Life — July 15, 1915 — page 27: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a humorous domestic scene illustrating a common social awkwardness. A man explains to a woman why his female friend Peggy departed abruptly: when Peggy asked if he thought she was pretty, his honest answer prompted her to slap him and leave angry. The joke relies on the "no-win" scenario of answering a woman's appearance question—implying that Peggy either took offense at being called pretty (perhaps interpreting it as presumptuous), or more likely, received an unflattering answer she didn't expect. The cartoon satirizes the social convention where women ask questions they may not truly want answered honestly, and the resulting awkwardness when men do so. The illustrated figures appear to be early 20th-century middle-class Americans in a garden setting.