Posted on 10/04/2011 2:08:22 PM PDT by Dick Bachert
Those of you older than dirt will perhaps recall a phrase from the old hit TV show, “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In:” “Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls.” It came into popular usage at the time probably because it WAS a funny sounding name and “Funk” was as close to that other “F” word they could never get away with in the late 60s and remain on the air.
For those of you NOT older than dirt, from 1910 until they went under in the 70s or so, Funk and Wagnalls published little green encyclopedia books. Some time after 1939, my parents bought a set for us kids to use and use them we did. The set we owned may have been used as it bore a copyright date of 1931.
When my folks passed, I wound up with the set and the little green books reposed on a shelf in our basement recreation room where my eldest son – who has a keen interest in history -- had been referring to them from time to time.
Recently, he brought me Volume XVIII (Mafia-Neat) and opened it to page 511. At the top of the page was “Nazi.” Here’s how, in 1931, “Nazi” was defined:
“A term coined from the name of the National Socialist Labor Party of Germany. The party leader is Adolf Hitler, who organized the movement in November, 1920. Its aims are similar to those of the Fascist organization in Italy. In the1931 referendum, the electorate of Prussia voted against the dissolution of the Prussian government which was considered a defeat for the Hitler forces. Repudiation of the reparations (imposed on Germany at Versailles at the end of WWI) is one of the aims of the Hitler party. In spite of the fact that the farmers of Germany were supposed to support the Nazis, the election of the Reich revealed that the farmhands and forestry workers opposed the movement.”
By now you may be asking where this is going. Here’s where.
If you have any thoughts of easing off in your resistance to any of the anti-traditional or radical groups considered to be fringe, harmless or inconsequential by recent encyclopedia compilers, writers and so-called opinion molders in the mainstream media, please rethink that.
If you are one of those who, with every new revelation of corruption or outright criminal behavior in high places, mutters “THAT could never happen here,” you have apparently forgotten what went down in Germany a scant 8 years later when this defeated little “fringe” party, led by a failed Austrian painter turned Germany, Europe and the world upside down for decades.
It begs a serious question: Given OUR current situation, is there a message in that for us?
If you don’t think so, go on-line and read what has RECENTLY been written about terms like “progressive,” “social justice,” “ACORN,” “Black Panthers,” “Islam,” etc.
Then think ahead 8 years – although, if we don’t get busy, it won’t take that long.
Wow. Memories ...
I got mauled mercilessly in several classes in Jr HS when I turned in work that relied too heavily on F n W as the principal source. I just KNEW I had presented ONLY facts and details provided by a supposedly authoritative source ...
The lesson I learned was to be prepared to challenge ANY ‘authoritative source’ and to provide myself with a sufficient quantity of alternative sources.
I haunted libraries and bookstores for years afterwards — and now the Internet — and never let myself fall into that particular trap again. ( Found a few others, along the way, but that’s a tale for another campfire ... )
21stCenturion
” Lincoln Library of Essential Information.”
My grandmother had one of those when I was a kid. Was at least 6” thick. I wish I had it still.
The Rocky Horror Picture show has “audience responses”. I don’t know if it’s been used lately, but one scene has the Narrator/Criminologist reading from a book, and audience
members yell out, “Look that up in your F-— And Wagnalls...”
(only they use the swear word :) )
Of course there have been many songs using “Funk” and it sounds so similar to the swear word...
Get The Funk Outta My Face
Ain’t Gonna Funk No More With No Big Fat Woman
Play That Funky Music White Boy
We Got The Funk (...bring out the funk...)
Doin’ it to Death (”gonna have a funkin’ good time...”)
Funk & Wagnalls...the Wikipedia of my youth!
For those of us older than dirt, remember green stamps? They could be saved in small booklets then turned in for things like encyclopedias or what my mom called “gas station china.”
Sperry and Hutchinson’s (S&H) GREEN STAMPS. I spent hours as a kid licking and pasting this bloody things into those stupid books for my mother.
The blood was from my raw tongue.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.