Editorial Cartoons Also Baffled People 104 Years Ago

If you've ever stared at an editorial cartoon for more than a few seconds before wrinkling your face and the paper in front of you in confused disgust, you may feel some solace learning that cartoons from 103 years ago, when they were on the cutting edge of direct, visually-communicative art, could be just as head-scratching. You also might enjoy learning that poorly-drawn college newspaper cartoons are apparently a grand American tradition. What's fascinating about this story, jokes aside, is its brief investigation into a bit of the slang employed by the cartoonist. It had never occurred to me that very specific and idiosyncratic slang might find voice in the first decade of the 20th Century, but not make enough of an impression to survive into modern day. I mean, it makes perfect sense, but I never thought about it before.
 
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