Life — May 11, 1911 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Life" Magazine Page: "Joy Riding" Content This page introduces a feature about "joy riding"—a then-contemporary phenomenon of young people stealing cars for recreational drives. The text credits President Woodrow Wilson with helping legitimize the phrase through official use, giving it dignity it "would otherwise not have had." The illustration titled "Off in the Tranquil Hour" depicts a car traveling a winding road at night, with silhouetted horseback riders nearby—likely suggesting the contrast between traditional transportation and modern automobile culture, or perhaps implying danger/lawlessness associated with nocturnal joy riding. The page appears satirical about how euphemistic language ("joy riding") sanitizes what is essentially car theft, a growing social concern among early-20th-century Americans.