[Ads-l] "What do you mean we, paleface / white man / kemo sabe?"

[Bill Mullins]

Background:

Mark Evanier administers the Bill Finger Award for the San Diego Comic Convention, recognizing a comics writer whom the jury feels is under-recognized.  This year, one of the awardees is E. Nelson Bridwell.

https://www.comic-con.org/awards/bill-finger-award-node

In a follow-up blog post, he mentioned that Bridwell wrote a 1 page piece for Mad Magazine in 1958 that featured the subject joke, and speculated that Bridwell had come up with it.

https://www.newsfromme.com/2019/05/25/more-about-nelson/

Others have gone so far as to assert that the joke is, in fact, Bridwell's.

https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-329/ <https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-329/>

(and this last citation even ends up in the first line of Bridwell's wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Nelson_Bridwell ).


Apparently, none of these people actually looked that hard.

_Los Angeles Times_ 16 Aug 1956 p 4.

"Tonto and the Lone Ranger were riding across the prairie when suddenly in the distance loomed 1000 wild, screaming Indians.  "What will we do?" asked the Lone Ranger.  "We go this way," said Tonto.  In a few minutes another 1000 Indians appeared ahead, charging them. "What will we do?" the Lone Ranger asked again.  Tonto pointed toward a butte.  They were scarcely a mile away when still another 1000 Indians charged around the butte, headed toward them.  "What will we do?" the Lone Ranger asked.  Tonto gave him a long, stern look.  "What do you mean 'we,' paleface?" he demanded."



[https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif]<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=icon>        Virus-free. www.avast.com<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=link>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org