Skidoo 23 Is Now 37
Turn the Card Around and I Hand You a Lemon
The Saucy Little Bird on Nellie's Hat
Oh You Lobster!
The Lemon
Did You Know That Eleven and Twelve Make 23?
Merry Lemony Christmas
My Wife's Gone to the Country
Keep Cool
Oh You Candy Kid
Oh You Chestnut!
What Will the Milky Way?
With My Compliments
To My Valentine, 'Tis a Lemon That I Hand You
What Means This Shoe So Very New? Why, "23" Skidoo…
Skiddo Is Always Known by the Numerals 23
Skidoo This Is Not a One Way Ticket to Heaven
Down and Out Club Membership Card, 1906
Fireman Save My Child, Sloppy Joe's Bar, Havana, C…
Oh! You Lobster
Oh You Lemon!
Down and Out Club Membership Card, 1906
See also...
" Cartes postales et photos historiques de partout dans le monde / Historische Postkarten und Photos aus aller Welt "
" Cartes postales et photos historiques de partout dans le monde / Historische Postkarten und Photos aus aller Welt "
Keywords
Authorizations, license
-
Visible by: Everyone -
All rights reserved
-
1 670 visits
I'm Sending You a Lemon for a Merry Christmas
This is a postcard addressed on the verso to "Mrs. D. P. Conklin, Highland Mills, N.J.," but otherwise there's no handwritten message, stamp, or postmark.
A lemon with a Christmas greeting might seem like a work of Dadaist art to us today, but this postcard actually had a specific meaning in the early twentieth century when it was created.
To "hand someone a lemon" meant—often with humorous or joking intentions—"scram," "beat it," or—in the terms of the fad it was associated with—"skidoo" or "23 skidoo."
In another postcard example, this connection between lemons and skidoo forms the basis of a message on a Valentine's Day card (see below): "To My Valentine / 'Tis a lemon that I hand you / And bid you now 'skidoo,' / Because I love another— / There is no chance for you!"
In a third instance, a postcard (below) depicts a hand reaching out to offer the viewer three lemons. You had to know, of course, that being handed a lemon signified "skidoo" in order to realize that the caption, "With my compliments," was meant sarcastically.
So how did lemons become associated with skidoo? A fourth postcard (below) may provide the answer. The postcard is printed in bright yellow and green colors, and lemons appear in the middle of the card and in each of its four corners. The puzzling message on the card begins,"Skidoo 23 is NOW 37," and then continues, "Turn around the card and I hand you a—."
Rotating the postcard so that the text is upside down reveals that the letters and numbers of "NOW 37" turn into the word "LEMON" (this trick is known as an ambigram, in case you were wondering). So, to put it all together, this postcard illustrated that being asked to skidoo—or more colloquially, telling someone "23 skidoo"—was the equivalent of being handed a lemon!
And, of course, the reverse was true—if you received a lemon, you'd better skidoo!
A lemon with a Christmas greeting might seem like a work of Dadaist art to us today, but this postcard actually had a specific meaning in the early twentieth century when it was created.
To "hand someone a lemon" meant—often with humorous or joking intentions—"scram," "beat it," or—in the terms of the fad it was associated with—"skidoo" or "23 skidoo."
In another postcard example, this connection between lemons and skidoo forms the basis of a message on a Valentine's Day card (see below): "To My Valentine / 'Tis a lemon that I hand you / And bid you now 'skidoo,' / Because I love another— / There is no chance for you!"
In a third instance, a postcard (below) depicts a hand reaching out to offer the viewer three lemons. You had to know, of course, that being handed a lemon signified "skidoo" in order to realize that the caption, "With my compliments," was meant sarcastically.
So how did lemons become associated with skidoo? A fourth postcard (below) may provide the answer. The postcard is printed in bright yellow and green colors, and lemons appear in the middle of the card and in each of its four corners. The puzzling message on the card begins,"Skidoo 23 is NOW 37," and then continues, "Turn around the card and I hand you a—."
Rotating the postcard so that the text is upside down reveals that the letters and numbers of "NOW 37" turn into the word "LEMON" (this trick is known as an ambigram, in case you were wondering). So, to put it all together, this postcard illustrated that being asked to skidoo—or more colloquially, telling someone "23 skidoo"—was the equivalent of being handed a lemon!
And, of course, the reverse was true—if you received a lemon, you'd better skidoo!
Smiley Derleth, , John FitzGerald and 2 other people have particularly liked this photo
- Keyboard shortcuts:
Jump to top
RSS feed- Latest comments - Subscribe to the comment feeds of this photo
- ipernity © 2007-2024
- Help & Contact
|
Club news
|
About ipernity
|
History |
ipernity Club & Prices |
Guide of good conduct
Donate | Group guidelines | Privacy policy | Terms of use | Statutes | In memoria -
Facebook
Twitter
Sign-in to write a comment.