[Ads-l] Possible antedate to "pneumatic"

[Wilson Gray]

> PNEUMATIC BUST FORMS

Could this also be the source of _pneumatic_ as a slang-term equivalent of
_full-figured_  (AKA _fine, healthy_ in BE)?

On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 4:30 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> In 1902 "The House Beautiful" published an advertisement titled
> "PNEUMATIC BUST FORMS" for a bra that could be inflated with breath.
>
> Year: 1902
> Journal: The House Beautiful
> Volume 12
> Section: Advertisements
> Quote Page: Unnumbered Page
> Publisher: Herbert S. Stone, Chicago, Illinois
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=HzguAAAAMAAJ&q=+pneumatic#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> H & H
> PNEUMATIC BUST FORMS
> "Nature's only rival; they mark the end of padding."
>
> Eagerly welcomed by refined women of society and the stage in of and
> America. Positively a revelation. Inflated by a breath, adjusted
> instantly, with or without corsets, take any and every shape, conform
> to every position and movement.
> [End excerpt]
>
> In 1905 an Illinois newspaper printed a passage about "the female
> figure". Many different types of figures were listed including "a
> broad-gauge pneumatic girl". The newspaper acknowledged a periodical
> called "Exchange".
>
> Date: November 23, 1905
> Newspaper: The Pinckneyville Advocate
> Newspaper Location: Pinckneyville, Illinois
> Article: Stern Edict Revoked (Acknowledges "Exchange")
> Quote Page 1, Column 1
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Lets see, what is the proper shape this season? We confess that we are
> lost at last in the mazes of evolution through which the female figure
> has wandered during the last ten years until we are unable to tell
> whether the present demands of fashion call for a fat girl, a skinny
> girl, a military girl, a Kangaroo girl, a Grecian bend girl, a
> broad-gauge pneumatic girl, or just a girl. There seems to be broad
> catholicity, almost approaching the plebian in the range of the
> feminine figure for the fall and winter wear.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 10:29 AM Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Cowhide whips??  O. Henry???
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 6:05 PM Ben Yagoda <byagoda at udel.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > The relevant definition of “pneumatic” is “humorous. Of, relating to,
> or
> > > characteristic of a woman with a well-rounded figure, esp. a large
> bosom;
> > > (of a woman) having a well-rounded figure, esp. large-bosomed.”
> > >
> > > The first citation is T.S. Eliot (!) in the 1919 poem “Whispers of
> > > Immortality”: "Grishkin is nice... Uncorseted, her friendly bust Gives
> > > promise of pneumatic bliss." A more recent one is from The Sunday
> Times  in
> > > 1994: “Making her film debut in 1981 as a pneumatic Texan temp in the
> > > office comedy Nine To Five, Dolly Parton was an instant success.”
> > >
> > > But a character in a 1905 O. Henry story, “The Girl and the Graft,”
> > > presents a long slangy list of feminine wiles: "signed letters, false
> > > hair, sympathy, the kangaroo walk, cowhide whips, ability to cook,
> > > sentimental juries, conversational powers, silk underskirts, ancestry,
> > > rouge, anonymous letters, violet sachet powders, witnesses, revolvers,
> > > pneumatic forms, carbolic acid, moonlight, cold cream and the evening
> > > newspapers.”
> > >
> > > By the way, the kangaroo walk was a locomotion fad that involved, as
> one
> > > source put it, a “hoppy, springy stride and a swinging relaxation of
> the
> > > arms.” It inspired a 1902 song called “The Girl with the Kangaroo
> Walk.”
> > >
> > > Ben
> > >
> > > benyagoda.com
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> > >
> >
> >
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> truth."
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>


-- 
-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

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