Space for rent - Your stereotype here!
1 Like
Looked like reassurance that heād stand back regretfully. and not chase her, and watch her leave with some other guy. Likely a pop culture reference?
This meaning is made clearer on similar cards in the collection.
Contextually, then: non-creepy.
3 Likes
Yet two of them appear to have womenās names on.
Interestingly, one is from āAlice Ramseyā to āMiss Smithā (though the āMissā is part of the preprinting, so perhaps was for a Mr?); another is from āAnna āButchā Engleā.
These make me wonder, were these cards part of the lesbian scene back then?
4 Likes
I used flash cards on the ladiesā¦
It was the only way that I could figure out how to work my impressive Excel skills into the conversationā¦
6 Likes
I canāt tell if the men were worse in this way or if printers were more industrious in this way.
1 Like
I dunnoā¦ but that is something that is eminently find-out-able. Iām sure someone wrote about them at the time. I have a sense that it wasnāt considered all that creepy. Some of these were actually meant to lampoon stodgy or overly formal calling cards and were designed to get a laugh. I canāt help but feel that a society where one couldnāt be seen alone with a member of the opposite without causing a scandal might have embraced these on some level.
3 Likes
Just last week I got a long, rambling love note from a complete stranger on Facebook. Like āI just want you to know that there is a little heart in here that cares for you a lotā and how heās āseen me aroundā (Facebook, I hope, since his stated location was 1000 miles away).
Itās certainly not any less creepy than these cards.
1 Like
I call bullshit. None of these even mention Mālady on there.
1 Like
I once gave a woman of no acquaintance of mine a Valentineās Day card. I had seen her walk past my work and was really crushing. But no pretext for an introduction. So I wrote a card saying that I found her striking and would like to get to know her if she was available and interested. Handed it to her on VD, and never heard anything about it.
Now: Was I being creepy? How does one go about meeting a stranger when youāre attracted to them? I can chat up anyone if Iām not interested in them, but if I think they are cute I just canāt figure out where to begin.
The Art of Manliness has an article on both types of calling cards; those formal, and not so formal. The second article references Alan Mays throughout, as does the article which spawned this thread.
I suppose the level of creepiness of the cards varied by perception of the lady receiving them.
Then how creepy does that make tinder or a dick pic?
1 Like
It seems like the next-to-last one wouldnāt be so bad (for a more formal time and place), if it wasnāt for the picture of the rings. Thatās just weird.
āMāacquaintance card, Mālady!ā
2 Likes
Probably he was reading some pap like http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/how-i-met-the-woman-of-my-dreams-using-facebook-jgc/ .
1 Like
No, in those days if a woman liked a man sheād do something like drop her handkerchief in front of him. If he liked her then heād pick it up for her.
1 Like
And with the context of all the formality and social etiquette of the time, these cards donāt look so weird.
Itās really hard to be creepy with two frogs.
1 Like
May have been a bot. I am getting emails from such strangers. The IPs usually go to Russia or to some botnet.
1 Like
It could be certainly constructed as a death threat. āGive me attention or youāll croak.ā
3 Likes
Lots of Police songs do.
