Every now and then I come across something I think is so funny, I must share it.
Many years ago, when “feminism” was rearing its’ ugly head, about the time young men were burning their draft cards, and young women were burning their bras, (Circa 1960) I ran across a poem by AP Herbert that found my funny-bone. While I remembered the title, and the general concept, I had forgotten who authored the poem, and spent a little time on Google re-constructing the particulars. I found it every bit as funny as the first time I read it.
The US had its’ biggest round of female rebellion around 1918-1919. England, too had their “Suffragettes”, with women ‘getting the vote’ there in 1918, and the US enacting the 19th amendment allowing woman suffrage in 1920.
Voting aside, it was still very much a “man’s world” well into the ‘50s - - . So when AP Herbert, an English MP wrote his funny stuff in 1927 men still pretty much ruled the political world, and women (bless them) pretty much kept the house, and raised the children.
Here is what passed for “wit” in 1927. I hope you enjoy it, and will join me in a laugh at ourselves.
“I Like Them Fluffy” – A.P. Herbert
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I Like Them Fluffy
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Some like them gentle and sweet,
Some like them haughty and proud,
Some of us like them petite,
And some of us love the whole crowd;
Some will insist upon grace,
And some make a point of the pelf,
But, to take a particular case,
I do like them fluffy myself,
I like them fluffy, I freely confess,
With fluffy blue eyes and a fluffy blue dress,
With fair fluffy hair, like love-in-a-mist,
And lips that declare “I want to be kissed”,
With fluffy soft cheeks, like plums on a wall,
With a fluffy soft heart—and no brains at all.
Some like a girl that’s well-read,
Some like a shingle or crop,
But I don’t care what’s in her head,
If there’s plenty of hair on the top.
Give me the frivolous locks,
Give me the Gaiety Queen,
Give me the Chocolate Box,
And give me the Girls’ Magazine!
I like them fluffy—I know it’s bad taste—
With fluffy soft looks and a flower at the waist,
With golden hair flying, like mist round the moon;
And lips that seem sighing, “You must kiss me soon.”
Not huffy, or stuffy, not tiny or tall,
But fluffy, just fluffy, with no brains at all.
Brains are all right in their place,
But Oh, it’s a shock to the heart
If the lady postpones an embrace
To enquire your opinions on Art!
And today, as I paused on the brink,
I own I was slightly annoyed
When she sighed and said, “What do you think
Of the basic assumptions of FREUD?”
“I like them fluffy,” I gently replied,
“Not huffy, not stuffy, or puffy with pride,
With downy white soft eyebrows and artful blue eyes,
The kind that the highbrows pretend to despise,
With fluffy complexions, like plums on a wall,
And fluffy opinions, and no brains at all.”
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A.P. Herbert
1927 eh? ... The more things change... =)