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Burma Shave -- Americana

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SkipVought

Programmer
Dec 4, 2001
47,486
US


Usta be, back in the 40's & 50's in the USA, a line of men's shaving products called Burma-Shave was very popular.

One of their advertising techniques was to post a series of small signs along the highway, each of which had a singel line of a ditty the last sign of which contained Burma-Shave

Here's an example that I can remember...
[tt]
Wiskers scratched

His cookies map

That's what made

Poor Ginger Snap

Burma-Shave
[/tt]


Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] When transmitting sheet music...
If it ain't baroque, don't fax it! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Collected in a fun book: "The Verse by the Side of the Road : The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs and Jingles"

- Check out amazon.com search under books for burma-shave.



 
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The country in question renamed itself a while ago -- somehow, "Myanmar Shave" doesn't quite roll of the tounge so easily. . .

De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.

 
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...neither does the Myanmar Road.

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] When transmitting sheet music...
If it ain't baroque, don't fax it! [tongue][/sub]
 
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I do remember the signs. Here are a couple of reference sites:

Burma-Shave and Burma-Shave

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Yes, CC, I had checked a couple of them out.

I posted my jingle as I remembered it. All the sites I checked used the word Bristles instead of Whiskers.

But that's my story...

...an' I'm stickin' to it!

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] When transmitting sheet music...
If it ain't baroque, don't fax it! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Skip, I'm with you... Bristles doesn't fit. Bristles did not come close to "his cookie's map" -- his whiskers did.

"cookie" = "sweetheart"
"map" = "face"


 
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Zathras,

True. But everywhere I looked, I saw Bristles???

I did not try an exhaustive search, though. [sadeyes]

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] When transmitting sheet music...
If it ain't baroque, don't fax it! [tongue][/sub]
 
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>small signs

Um...I'm lead to believe that they were not all that small...
 
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Each sign was maybe 8 to 10 inches wide and 3 to 4 feet long on a stake about 3 to 4 feet long to the best of my recollection.

I believe that the signs were red with either black or white lettering.

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] When transmitting sheet music...
If it ain't baroque, don't fax it! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Hey SkipVought,

Is there a reason you used "wide and long" instead of "high and wide?" I'm just curious. It seems like you are using wide for the vertical dimension, and I always use wide for a horizontal one...

-------------------------------------
It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)
 
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Length & width as common parameters of a plank of lumber

vs

width & height as common parameters of a programmable object

Interesting contextual mental switch.

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] When transmitting sheet music...
If it ain't baroque, don't fax it! [tongue][/sub]
 
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I thought about this as I posted... I would use length and width when it is something I look *down* on. But I never look down on a sign, I always look horizontally across at it. So I would *never* describe the vertical dimension of a sign (building, tree, person, whatever) as width.

-------------------------------------
It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)
 
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Neither would I.

But I was thinking in terms of a piece of wood, that, if I were to order from Home Depot, I'd order a length of a certain width board.

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] When transmitting sheet music...
If it ain't baroque, don't fax it! [tongue][/sub]
 
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:)

-------------------------------------
It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)
 
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Maybe an interesting note to some:

Florida Turnpike started using this format a few years ago to promote driver safety. I believe they also made reference to it being a way to keep the turnpike from being so monotonous. If you are not familiar with it, there are some stretches of the road that are very easy to slip into a trance like state of mind. Long, straight, flat road.

Any other places these signs are still around?
 
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Is the number of these signs per kilometre, the baud rate?

Go not to cats for advice for they will just walk over the keyboard
 
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Skip say's

"But I was thinking in terms of a piece of wood, that, if I were to order from Home Depot, I'd order a length of a certain width board. "

Skip have you ever tried to order 1 six foot four by two?
They will usually tell you they only carry two by fours!



Big fleas have little fleas on their back to bite them and little fleas have littler fleas forever ad infinitum.

sam
 
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