17 Comments
Jul 5Liked by Nancy Friedman

Cast iron, and ductile iron, "manhole" covers, now also called maintenence hole covers, have been produced in India cheaply for many years and are common in the U S. Also common are metal drain covers made in India. Mexico is another source for metallic infrastructure. Sadly the artistry of such objects has dropped off steeply over the last century or so.

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DWP know-how to the rescue! Thanks, Fred!

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The manhole. The erect penis shadow escaped your eye?

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Hah. A streetlight.

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Manhole?

I see what you did there...

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Jul 5Liked by Nancy Friedman

Ah yes, fun! Glandscape officially stuck in my head now 😅 When I was a kid our local hairdressers was called ‘Headlines’, which we obvs renamed ‘Headlice’

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Jul 5Liked by Nancy Friedman

A propos of nothing really. I imagine you've looked at horribly punning slogans used by hairdressers etc. I used to shop at a butchers whose bags were labelled 'Meat To Please You...Pleased to Meet You' and regularly see an abbatoir van with the inscription 'We Meat Your Needs'. And a removal truck announcing 'You Move We Take You' with a pic of some chess pieces.

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I love those slogans. My favorite is “Poultry in Motion,” the tagline displayed on the trucks of a chicken farm in California’s Central Valley (whose name I’ve completely forgotten).

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Oh yes. And yes again. Love it.

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Jul 5Liked by Nancy Friedman

I remember Paul Wing from my childhood (1940s/50s.) He narrated children's stories on 78rpm records, including "The Little Engine That Could," "The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins", and, God help me, "Little Black Sambo."

He would start, "Hello, this is Paul Wing, and I've come to tell you the story of…"

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Very cool!

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Jul 5Liked by Nancy Friedman

How Book of Cubbing LOLOLOL. "Cubbing" as a verb feels very Gen Z.

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Cubbing before clubbing. Then adulting.

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Jul 5Liked by Nancy Friedman

I wonder whether the "themselv" was intentional or someone - assuming this was a glass transfer sign - has scraped or peeled away the "-es". Looking at the messages, the second line doesn't seem quite centred under the "ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS" top line.

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Jul 5·edited Jul 5Author

I inspected the lettering pretty closely and couldn't find evidence of scraping or peeling! I think it was weirdly intentional.

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Jul 5Liked by Nancy Friedman

Curious when the Cub Scouts changed their name from "Wolf Cubs" - and particularly curious whether they changed the name in part because the Hitler Youth equivalent in Mussolini's Italy had a similar name ("figli della lupa," or "sons of the wolf"). Not that there's anything fascist-adjacent about a wholesome family organization like the Boy Scouts, of course!

And golly, that vintage spelling bee game looks adorable... is being named "wing" and then hosting a "bee" game on the radio nominative determinism?

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In the U.S., the first Cub Scout packs were registered under that name in 1930. In the U.K., "Wolf Cubs" was connected to Rudyard Kipling, whose "Jungle Book" was used as "a motivational frame" for the organization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cub_Scout

Interesting about Mussolini's "figli della lupa"! No idea whether they influenced the U.S. organization.

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