Life, 1923-05-31 · page 35 of 37
Life — May 31, 1923 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a humor piece satirizing the distinctive accent and dialect of working-class New Yorkers, particularly from immigrant communities. The dialogue between "Joey" and "Peggy" (a shoe shop clerk and customer) exaggerates phonetic pronunciation and grammar patterns—dropping g's ("sizayafoo"), slurring words ("innacity" for "in the city"), and using colloquialisms ("Wellifit taint"). The satire captures early-20th-century urban American attitudes toward ethnic dialects and class markers. By rendering their speech nearly incomprehensible to outsiders, the piece presents these New Yorkers as comically uncultured, though the humor likely played differently depending on whether readers identified with or mocked this population. The remainder of the page is a straightforward advertisement for Orange-Crush beverages, promoting their "Krinkly Bottle" packaging as ideal for unexpected guests and warm weather refreshment.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Lessons in New Yorkese Tastes, better , out of the d j The Shoe Shop “Krinkly “Hetto Joey. Gottany — real- Bottle” | eather shoostaday ?” | “Wellifit taint Peggy! youknow wegotta beslina shoos innacity.” “Yeah? Well maybe alines- | bizzy !” | “Ho! Ho! Naffayou ittaint nev- va. youwas wantin? Sumpin innashoo fayaseff ?” | “No yapoorfish! Iwanna setta gooloshis famme blooribbin race- hawee. Lissen Joey Iwanna paira- them ed =pumps—dockbrown sweed size fornahaff B.” “Suresthin yaknow. Now goilie } lemmegetta sizayafoo! “Itolja medawgswas — fornahaff i assawrite Imgotta takasize 4 meseff. Now whachu takeis size x | fornah—fornahaff B.” “Izzatso? Snoos tamee. Saay whacha tryintado? Theseisnt sweed the: satin.” Tryemon willya? Howzat?” “They hoit.” | “Hoitya ? Awrite. Iwuzjus try- inta getcha size.” “Mesizeis fornahaff B.” Swatchuthink. Trythese — will- ‘d404G4 Tres Whassize isease ?” “Th yasize Peggy.’ “Say lissen theseis fiveay. Me- sizeis fornahaff B.” UNEXPECTED “Awrite tryem willya Peggy. d Thi: Howdathey feel?” —dn irsty “Theseis betta. Yeah Idathink theseid make mea cripple.” “Theylook good. Yawanna wear- em awilll wrappemup ?” Someone’s just sure to drop in. Fortunately Loa z “Saay waitaminnit! Chatryin : A a tahamme I askya fasweed.” there 1s plenty of Orange-Crush nestling Theseis sweed ainthey Peggy?” against the ice. A pleasant tinkle, sounds like “Theseis black. Iaskya fadock- something good and cold; and it is—Orange- brown fornahaff B.” * : . “Fornahaff B justwatcha astfa.” Crush. A drink bubbling over with welcome! “Theseis fivay black. Think Ima | Isn’t that flavor delightful? A case of “Crush,” dumbell ?” : i i eoThey iockewsll cassie Reh Orange, Lemon, or Lime flavor, is fine for Hones. theylook good.” thirst. In ordering, always be sure the 7. Nevva mina applesaws I want “Crushes” come in the “Krinkly Bottle.” L whatta want wenna wantit.” ae “Whyncha trya cute gray ORANGE-CRUSH COMPANY, Chicago, U. S. A. ewe sweed ? . . 47 Gt. Tower Street, London, E. C. 3 Orange-Crush Co., Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada = Say cuttitout Joey anlissen. I | s ten wanna dockbrown sweed size forna- 0' jew York = si haff B annI dowan ennythin ellis.” ran “Lemme gettat agen. Dockbrown ed size fornahaff B.” Atsjuswatta said. Dockbrown sweed size fornahaff B.” “Imsawry Peg. . .Iyaint got- Try Ward's fit” , LEMON-CRUSH it H.W. H. LimecRUSH The two delicious com- CONSTITUENTS Ward's “Crushes” owe their distinctive and de- lightful flavors to the nat- ural fruit oils of oranges, ashi An enthusiastic haberdasher pealon: drinks of nt 2 fee raves: “Don't miss our shirt ad —also delightful, Crush- pie pane suger, citrus to-morrow.” We did not see it but Savored fee Cream, 100s fed food color, fruit acid we did not miss it. Ask any retail ice-cream dealer for thems and ’carboanted water, comicbooks.com