Quote:
Originally Posted by barrysloate
I'm enjoying this thread immensely as it is one of the more scholarly ones we've had on this board. Wish I had a theory about the card, but unfortunately I don't. However, it would surprise if the people in charge of getting these cards manufactured and out to market were literate enough to provide hidden riddles and biblical references, or be acquainted with Old English and Latin phrases. I'm guessing there is a simpler answer than that. These were blue collar guys who probably didn't have Ivy League diplomas.
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Barry,
Considered yourself potentially surprised, then. People back then were pretty smart. There were no stupid movies to watch, no ESPN - you learned french and latin in school and the teachers were strict! As a society, we have definitely gotten stupider and our attention span has decreased dramatically.
When I do things like study french or 19th century lit, heck, I am just trying to catch up to those people... but they were still way ahead of me! And without the internet as a source, as well as other minds, we would never have gotten it.
As I wrote earlier, the playing of word games and riddles, while left to a few nerds like myself in 2012, was a popular pastime in the 19th Century. Pick up a 19th Century novel, and you'll see the language was a lot more complex. They make us look like a bunch of dolts, quite frankly.