I did not know that
This dude? Uncle Sam. No shit.
He was Samuel Wilson (1766 — 1854), a meat packer from Troy, New York. During the War of 1812, he won a contract to supply meat to the army. The barrels were market “U.S.” and the soldiers joked that it stood for “Uncle Sam.”
It stuck.
When he got the little beard and the kicky star-spangled weskit, I do not know. I found this by following McGoo’s link to an article about James Mongomery Flagg. You know: the guy who painted the I Want You poster with finger-waggin’ Sam on it.
It’s the day before a holiday and my boss is out, so I have no intention of doing anything that even vaguely resembles work today.
And tomorrow? I’ll celebrate the Fourth the way I always do: ringing up Uncle Badger and yelling “Hey Limey — you suck!” and hanging up.
Got to be careful. One of these days, he’s going to figure out it’s me.
Posted: July 3rd, 2008 under britain, history, holidays, personal.
Comments: 27
Comments
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: July 3, 2008, 11:21 am
LOL. I myself am in a heated (but fun) discussion with my riding club’s resident Brit about the 4th of July, and it’s British equivalents. He wants to wear a Redcoat uniform to our 4th of july party, I was telling him to dress as Guy Faukes. Guy Faukes was, after all, the only man to enter the halls of the British Parlament with Honest intentions…… 🙂
Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: July 3, 2008, 11:27 am
Thanks for the link, Weasel! Yep Sam was a rarity – an honest man.
I think you should take the afternoon off and go visit the inmates at Kitblinka or Sobakat or wherever (standard disclaimer of disrespect towards Holocaust victims declared).
Comment from Gibby Haynes
Time: July 3, 2008, 11:39 am
Guy Fawkes went to the same school as me. When the kids from other schools were burning ‘Guys’ we had to make do with just fireworks. ‘Burning effigies of old boys is bad form’ they used to tell us.
Of course, burning effigies and setting off fireworks is fun, has an element of danger and runs the risk of offending some minority group, so in a lot of places it’s banned in modern Britain.
Comment from Jill
Time: July 3, 2008, 11:56 am
“…Guy Fawkes went to the same school as me…”
Wow, Gibby! You must be o-l-d. :0)
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 3, 2008, 11:57 am
In Lewes, they still burn an effigy of the Pope. How the hell they get away with that in this day and age, I’ll never know.
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: July 3, 2008, 12:41 pm
He looks a bit gay, if you ask me 😉
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 3, 2008, 12:44 pm
Yeah. Yeah, I have to give you that, Uncle B.
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: July 3, 2008, 12:48 pm
I assume you mean Gay as in jolly, and NOT as in penetration of the Bum…..
(Thank you Pip. Loved ya in South Park)
Comment from porknbean
Time: July 3, 2008, 1:17 pm
And tomorrow? I’ll celebrate the Fourth the way I always do: ringing up Uncle Badger and yelling “Hey Limey — you suck!” and hanging up.
Heh. Sounds like getting hitched to a Brit would be good times in so many ways. 😉
Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: July 3, 2008, 1:58 pm
Ya know – I still look at that Uncle Sam “The Army wants you” poster and think, “Pull my finger!” He even looks like he’s getting ready to crack up with laughter as he cracks off with a loudenhonker.
I’m sorry. Its just the way I am. Deal.
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: July 3, 2008, 2:24 pm
McGoo,
Sorry, that’s only funny until someone walks face-first into that horrible invisible wall…..
Then it’s hilarious……. 🙂
Comment from jwpaine
Time: July 3, 2008, 2:33 pm
Just noticed the “creepy robot version” pimpmynews link on the right. Listened to “Don’t talk to me; I’m sulking” to much snickering & laffter. Great link, Weaz.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 3, 2008, 2:37 pm
Yeah, but it doesn’t seem to be updating, JW. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t have an RSS feed (which, to be perfectly honest, I never understood) or whether I need to open an account with them.
Comment from jwpaine
Time: July 3, 2008, 3:04 pm
Well, an rss feed is kinda like a specialized sitemap, sorta. Most blog software has the ability to generate RSS feeds automagickly. If yours doesn’t, you can write a pretty simple program in whatever backend language your blog uses or has access to. I’d be happy to send you an ASP (vbscript) script I’ve written to generate a newsfeed from a database, as well as the resultant rss.xml so you can see the exact formatting.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 3, 2008, 3:38 pm
I use WordPress, which does indeed have it built in. But…what do I do? Just put a link to the rss.php file (I think that’s what it’s called) in the sidebar?
Ugh. That reminds me. I’ve been meaning to upgrade my WordPress. The version I’ve got has a flaw. Man, I hate doing that. Hate, hate, hate.
Comment from jwpaine
Time: July 3, 2008, 3:54 pm
Yeah, I hate updating blog software, too. At best, it requires a lot of wading through php code to tweak stuff the authors neglected to update. At worst, you get to practice restoring backups. Well, actually, at worst, you get to rebuild your blog from Google’s cache (having actually done this (once!), I can’t recommend it).
In any case, I’m unfamiliar with WordPress, but I’ll bet they’ve got oodles of stuff online on how to power-up the rss feature and get it pseudo-functional. Here’s WordPress’s own list of RSS thingamajiggies.
Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: July 3, 2008, 3:57 pm
scubafreak – in my ongoing effort to lower any conversation downward – – did you know the Japanese ran experiments with an infrared video camera to see how to “escape” the inevitable result of – ahem – “pulled fingers” so-to-speak?
Yes indeed! As we all know, you “pull” the result with you if you try to walk away, and its damned hard to break free of its tenacious clutches. There is a particular sidewards stepping action that will “slice” it off of you and leave it where you want – well away from you. There is youtube video of the infrared video work somewhere. I will try to find it.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 3, 2008, 4:05 pm
I saw a clip of that infrared video, McGoo, but I had no idea what the backstory was! It really had a purpose? I scientifical, fart-escaping purpose?
Comment from jwpaine
Time: July 3, 2008, 4:05 pm
So… the Japanese took seriously that old joke that ended with “Yeah? Well, catch that fart and paint it purple!”
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 3, 2008, 4:08 pm
You know, that’s kind of a problem with me and WordPress, JW. They have lots of documentation. Lots and lots of documentation. Have I ever mentioned that I don’t read documentation? I’ve tried; I don’t have the attention span for it. Mostly, I poke buttons and observe what happens.
That makes tasks like, say, updating blog software especially fraught. (Rebuilding from a Google cached version? Brrrrrr…thank you. That’s *exactly* the sort of nightmare scenario I brace myself for).
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: July 3, 2008, 4:18 pm
LOLOLOL…… Mcgoo, I can just see a bunch of Japanese geeks running around the subway wearing IR headsets, sounding airhorns to warn people when a ‘zone of death’ forms in the wake of some overworked salaryman going home for a bath and a sake……..
Speaking of Zones of Death, Schroedinger has been mastering the finer points of hide, stalk, pounce and climb up bare skin. He had developed a taste for fish treats, and now has a major wanderlust. Introducing him to the dogs is an ongoing process, since my older dog, Princess, is completely obsessed with making him her personal playmate. She isn’t being aggressive, just VERY obsessive……..
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: July 3, 2008, 4:56 pm
From the picture, I’d say Schroedinger is just coming up on the best kitten age. Under six weeks is too little and over ten months is pretty much a grownup. Eight weeks is playtime.
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: July 3, 2008, 5:01 pm
Yup, he was climbing Mt. Scubafreak last night. Unfortunately, it was the bare skin of my back, and the dogs were watching with big ol grins on their hairy faces.
I, needless to say, was less than pleased, but stood still while he made his ‘conquest’, then gave him a pile of fish treats while I went and checked for gushers….. LOL
Comment from jwpaine
Time: July 3, 2008, 6:11 pm
Well, Weaz, I’ve acquired a grudging respect for documentation over the years. It’s still a very last resort; I follow your push a button and see what happens strategy most of the time.
Comment from Allen
Time: July 3, 2008, 6:13 pm
“Penny for the Guy!” I remember that. The 4th of July wasn’t much fun for us when we lived in England. But, that’s OK we made up for it on Guy Fawkes.
Didn’t they give him the whole hang, draw, and quarter thing? What I can’t understand is that a country that came up with that punishment recently appologized for a puppy in a picture.
Come on you Brits, it’s just not the same when us Yanks can’t get all riled up when you partake in some form of nastiness. A warm fuzzy England? Forsooth!
Pingback from No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » The Morning Scramble – Independence Day 2008
Time: July 4, 2008, 10:45 am
[…] S. Weasel found the real Uncle Sam (at least according to Wikipedia). […]
Comment from nbpundit
Time: July 4, 2008, 1:26 pm
A great 4th of July to you, Stoaty…
Is this your last one this side of the pond?
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