It often happens while I’m doing manual labor that I get to wondering about a word. Today the word was “hitch-hike”. I remembered a story about its origin, and decided to check it out during my next break. The story was not true. But then I found this citation in the Oxford English Dictionary:
We may charge this wicked hitch-hiker the ten cents extra that she deserves for asking for a bath towel.
It’s from Barbara Starke, Touch and Go: the story of a girl’s escape. 1931. I can’t find this book online — neither the Internet Archive nor Google Books has it. You can buy a used copy from Amazon for $847, if you like. The references I’ve been able to find make it sound interesting — it was banned in Ireland.
Some humorists think of jokes from reading the newspaper, some from advertisements, some from pop culture. I think I now know where Douglas Adams got his.
I feel much hoopier
lala
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Good-Touch-and-go-The-Story-of-a-Girls-Escape-Starke-Barbara-1934-01-01-T/401942577028?hash=item5d95a4ff84:g:TmIAAOSwzp1dvFjy
Joe
Either that’s a much better price, or the exchange rate is fluctuating radically.