Busy Tourist’s Correspondence Card: Public Library from War Memorial Plaza, Indianapolis, IND.
Too busy to hand write a hello? Anxious to avoid writer’s cramp? The Busy Tourist’s Correspondence Card series (printed by postcard publishers around the country) turned messages into quick, often humorous checklists.
Postmarked: Indianapolis IND. AUG 22, 1947 10:30 PM
Message:
Hi Jack,
I am having a swell time. Have you and Norman been getting any good chocolate milk shakes at Corbs(?).
Be home soon and see you.
Love,
Janet
Addressed to:
Mr. Jack Overly
Tipton St.
Huntington, Ind.
A penny for your thoughts … Checklist cards, such as this one featuring the Indianapolis Public Library, capture and preserve the linguistic colloquialisms and markers of their era. The spelling of “okay” as “okeh” originated in the Choctaw Indian language and was included in dictionaries from the early 1800s until approximately the 1960s.
The choice, “I do lots of … making whoopee” is a nod to the euphemism for sex popularized by Eddie Cantor’s 1928 song, Makin’ Whoopee. How many postmen had to deliver such a message around Indianapolis?
What fun … thanks so much for posting, Ashley, Keep on peering into the past! . Lynne