We have been here before, I know. But new postcards come into the inventory and I have to decide whether certain readings of the scene were intended by the twentieth century artist, or whether it is a creation of twenty-first century sensibilities. It’s a game, really: the prize being NOT getting kicked off a sales website for showing nasty things. The Powers That Are seem to agree that the choice of finger here was accidental, and is okay. I have my doubts (I think the artist was putting one over on the boss) but I’ll take a win.
THIS gesture does not leave a lot of room for interpretation. I assume this was a political comment, showing an Italian diplomat defying some other country. Just HOW obscene the move is apparently depends on your place of origin. Desmond Morris’s study of obscene gestures claims in some places this is a rude but friendly gesture among friends while in other places the only honorable response is death. I’ll see what customers online think but this one’s rude.
This one is largely considered UNrude: the man is tossing and turning because he has so many girlfriends he can’t choose. One or two people insist he is picking out a bedtime fantasy, but they are a minority.
No argument here, though. You see the removed clothing of two people AND the two glasses next to the bottle and cigarettes. But this was a naughty arcade card: the regulations are a little relaxed here. (And the fact that you do not see the couple puts this in my mother’s distinction between naughty jokes and dirty jokes. By the way, having that sort of mind, I would like to observe that this seems an awfully small office for this kind of action. Where’s the couple? Wedged between the chair and the file cabinet, or over in front of the window? We see it’s a Casting Office, but why would a guy with such a small office have that many phones? And why is the chair sitting on that side of the…where were we?)
Speaking of offices, this is another Naughty Cartoon: we are allowed to guess what she means. The drawers gag is a Fine Old Joke, seen previously in this location on a card from around 1910. The joke is even more common on British cards, since the word, with the right accent, is pronounced “draws”, which leads to further possibilities involving raffle tickets and weather. (“Winter draws on.” “How clever of you to have brought a pair!”)
No, sorry. The hammock is suggestive, but they are simply taking turns kissing her. (Yes, this was naughty in its day, but even in its day, only MILDLY naughty: other hammock postcards of the era ease farther along the road.)
I have been working on this but cannot begin to figure out what’s going on. Scottish verdict: Not Proven. I know I can rely on the Interwebs to send complaints my way if this is someone’s red hot fetish.
These are cute little kids, and I dislike the attitude of some commentators to always pick the most obscene definition of a common word.
My mother, mentioned hereintofore, tried to break herself of using the phrase “Let’s blow this joint” because “now I know what that MEANS”. She declined to elaborate, leaving me confused. THIS pun, about blowing one’s money, refers to a plain slang phrase used by Tolkien in early drafts of The Lord of the Rings, where Bilbo has to leave town because he has blown all the gold he brought home from Smaug’s hoard. I think we are on solid ground if the word is safe enough for a Hobbit.
I have, um, concerns…but this went through the mails in 1911. It HAS to be just two cute kids, right?
Oh, I don’t even want to play any more. We can go on about how this meant a huge mistake, but it’s Ray Walters, the artist who gave us one of the best “Nice little ass you’ve got there” donkey postcards. And without doing research that would startle my algorithms…let’s give up this game and just look at cute little bunny postcards.
No, wait.
Blogsy Babbles 