In 1916, a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania printed a fanciful item about a local gathering with a guest list that included, among others, Miss Ella Vader, Mr. Ray Zor, and other punny names. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Punny Names From 1916”
If you look through small town newspapers, particularly from the early 20th century, you see the tiniest things reported in the newspapers, right? You know, like so charming.
Yeah, who attended the church supper and what was served, or whose relatives are visiting from out of town. And I found a funny little couple of paragraphs in the Harrisburg Telegraph, that’s in Pennsylvania, from 1916. And the editors were talking about how every now and then some practical joker tries to get something in the newspaper that’s not really real. And they decided that the one that they got that week was so funny that they put it in anyway. And it goes like this:
Miss Lena Genster, age 35, of 1245 Anxious Avenue, held a party in honor of her cousin, Miss Pearl Button. The evening was spent in sewing buttons on ice cream, and old maid’s refreshments as fried ice and stewed bees knees were served to the guests. Maggie Zine, Lena Genster, idowano, I’m alone, Ella Vader, and then some guys, artificial beneficial Count De Pennies and Ray Zore.
These remind me of the garbage patch kid stickers that were such a big deal when I was a kid, all these punny names. Yeah, like the supposed book called Going to the Bathroom by Willie Make It and Betty Don’t.
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I slogged my way through Leviticus once (KJV, usually quite readable) to find these clobber texts.
I was left wondering why I hadn’t ever noticed the abbatoir outside the churches or the wood-fired barbecues inside, since most of it seems to be precise instructions for burnt offerings and other blood sacrifices.
I wondered why only some passages from this book were deemed worthy of literal consideration while the bulk was ignored…