RP: WAY more important than good fences

ladyluck-87-1950-rubber

(From "Lady Luck" number 87, 1950.)

7 Responses to RP: WAY more important than good fences

  1. Jeff Hebert says:

    That’s a Robert Frost reference in the title, by the way. Because I like to kick it English major style every now and then. Extra bonus points to the first person who can ID the line referenced.

    And although usually I understand the out-of-date colloquialisms I am using to bring the funny using their modern meanings, in this case I have no effing clue what “rubber in your backyard” meant back then. Seriously, what the heck? I thought maybe it was short for rubberknecking, meaning “keep your nose out of my business”. Or maybe it referenced shoes, but then I think that most shoes were leather then — rubber soles didn’t become common till sneakers in the Seventies, no?

    Anyway, if anyone knows what that’s really supposed to mean, I’d love to hear it.

  2. Marx says:

    “Mending Wall” 1914

  3. Jeff Hebert says:

    Absolutely correct sir, well done! Despite their lowest-in-the-tournament graduation rate for basketball players, clearly Maryland has done a superlative job on educating other young minds.

  4. Danny Beaty says:

    At least he’s practicing safe sex.

  5. Marx says:

    @Jeff Yeah, well. Like you said, “English Major.”

  6. The Imp says:

    I first read the title as ‘WAY more important than good feces’ and was like ‘Huhwhat?’. 😀

  7. William A. Peterson says:

    Grasshopper, you obviously have no clue, when it comes to shoes! {Sorry, I sell the things…}
    Why do you think they called the old Private Eyes “Gumshoes”, anyways?
    Gum rubber, while it has other problems for use as shoe soles, is VERY good for sneaking up on people, quiet-like!
    Vulcanized rubber came in after WWII, but it was kind of heavy, so it wasn’t capable of displacing leather soles.
    Composite materials came next, and they actually work pretty well…
    But, it’s with the advent of air-blown synthetics, first used in the athletic shoes you’re thinking of, that the popularity of leather began to take a nose-dive!
    But, gum rubber for soles goes back to at least the thirties, and I think the 20s…