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V Is For Vomit

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vomit
Inexplicably today is “Vomit Day,” though I’m not entirely sure why. Usually days have sponsors, or were created by somebody. Nope. Often they make sense, like if it was possibly the day after St. Patrick’s Day or New Year’s Eve. Or perhaps something significant occurred in history to mark the day or there’s some tradition behind it. Nope. I’ve been collecting holidays and dates since I lived in New York City in the late 1970s, so I got it from somewhere, I just don’t know where I found it, and Google didn’t turn up anything useful or definitive. So I’m left scratching my head as to why today might be “Vomit Day.” But celebrate we will.

A few years ago I made a list of Puke Words, that is different slang terms for throwing up, tossing your cookies or paying homage to the porcelain god. It’s not nearly as exhaustive as my Drunk Words list, but it was only a one day project on a slow news day once upon a time. It was merely a love of language that set me down that path. But whether by getting sick or — gasp — drinking a bit too much, I reckon it’s happened to all of us at one time in our lives and I thought it would be fun to see how many puke words I could find. If you know of one I missed, please leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list. If you know where it came from, or anything more about it, that would be even better, but if it’s just something you heard somewhere while your head was bent over in the commode, that’s okay, too. Happy Vomit Day, everybody! Let’s be careful out there.

vomit-day

I’m The Guy Antique Pinbacks

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pinback
The other day while searching for an image of Pike’s Pale for my Lady Eve post, I happened upon a webpage of antique pinbacks, where Mark Lansdown displays his awesome collection of “vintage comic pinbacks from the 1890s to the 1950s.” What is a pinback? A pinback, or pin-back button, is one of those small buttons with a pucture or slogan on it that people wear on their short or on a hat. It’s fastened with a pin that’s in the back, and that’s why it’s called a pinback. Frankly, I’d always just called them buttons, but this is apparently the more official name for them. Over the years, they’ve been used for almost any promotional idea you could name. Political buttons, of course, but also for many others, for business, issue advocacy or just for fun. When I was younger, and lived back East, I used to frequent yard sales, flea markets and antique shows and amassed a show box full of antique pinbacks without really trying. That, and I used to work in the record business (back when there still were records) and buttons were a common feature of the music landscape. But because they’re relatively inexpensive, lots of people collect them seriously, and you can find out more at pinbacks.com, Legacy Americana or Buttonpalooza. Or read a short history at Zippy Pins or People Power Press.

So, the “I’m the Guy” series of pinbacks were created in the 1910s as a promotion for Hassan Cigarettes, who apparently created many different pinback series over the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The pinbacks were used as promotional giveaways or premiums when people bought their cigarettes. According to one source, the “I’m the Guy” phrase was coined by the famous humorist Rube Goldberg circa 1910. Apparently, “this was a stock saying by a character in a comic strip Goldberg drew. The phrase became very popular, and Goldberg elaborated it over time. He was even co-author of a song entitled ‘I’m the Guy,’ whose lyrics were largely comprised of variations on this catchphrase.” You can see tons more of the I’m the Guy pinbacks, but three of them were decidedly beer-themed and are displayed below. Enjoy.

imtheguy-yale
I’m the Guy That Put the Ale in Yale

imtheguy-munich
I’m the Guy That Put the Beer in Munich

imtheguy-budweiser
I’m the Guy That Put the Bud in Budweiser