Alfred's Serif Users' Forums — Beatnik

Re: Beatnik

null@example.com (William) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:44:57 +0000

Alfred wrote:

William wrote:
An elderly one at the left has a round notice on the gate, with "No circulars" on it.
The young one at the right has a square notice on the gate, with "No squares" on it.
Isn’t that the wrong way around? I would expect the “No circulars” campaigner to eschew the use of a circular notice, and vice versa for the other one.

As I have remembered it from around sixty years ago, maybe I have got the shapes the wrong way round.

William

Re: Beatnik

null@example.com (jackneve) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:35:11 +0000

But circulars are pamphlets, brochures flyers and the like. No circulars is a common notice to find on a garden gate.

Re: Beatnik

null@example.com (Alfred) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 14:41:19 +0000

To my way of thinking, you could reasonably leave the shape of the notice out of it completely! The thing about a circular is that it’s almost always rectangular; the joke here is really about the phrase “no squares” not actually referring to geometrical shapes.

Re: Beatnik

null@example.com (jackneve) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 14:15:15 +0000

Alfred, but then there would be no joke.
Surely, it is the unexpected conjunction which makes (tries to make) it funny.

Re: Beatnik

null@example.com (Alfred) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 12:35:52 +0000

William wrote:

An elderly one at the left has a round notice on the gate, with "No circulars" on it.
The young one at the right has a square notice on the gate, with "No squares" on it.

Isn’t that the wrong way around? I would expect the “No circulars” campaigner to eschew the use of a circular notice, and vice versa for the other one.

Beatnik

null@example.com (William) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 12:29:25 +0000

I remembered a cartoon that I saw in a newspaper in probably around 1960 I think.

Two neighbours at their garden gates, each facing the newspaper reader.

An elderly one at the left has a round notice on the gate, with "No circulars" on it.

The young one at the right has a square notice on the gate, with "No squares" on it.

https://www.lexico.com/definition/square meaning 5

Has that phrasing gone out of fashion?

It reminded me of the word 'beatnik', is that now a word of its era, not used today except in historical contexts?

https://www.lexico.com/definition/beatnik

Had younger readers here ever known the word 'beatnik' before now?

William