Life, 1928-06-07 · page 50 of 54
Life — June 7, 1928 — page 50: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks pretentious diners who critique a waiter's penmanship while he struggles to read their own illegible handwriting. The waiter has written items like "Frd bolitho" (fried eggplant) and "bl ugteeth" (boiled New England dinner) in hasty scrawl. The customers lecture him about clear, simple writing and "facing the facts"—yet they've misread his notes entirely and don't recognize their own meals. One diner even praises the "frd bolitho," showing they're equally confused. The joke inverts the power dynamic: intellectuals patronize a working man about writing standards while demonstrating their own inability to read basic script. The final line—the exasperated waiter threatening to sock them—suggests the absurdity of the customers' smugness. The satire targets pompous middle-class pretension about language and literacy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NS Ann oun cing THE OPENING ON SATUR- DAY, JUNE 16 th of THE GRISWOLD ONDER THE PERSONAL LIRECIION OF Mr: Edward H. Gandalf PRESIDENT MAYFAIR HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY Complete facilities for Golf (Shenecossett Country Club), Tennis, Bathing, Yachting, Fish- ing, Motoring, and Rid- ing. Allsportsunderideal conditions. Concerts, Dancing, Motion Pic- tures. o American Plan. QReservations may be made at Mayfair House, Park Avenue at 65th St., or, with Mr. Kenneth Eldredge, Manager of The Griswold, who will be at The Biltmore, New York City, until June Ist. EASTERN POINT, NEW LONDON, CONN, LIFE “Good Writing Is Just a Knack” “Watrter! The check, please. ... Thank you..... Let's add it up and see how much each of us owes. Frank, what did you have?” “I had iced coffee and curried shrimp. And blueberry pic.” “How about you, Tom?” “Clam chowder, rock bass, and choco- late ice cream.” . “All right, wait a second..... can’t read this guy's writing at all! Look: he’s got here ‘Frd bolitho, 75.” What's frd bolitho? Did any of you have frd bolitho?” “Maybe that’s my steamed clams.” “No; here's your steamed clams: ‘Stum clms, 60.’ Then there's something that looks like ‘bl ugteeth.’ What do you sup- pose that is?” “Asparagus “Breakage?” “Waiter..... What's frd bolitho?” “Pardon, sir? Oh, you mean fried egg- plant.” “Fried eggplant? Is that the way you spell it?” “I'm afraid I wrote that in rather a hurry, sir.” “Waiter, you ought to take more pains. You'll never learn to write, that way. It’s clumsy and forced. Good writing should be clear and simple.” “Sorry, sir.” “Ask him what bl ugteeth means, Bill.” “Oh, yes. Look here, waiter, is bl ugtecth my boiled New England din- ner? “Yes, sir.” “Well, why don’t you call a spade a spade, then? Here you are, a man who really has something to say; and what do you do? You call New England boiled dinner ‘bl ugteeth.’ It’s not facing the facts, waiter. It’s evasive.” “Still, Jack, that was the best frd bolitho I ever tasted. You can’t get good bolitho like that in the East.” “The only place for real frd bolitho is Foyot’s. They know how to cook bolitho in France.” “And the stum clms at Prunier’s! Oh, boy!” “Would you gentlemen kindly pay your check and get out of here before I sock you one?” Norman R. Jaffray. STIMULATING The Man that tried to row across the Adantic in a rowboat was rescued before he had got very far from Europe. The trouble with him was, he didn’t take along a charming lady passenger to say, at intervals: ‘My, but you're strong! I bet you were a fine oarsman in college.” —Spokane Spokesman-Review. Founo in the Cincinnati Times-Star’s re- port of a recent game: ‘‘Ott popped to Pipp.”’ It could be played on a piccolo. —Toledo Blade. HAY FEVER Sufferers! Here is Positive RELIEF Pollenair, electrically operated filter, installed in any room, re- moves the cause of Hay Fever and Pollen Asthma. Gives im- mediate relief. Entirely me- chanical—no medicaments, no nostrums. Tested by School of Health in one of America’s lead- ing universities. Endorsed by Specialists, Hospitals, Sanato- ria. Advertised in Hygeia and The Journal of the American Medical Association. Write now for full information Room 610, Hickox Building Cleveland, Ohio Via | Havana and pronderfal of cool, delight. lon largest, fastest ships in the service. Fortnightly saili: by new S'S. Callfornian largest steamer ever built under the American flag, and the popular S. S. Manchuria and S. S. Mongolia. Special Round Trips One Way Water — One Way Rail From home ‘town back to home town. Steamer cither way. Choice of rail routes across Continent. $350 Ist Class. $225 Tourist Gls Gan Gadde One Way $250 1stClass, $125 Tourist Apply to Pa Dept. Ne. 1 ittuadway, New York, our offices eles here, or ony 5.5. or KL agent. . fonoma facifie fine INTERNATIONAL MERCANTILE MARINE COMPANY 4 Ben that he Pp comple weigh; cari formu tific re comicbooks.com