the list of 9 for december 22, 2007:
NINE COMMON CLICHES THAT WE GOT FROM CARTOONS
This year I got to witness two famous cliches in real life: I saw the blind leading the blind (twoblind Mexican musicians walking down the street, one leading the other) and I got to see somebodyrolling out the red carpet (workers preparing Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for apremiere). Stuff like this made me think about all those iconic images that never even existed inthe real world, and yet have become part of our cultural landscape. Maybe in Vaudeville theyreally did yank bad performers off the stage with a big long cane, but the following ideas have only ever lived in the cartoon world:
- Elephants are afraid of mice. Even going so far as tostand on their little circus platforms on their tippy toes whenever a mouse enters the room.
- People who go bankrupt have to walk around wearing onlybarrels. What makes that extra ironic is that nowadays, barrels cost about $100 or$200 a pop - not including the suspenders you need to keep the barrel hanging on your shoulders.It's cheaper to buy new clothes!
- Bombs are small black spheres with little fuses. Note,though, that dynamite really does come in the form of bright red sticks.
- Hobos carry all their belongings in a handkerchief tied around theend of a stick, slung over their shoulders. Okay, so maybe these characters do exist inreal life - as circus clowns. But when I was a little boy, I would occasionally play dress-up as ahobo and was disappointed at how little you could actually fit in a handkerchief. Like, half asandwich and an apple. That's it.
- Army boots - with holes in the soles, of course - are the idealweapon to throw at wailing alley cats. Who really has that many worn-out boots tospare?
- Fishbones - meaning full, unbroken fish skeletons with attached headsand tailfins - can be found in any garbage can. Along with tin cans with the lidshalfway attached and still-yellow banana peels.
- Sanitarium (loony bin) employees wield enormous butterfly nets inorder to catch crazy people. I don't think these guys wear those white coats or evenmake house calls anymore.
- Burglars and bank robbers prefer wearing small black eyemasks toconceal their identity. Well, if it worked for the Lone Ranger...
- People routinely put lampshades on their heads when drunk.It's an easy way to tell who the life of the party is.
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