 16, Column 8, San
> Francisco, California. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/458737600/?terms=medium
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> TAG LINES: Ed "Archie" Gardner on "Duffy's Tavern"--"Television is a
> medium where if anything is well done, it's rare."
> [End excerpt]
>
> I will add the citation you found to the QI article and acknowledge
> you soon, Bill.
>
> I came across the "Easy Aces" when I was researching "Time Wounds All
> Heels"
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/09/23/heels/
>
> Garson
>
> On Thu, Jul 25, 2019 at 5:46 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY
> CCDC AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
> >
> > Somewhat related:
> >
> > _Milwaukee [WI] Journal_ 30 Jul 1950 Sunday magazine section p 30
> > "Television is called a medium because it's so rare. -- Easy Aces"
> >
> > "Easy Aces" was a TV show (formerly a radio show) on the Dumont
> network.  Both the radio and TV version starred Goodman Ace (see the 1953
> cite in your article).
> >
> > Fred Allen probably used the version you quote him as saying in 1950 on
> the radio broadcast _The Big Show_ which premiered on Nov 5.  See this
> review of the show:
> >
> > https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting391unse#page/n671/mode/1up
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> > > ADSGarson O'Toole
> > > Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2019 9:13 AM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Joke: Television: It's called a medium
> because it’s
> > > never well done
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----
> > >
> > > Here is another version of the wordplay joke in the subject line:
> > > Television is called a medium because it is neither rare nor well done.
> > >
> > > Comedian Goodman Ace wrote a letter to Groucho Marx containing an
> > > instance of the subject line quip in 1953. In 1973 “The Filmgoer’s
> Book of
> > > Quotes” by Leslie Halliwell credited the joke to comedian Ernie Kovacs.
> > >
> > > Many references attribute the joke to Goodman Ace or Ernie Kovacs while
> > > presenting one of these citations (or no citations), e.g.:
> > >
> > > The Macmillan Dictionary of Quotations (1989) The Best Guide to
> Humorous
> > > Quotations (2011) Encarta Book of Quotations (2000) Oxford Dictionary
> of
> > > Humorous Quotations (2008) The Yale Book of Quotations (2006)
> > >
> > > The Quote Investigator website now has an entry on this topic with a
> > > 1950 citation ascribing the joke to Fred Allen.
> > >
> > > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/07/24/tv/
> > >
> > > Feedback welcome
> > > Garson
> >

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