|
American railroads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries often allowed fruit vendors to sell their merchandise on the trains. Con artists soon perfected a scheme where one would buy a banana, eat it, leave the peel on the train’s floor, then wait for their confederate to slip on it and sue the railroad for injuries. Vaudeville comedians took the hint and started using banana peels as objects to slip on.
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2019 01:39
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:53 |
|
|
Morton Salt’s slogan, “When It Rains It Pours,” made sense at the time it was adopted. It was one of the first table salts to be treated so that it wouldn’t get clumpy in humid conditions.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 21, 2019 01:46
|
|
|
doctorfrog posted:Just was thinking of The Music Man today, "Ya Got Trouble," mentions "covering up a telltale breath with Sen-Sen." And thanks to the Internet Archive, you, too, can memorize jokes from Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 24, 2020 01:14
|
|
|
When the movie “Splash” came out in 1984, it was a joke that a mermaid would take the first name “Madison.” “Madison” became one of the top 25 most popular girl’s names in 1996 and hasn’t left the top 25 since.
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2020 23:34
|
|
|
Greyhound racing, as depicted in the first episode of The Simpsons, is now illegal in almost every state.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2020 13:21
|
|
|
FreudianSlippers posted:Now we get the actual lyrics (or close enough) but with excruciatingly detailed footnotes by some rando analysing them. I wonder if the rando footnotes, like the boring personal stories on recipe sites, exist entirely for SEO purposes.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2020 13:42
|
|
|
BalloonFish posted:That's like how two numbers in The Music Man are basically just lists of 1900s Midwest Americana references. Really the whole show is a 'nostalgia for that time you don't properly remember because you're not quite old enough' fest. There are several issues of Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang on Project Gutenberg. Expect Prohibition jokes and mild naughtiness.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2021 14:54
|
|
|
Frazzbo posted:This isn't exactly a lost reference as such, but it's still a fun read: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/18/dun-dun-duuun-where-did-pop-cultures-most-dramatic-sound-come-from More well-known music than you’d think comes from stock music libraries. I think most Americans would recognize Heavy Action or The Big One.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 18, 2022 16:46
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 23:53 |
|
|
Hotel Kpro posted:Also happens to be the combination on Bart Simpson's school locker And the phone number to call if you need dirty deeds done dirty cheap.
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2022 13:11
|
|