Judge, 1917-06-23 · page 20 of 28
Judge — June 23, 1917 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Judge page collects wartime humor from various Allied publications, satirizing WWI absurdities. The jokes target: **Military incompetence**: A soldier can only count to two, explaining his faulty salute; an officer tries practicing cavalry charges on a borrowed, exhausted horse. **Class/education gaps**: An illiterate coal-hawker applicant struggles with formal language, highlighting working-class exclusion. **Domestic frustration**: A husband resents being "over age" for conscription—unable to serve yet unable to claim conscientious objector status, creating bureaucratic absurdity. **War's casual horror**: Soldiers casually nickname artillery shells by their impact radius ("depends 'ow close you are to where they burst, mum"). **German propaganda**: A "Hun Official" boasts of routine military operations in sterile language, mocking enemy communication. The page mixes light domestic comedy with darker observations about militarization, age restrictions, and how war permeates civilian life. The satire emphasizes chaos, incompetence, and the human cost of mechanized warfare.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Amateur applicant (for coal hawker’s job) =I ain't no scholard, mum. ‘Ow shall I shout that word?—Passing Show (London). His Excuse Officer—Hey there! Didn't I tell you for the salute that you were to count three between the raising and dropping of the hand ? Billzac—If you please, sir, this bloke’s The horse (bored by an enthusiast who has Oly got as far as two—he stutters. borrowed him in order to practise during a —Sydney Bulletin. short leave while training)—I’ll learn him to laugh at chargers.—Sketch (London). * Dis. viewx, ne ronfle pas si fort. tu m’empéches d dormir! old man, don’t snore so loud! 1"—Le Rire “Well, old ‘oss, you an’ me is over military The Friend—Don’t stop, old chap! If you go on, you will get all you deserve. —Land and Water (London). age so far—but there's no knowing.” —Passing Show (London). Hun Official “This morning, as usual, our artillery swept the enemy's lines of communica- tions and cleared the roads.”—Bystander (London). Fretful “What makes your husband so cross these times?” “He keeps fretting dreadful because he’s over the age and so he can’t be a conscien- tious objector.”"—London Punch. Comminatory “T know you have pet names for the big guns, but what do you call the shell? “Depends ‘ow close you are to where they burst, mum! "—Bystander (London). comicbooks.com