[Ads-l] Polly want a cracker?

[Mark Mandel]

This thread instantly brought to my mind an advertising jingle I must not
have heard since the fifties:

Poll Parrot, Poll Parrot,
The shoes you want to buy.
They make your feet run faster,
As fast as I can fly.

https://youtu.be/q0Ac0sC_CTA
1950s animated commercial

Mark Mandel, never a wearer AFAIR


On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, 8:10 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> "Poll parrot" was the normal unisex nominal used by my NYC grandparents as
> well, at least for the domesticated talking kind. My wife agrees that a
> wild parrot would not be a likely referent for "poll parrot."
>
> OED: 1768 (with "Poll" as a psittacine Christian name from 1600).
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 13, 2019 at 5:12 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > a Poll Parrot
> >
> > The usual term for _a parrot_ amongst the colored people of my day. My
> > boojie analysis of it as a "mistake" based on a mispronunciation of
> "Polly
> > Parrot" clearly was an error.
> >
> > Youneverknow.
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 10:02 PM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > A key parrot phrase. The original "cracker" seems to have been a
> sailor's
> > > "hard cracker" (hardtack biscuit), and the phrase is evidently an
> > > Americanism:
> > >
> > > 1849 _Knickerbocker_ (Dec.) 544: For sale, a Poll Parrot, cheap. He
> says
> > a
> > > remarkable variety of words and phrases, cries 'Fire! fire!' and 'You
> > > rascal!' and 'Polly want a cracker;' and would not be parted with, but,
> > > having been brought up with a sea-captain he is profane, and swears too
> > > much for the subscriber, being a pious man, and having children in the
> > > family, to whom his example is bad.
> > >
> > > 1852 [L. Lermont] _Aunt Patty's Mirror_ (Auburn, N.Y.:  Alden,
> > Beardsley, &
> > > Co.) 144  Common parrots...never in their education get beyond "Poll
> > wants
> > > a cracker!" and "Poll wants to get out!"
> > >
> > > 1855 _Daily Cleveland [O.] Herald (Sept. 6) 1:  With no more apparent
> > > unction than a parrot would repeat "pretty Polly want a cracker."
> > >
> > > 1858_Weekly Ottumwa [Ia.]  Courier_  (March 18) 3: Polly want a
> cracker?
> > >
> > > 1858 _Weekly Hawk-Eye_ (Burlington, Ia.) (Aug. 31) 3: Polly wants a
> > > cracker!
> > >
> > > 1864 _Urbana [O.] Union_ (Dec. 7) 1: The parrot turned her head, and
> > > looking at me sharply, said rapidly: ... "Pretty Poll, pretty Poll,
> poor
> > > Poll, Polly wants a cracker!"
> > >
> > > 1866 _New-Orleans Times_  (May 22) (Suppl.) 2: We give the following
> > advice
> > > to our contributors: "P.Q."-- Mind your p's and q's. ... "R.G." [i.e.,
> > > "rotgut"] -- Not any more, thank you. ... Polly--Polly want a cracker?
> > >
> > > 1888 _Aberdeen [Scot.] Weekly Journal_ (Apr. 21) [unp.]: Dealer...(to
> > > parrot): "Polly want a cracker?" Polly (solemnly)--Let her go,
> > Gallegher."
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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