The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Friday, February 11, 2011

A History of Valentine's Day Cards, Again

This is from the Post mag, Valentine's Day '03, and it's another lazy repost. And every word of it is true. I was shocked to find out that my editor didn't know that diarist Samuel Pepys' name is pronounced "Peeps", especially as I'd only learned it the day before. I always thought it was Pep-eez, which is actually a stomach antacid.

3 comments:

Mike said...

As a side note, the Romans gave such delicate pottery gifts on Lupercalia that the delivery services simply couldn't seem to get them into the intended hands before they shattered. So they compiled a list of things that they would not handle because they were so breakable.

It was the Lupercalia Fragile List ... (wait, I'm still working on the rest)

Zvi said...

Well, number one, it was urgent Lupercalia email. And number two, in general roman homes were in alley and other twisty complex streets. And number three, I'm specially trained to show off the Roman valentine traditions at the museum.

Hence, I am the Lupercalia Fragile List Express Alley Docent.

richardcthompson said...

Dang, that's impressive. Thank you both!