1 Topic by William (edited by William 2022-04-05 12:30:24)

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Topic: Beatnik

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

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Re: Beatnik

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.

"I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance, and therein lies my honour and my reward.”
— Kahlil Gibran
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Re: Beatnik

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

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Re: Beatnik

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.

"I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance, and therein lies my honour and my reward.”
— Kahlil Gibran
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Re: Beatnik

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

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Re: Beatnik

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