Life, 1926-07-29 · page 15 of 37
Life — July 29, 1926 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This cartoon depicts a Roman gladiator or centurion figure checking what appears to be an early wrist-watch. The humor stems from anachronism—the joke is that wrist-watches are presented as a modern invention, yet shown worn by an ancient Roman, suggesting the concept is absurdly old or timeless. The accompanying text about Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians reinforces the historical joke: someone writing on a two-cent stamp wishes they had more space, mirroring how constrained early communication methods were compared to modern convenience. The page also includes "Calendar Reform" comics and a "Bon Voyage" section with automobile humor. These appear to be typical satirical vignettes from Life magazine's comedic commentary on contemporary American life and technology.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Strictly American Lexicon (Culled from Various Sources, Authorities and the Vox Populi) yesdy, noun. Day preceding to-day. j fmorra, noun. Day following, to- day. ant, uown, Female relative. Inquired. noun. Generic term for ast, verb, gentman, the male. pitcher, noun, A tableau, I, Ist per. pronoun, objective case. “A gentman ast her and I to go to the piteher-show.”” To wash out; representation ; verb. a cup. french, adj. Off-color, immoral; as, a french play, a french joke, cte. masoose, noun. A female rubber. strenth, noun. Power. “You godda (q. t.) have strenth to be a masoose.” Saddy, noun bath. fith, adj. Fe ig the fort. Following the fith. avna, noun, A wide street; as fort avna, fith aena, sirt arna, ete, roo, woun, 1. Street (French). 2. A gay old dog. chew, 2nd per. pronoun; as, Doan chew? Can chew? ete. jew, dad per. pronoun; as, Did jew Would jew? ete. fie, noun, A numeral. twenny, Four times fie; as ticenny-fie dollars. (To be continued) Willard Huntington Wright, wrench, as, wrene sixt, adj. noun, Calendar Reform I EXT year we hope those who control such things will see that Father's Day is included in Be Kind to Dumb Animals Week. —Hears a Funny Story. Li nl wigan GO UI aaa | II}} Cogonit " Salli it} She's late again! Been here \:Al over an hour now, and. missed that Christian so wil po Wi inn || qi Hl y, The First Wrist-Watch HE fellow that wrote Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians on the back of a two-cent stamp says he could have written more on the back of a four-cent stamp, but his wife would only let him have two cents. Bon Voyage AUTOMOBILIST: How can I get to Greenwood Cemetery? Town Constante: Don’t stop at railroad crossings. comicbooks.com