Life, 1927-11-03 · page 32 of 44
Life — November 3, 1927 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical humor compilation mocking contemporary social absurdities and newspaper quirks. Key sections: **"Another Linguist"**: Jokes about pretentious language use—a man attempts to impress friends by rattling off Chinese vegetable names to a Chinese merchant, only to be humbled by the merchant's perfect English. **Various short quips** mock: absent-minded waiters, a car advertisement with an unintentionally funny sign about children, and a man who isolated himself for fifty years after rejection. **"On the Road"**: Contrasts an old actor's tales of youthful travel hardships with modern comforts—satire on nostalgia and generational differences. The cartoons illustrate these anecdotes with exaggerated line drawings typical of 1920s-30s humor journalism. The page's title—"Aut Scissors aut Nullus" (roughly "either wit or nothing")—frames the magazine's mission: collecting amusing human foibles and newspaper absurdities for educated readers' entertainment. The sourcing of jokes to various newspapers emphasizes Life's role curating contemporary humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Our Foolishg$pi7<c¢Contemporaries Another Linguist My friends looked at me pityi Hung Woo, the Chi mer- chant, asked my order in his native tongue, but with an inscrutable Near- smile I shamed them when ese produc © sloup veg'ble, tlamotto, pla- toto, sling be . klon, ladish, lumba and slawbs <M. ALP. in New York Sua THE ABSENT-MINDED WAITER Seen on the Highway Ir was a little nd it was full of children, and it be this sign on the stern: ‘ked in tin and always fresh."—Argus (Seattle). Ford car, Sroxirs about married should e movie people getting 1 with a comma —Arkansas Gazette. Imrration is also the flattest form of sincerity—Detroit News. “Aut Scissors aut Nullus” The Nile Tabloid Art the notoriety that Cleopatra got Was a two-stick story with X marks the spot. Vragically she moaned with her dying Je front page if I'd bit that Styz, in New York World. We Thought It Killed, “Twenty guenter gambling-dens y, he is a Justice Wert, he ought to ki know about it—Humo Because a girl refused to marry him a man in Essex has stayed at home for ‘ars; but w na man to that just because the girl did marry ~Punch. On the Road “Ix my younger days,” the old actor said, “I traveled from one end of the coun- try to the other.” “Well, well,” the young actor replied, “just think of that And there were no rub- ber heels in those days, either.” Telegram. Youngstown MOTHER MAKES THE PAUX PAS OF ASKING DAUGHTER WHAT TIME HER FRIENDS WILL BRING HER HOME HER YOUNG run —Ladies Home Journal COMBINING THE BEST FEATURES OF ROTIE California Pelican, No Shock “My wife says she is going to leave “Distressing !" “At has broken the gently. She hasn't nights a week in the last month.” —Washington Star. least, she news been home three Oxr of the famous Sitwells wrote a book on “All Summer in a Day,” in spite of the fact that he had never spent a single afternoon at Coney Island Baltimore Sun. THE ABSENT-MINDED CUSTOMER. Humor (Madrid). PEMENT. Séndagsnisse-Striz (Stockholm) ICEMAN’S I comicbooks.com