• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Talk of the town [6 June 1942]

18 April 2015 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: Extracts from the “Talk of the town” column, published in The Mail (Adelaide), 6 June 1942.]

Talk of the town


* Sharpening Blades

The shortage of safety razor blades, which has put many men on a one-razor-blade-a-week basis, has led many to experiment with various sharpening devices.

There is nothing new in the idea of using the inside of a drinking glass to hone the blade, but the latest plan is to pull the edges of the blade through a cork.

A man who adopted this method says that it gives the blade nine lives.

“There are lots of ideas on how to preserve blades,” said a city hairdresser. “Every man has his own liking.”

* Thrift

All citizens these days are urged to avoid waste and to save paper. One contributor to “The Mail,” who has taken the plea completely to heart, forwarded his article this week written on the backs of:—

Envelopes he received from the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Commonwealth offices, Adelaide Club, University of Adelaide, two marked O.H.M.S., and several plain ones, the backs of letterheads from a commercial broadcasting station, and a firm of city sharebrokers, and the back of a notice from the School of Arts and Crafts.

An accompanying note was written on the back of a notice from the Institutes Association.

* Tip for All

A lot of publicity has been given to the necessity for keeping a still tongue in these days of war. One contributor puts it pertinently so:—

He who yaps
Helps the Japs.




* Soldiers’ Code

Reports from America say that many letters from U.S. soldiers in Australia bear the inscription “S.M.P.R.L.H.” hand-printed on the envelope backs.

One man, baffled by the code, finally called on the postal authorities. They said:—

“Oh, yes, we’ve been noticing that. It seems to be a new Army fad. The official translation is, “Soldier’s Mail, Please Rush Like Hell.”

There was a time when Adelaide’s young lovers never dreamt of sending a letter to their swain without endorsing the envelope back “S.W.A.L.K.” — Sealed With a Loving Kiss.

* Shortage

Adelaide’s latest shortage has nothing to do with rationing, but rather with supply and demand. It’s unusual. too — girl friends for the younger boys working in reserved occupations.

This is how a baker boy, making a late call due to the new zoning, aired his grievance:— “You know, Mrs. ——, I wanted to go to a dance tonight, but I can’t find a girl to take. It’s terribly hard to find a girl anywhere, now all the Americans are round.

“As a matter of fact, my pal and I are sharing the one girl. She goes out with Jimmy one night and me the next. Unluckily, it is his turn tonight.”

When you work it out, there might be something in his grievance. Hundreds of girls in the services and doing voluntary war work are too tired to go out these nights, and the Americans certainly seem to have a monopoly of the available ones.

* Reciprocity

Since Japan entered the war things have been turned rather upside down. When the Nazi blitzkreig was at its height and Edinburgh was getting its share of raids as well as London, an Adelaide family with relatives in Scotland wrote to them, offering them a home in Australia, where they would be safe from bombs.

Last week, a letter arrived from the Edinburgh family, offering the Adelaide people a home there for the duration!



Source:
The Mail (Adelaide, SA), 6 June 1942, p. 4

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: American troops in Australia WW2, poem, SourceTrove, SWALK, year1942

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Obituary: Dr. James Edwards [31 December 1879]
  • Mothers’ Day [10 May 1909]
  • Mother’s Day [20 May 1909]
  • Mother’s Day [by Rev. Father J. M. Cusack, 25 May 1944]
  • Mothers’ Day [13 May 1921]

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Click Go the Shears [folk music, lyrics; traditional Australian song, 1890s]
  • Backblock Ballads and Later Verses [by C. J. Dennis, 1918]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • IAC on Duncan (I’d love to have a beer with Duncan) [music videos, sung by Slim Dusty and various artists]
  • IAC on Visit of Hope to Sydney-Cove, Near Botany-Bay [poem by Erasmus Darwin, 1789]
  • Evan on The Last of His Tribe [poem by Henry Kendall]
  • Graeme Jensen on The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Willow on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in