Friday the 13th always brings to mind Walt Kelly’s masterwork, the Pogo comic strip.
When Churchy la Femme discovers the date
With terror he hides from it’s dread.
When 13’s not Friday he’s still doomed by fate:
It “comes on a Thursday” instead!
In Pogo, most people are affable fools,
The main cast you can’t help but like;
It’s true that they often treat others like tools
But never to injure would strike.
There are, I know, people with morals less bright,
Who vulture-like step o’er the lines
And also the few with their head screwed on right
Like Pogo, and Porky at times.
But most of the people I meet day to day
Like Albert and Holland do seem;
They rob a bit, lie a bit, rude things might say
But rarely are honestly mean.
There’s only one joke in the world, I think:
It’s people, plain folk just like we.
And comedy’s genius is filtering truth
That we every punchline
The noun “punchline” was first attested in 1916,
though it was commonly “punch line” or “punch-line”
until the 1980s.
The Oxford English Dictionary implies rather than states
it came from the sense “the line that gives punch”
though I have to wonder if it was a “Punch and Judy” reference.
may see.
Looking for comments…