|
Shmoo
The shmoo (plural: shmoos, also shmoon) is a fictional cartoon creature created by Al Capp (1909–1979); the character first appeared in the comic strip ''Li'l Abner'' on August 31, 1948. The character created a fad that lasted into the 1950s, including merchandise, songs, fan clubs, and appearances on magazine covers. The parable of the shmoo has been interpreted in many different ways, both at the time and in later analysis. __TOC__ Origins Al Capp offered his version of the origin of the Shmoo in a wryly satirical article, "I Don't Like Shmoos", in ''Cosmopolitan'' (June 1949): Capp introduced many other allegorical creatures in ''Li'l Abner'' over the years—including Bald Iggles, Kigmies, Nogoodniks, Mimikniks, the Money Ha-Ha, Shminks, Abominable Snow-Hams, Gobbleglops, Shtunks and Bashful Bulganiks, among others. Each one highlighted another disquieting facet of human nature—but none have ever had quite the same cultural impact as the Shmoo. According to publisher D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bald Iggles
''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbilly, hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written and illustrated by Al Capp (1909–1979), the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934, through November 13, 1977. The Sunday page debuted on February 24, 1935, six months after the daily. It was originally distributed by United Feature Syndicate and later by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Before Capp introduced Li'l Abner, his comic strips typically dealt with northern urban American experiences. However, Li'l Abner was his first strip based in the Southern United States. The comic strip had 60 million readers in over 900 American newspapers and 100 foreign papers across 28 countries. Characters Main characters * Li'l Abner Yokum: Abner is portrayed as a simple-minded, gullible, and sweet-natured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Li'l Abner
''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written and illustrated by Al Capp (1909–1979), the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934, through November 13, 1977. The Sunday page debuted on February 24, 1935, six months after the daily. It was originally distributed by United Feature Syndicate and later by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Before Capp introduced Li'l Abner, his comic strips typically dealt with northern urban American experiences. However, Li'l Abner was his first strip based in the Southern United States. The comic strip had 60 million readers in over 900 American newspapers and 100 foreign papers across 28 countries. Characters Main characters * Li'l Abner Yokum: Abner is portrayed as a simple-minded, gullible, and sweet-natured countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (with help from assistants) drawing until 1977. He also wrote the comic strips '' Abbie an' Slats'' (in the years 1937–45) and '' Long Sam'' (1954). He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1947 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their 1979 Elzie Segar Award, posthumously for his "unique and outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning". Capp's comic strips dealt with urban experiences in the Northern United States until the year he introduced "Li'l Abner". Although Capp was from Connecticut, he spent 43 years writing about the fictional Southern town of Dogpatch, reaching an estimated 60 million readers in more than 900 American newspapers and 100 more papers in 28 countries internationally. M. Thomas Inge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schmo
Schmuck, or shmuck, is a pejorative term meaning one who is stupid or foolish, or an obnoxious, contemptible or detestable person. The word came into the English language from Yiddish (, ''shmok''), where it has similar pejorative meanings, but where its literal meaning is a vulgar term for a penis. Etymology The Yiddish word ''shmok'' probably derives from Old Polish '' smok'' "grass snake, dragon". It is unrelated to the German word ''Schmuck'' ('jewelry'), which derives from the Middle High German word 'smucken', meaning 'nestle up'. Euphemisms Because of its generally being considered a vulgarity, the word is often euphemized as ''schmoe'', which was the source of Al Capp's cartoon strip creature the shmoo.Rosten, Leo. ''The Joys of Yiddish''. New York, Pocket Books, 1968. pp. 360-362 Other variants include ''schmo'' and ''shmo''. In Jewish-American culture Leo Rosten writes in ''The Joys of Yiddish'' that schmuck is commonly viewed among Jews as an obscene word that sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Culture
Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompasses the social norms, ethical values, Tradition, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, Cultural artifact, artifacts and technology, technologies primarily rooted in History of Europe, European and History of the Mediterranean region, Mediterranean histories. A broad concept, "Western culture" does not relate to a region with fixed members or geographical confines. It generally refers to the classical era cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome that expanded across the Mediterranean basin and Europe, and later circulated around the world predominantly through colonization and globalization. Historically, scholars have closely associated the idea of Western culture with the classical era of Greco-Roman antiquity. Howeve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fertility
Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born during an individual's lifetime. In medicine, fertility refers to the ability to have children, and infertility refers to difficulty in reproducing naturally. In general, infertility or subfertility in humans is defined as not being able to conceive a child after one year (or longer) of unprotected sex. The antithesis of ''fertility'' is infertility, while the antithesis of ''fecundity'' is sterility. Demography In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to produce which is termed fecundity. While fertility can be measured, fecundity cannot be. Demographers measure the fertility rate in a variety of ways, which can be broa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Robinson
Sherrill David "Jerry" Robinson (January 1, 1922 – December 7, 2011) was an American comic book artist known for his work on DC Comics' Batman line of comics during the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of Robin and the Joker and for his work on behalf of creators' rights. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004. Early life Jerry Robinson was born the youngest of five children in Trenton, New Jersey. His mother Mae was a bookkeeper born in Lower Manhattan. His father Benjamin Robinson was an entrepreneur who emigrated from Western Russia, near the Baltic states, in 1895. The couple opened the first theater in Trenton. Ben Robinson immigrated to the United States to avoid conscription in the Russian Empire, which would have lasted 25 years, and antisemitism in Russia. He was of Jewish background. He attended Columbia University for 2.5 years before leaving to focus on comics. Career 1939–1943 Robinson was a 17-year-old journalism student at Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout history in all forms of art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners. Writers and speakers typically use allegories to convey (semi-) hidden or complex meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey. Many allegories use personification of abstract concepts. Etymology First attested in English in 1382, the word ''allegory'' comes from Latin ''allegoria'', the latinisation of the Greek ἀλληγορία (''allegoría''), "veiled language, figurative", literally "speaking about something else", which in turn comes from ἄλλος ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publishing until May 2021, when it was acquired by Alden Global Capital, which operates its media properties through Digital First Media. David D. Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, closed a deal to buy the paper on January 15, 2024. History 19th century ''The Sun'' was founded on May 17, 1837, by Arunah Shepherdson Abell and two associates, William Moseley Swain from Rhode Island, and Azariah H. Simmons from Philadelphia, where they had started and published the '' Public Ledger'' the year before. Abell became a journalist with the ''Providence Patriot'' and later worked with newspapers in New York City and Boston.Van Doren, Charles and Robert McKendry, ed., ''Webster's American Biographies''. (Springfield, Massa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictional island society in the New World. Hypothetical utopias focus on, among other things, equality in categories such as economics, government and justice, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying according to ideology. Lyman Tower Sargent argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not homogeneous and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. To quote: The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia. Utopian and dystopian fiction has become a popular literary category. Despite being common parlance for something imaginary, utopianism inspired and was inspired by some reality-based fields and concepts such as utopian architecture, architecture, Cyber-ut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mother Nature
Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth Mother) is a personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of a mother or mother goddess. European concept traditions Greek concept The Mycenaean Greek: ''Ma-ka'' (transliterated as ''ma-ga''), "Mother Gaia", written in Linear B syllabic script (13th or 12th century BC), is the earliest known instance of the concept of earth as a mother. Greek myth of the seasons In Greek mythology, Persephone, daughter of Demeter (goddess of the harvest), was abducted by Hades (god of the dead), and taken to the Greek underworld, underworld as his queen. The myth goes on to describe Demeter as so distraught that no crops would grow and the "entire human race [would] have perished of cruel, biting hunger if Zeus had not been concerned" (Larousse 152). According to myth, Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone to her mother, but while in the underworld, Persephon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uterus
The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', : uteri or uteruses) or womb () is the hollow organ, organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans, that accommodates the embryonic development, embryonic and prenatal development, fetal development of one or more Fertilized egg, fertilized eggs until birth. The uterus is a hormone-responsive sex organ that contains uterine gland, glands in its endometrium, lining that secrete uterine milk for embryonic nourishment. (The term ''uterus'' is also applied to analogous structures in some non-mammalian animals.) In humans, the lower end of the uterus is a narrow part known as the Uterine isthmus, isthmus that connects to the cervix, the anterior gateway leading to the vagina. The upper end, the body of the uterus, is connected to the fallopian tubes at the uterine horns; the rounded part, the fundus, is above the openings to the fallopian tubes. The connection of the uterine cavity with a fallopian tube is called the utero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
