Friday, January 9, 2009

Cents and Sensibility

This unassuming little advert may not seem like a milestone, but it is: it is, as far as I can tell, the only calm photograph of Betty Hutton taken between 1941 and 1960.

Makes one wonder what they were putting into Lux in those days...

Also: is it just me, or is the only current use remaining for the cents symbol (which doesn't even appear on my newfangled keyboard) in relation to 99-cents stores?

2 comments:

  1. I keep expecting Betty to jump off the sign and start swinging from a trapeze, fall and break her back.

    The whole cent thing bothers me. I’m disturbed when I hear young kids refer to change in the singular no matter the amount, like fifty cent or sixty-seven cent. Then I get on my soapbox and carefully explain that if your change is exactly one penny then it may be referred to as cent but that any other amount is plural and is to be referred to as cents.

    It’s just one more way North America is devaluing the dollar. Currency that is less than a dollar is unimportant and does not exist therefore it should be rounded off to the nearest dollar. The dollar is the new cent.

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  2. And to think she retired to a convent... in Rhodes, no less! What?

    Rhode Island!

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