BS: Good graffito

Subject: BS: Good graffito
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:34 AM

In a womens toilet someone had written " my mother made me a lesbian '

underneath was the reply, " if I send her the wool, will she make me one ? '

eric

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 11:04 AM

good...but old...

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 11:50 AM

Eric, you hang out in women's restrooms much?

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Bert
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 12:01 PM

Another real old one -

"Martin Borman is the Queen Mother"

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 12:02 PM

The joke was originally - or at least in an earlier incarnation - "My mother made me a homosexual ... ", implying a MALE homosexual, thus being a play on a popluar notion in the field of psychology of the day ('40s-'60s), that an over-indulgent mother might inadvertantly "make" her son a homosexual. I don't think this notion was taken to apply to a girl-child "becoming" a lesbian (someone can correct me if I'm wrong). So, the earlier version of the joke had a little more punch.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: curmudgeon
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 12:16 PM

From the men's room at the White Horse Pub in Greenwich Village, c. 1965:

"If Cunard Lines merged with Aer Lingus, it would be called..."

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rowan
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 07:16 PM

In Sydney many years ago there was a railway bridge that had a pair of graffiti that you'd best understand if you knew that there was a wave of eastern Mediterranean immigrants in the 60s and 70s who changed Oz eating habits for the better with items like humous, which had a very variable spelling.

On the bridge someone had written "God hates homos"
Below this, someone else had written "But she loves taboule"

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Bert
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 07:51 PM

Amo, Amas, A Mattress.

Found on the walls of a bathroom at the Inns of Court, London.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: ad1943
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 08:02 PM

In Sydney many years ago there was graffiti along the railway line near Newtown which read:

" The world is rooled by fools"


Allen in OZ

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Joe_F
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 08:24 PM

Assholes have their uses.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: JennyO
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 02:14 AM

Rowan, I remember the homos and taboule graffiti. I've seen it too!

I saw some other graffiti on a wall a few years ago - from memory I think it was at Eastwood (in Sydney):

"Jesus saves --- at the Commonwealth Bank"


This one wasn't graffiti - it was an old ad, very faded, but back in the 6o's, I remember reading it many times from the train on a wall near one of the inner Sydney stations - somewhere around Newtown or Redfern. It said:

"What you eat today walks and talks tomorrow. Teagues Bread"

Any Sydneyites remember that one?

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rowan
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 02:38 AM

While we're on Sydney graffiti, for years (and ending a few years ago now) you could be walking almost anywhere in and near the CBD and, in the most unexpected places, be confronted by a chalked "Eternity" in perfect copperplate script. The Sydneysiders among us will know the details and background of the author better than I as I was, at the time, from Melbourne.

The Bailleau Library at Melbourne Uni was built in 1958. Until 1967 the only graffiti I saw (restricting my dunny perambulations to the Gents) were;
1 on the inside of the lift (elevator to Americans) under the sign
"Self Closing Doors
Do Not Touch" was written
"Oh yes they do"
and, 2 scratched into the aluminium frame of the window of the Gents, was
"Ha! Mens sana in corpore sano."

Years ago I was driving the Sturt Highway to Adelaide from Wagga. At the intersection just south of Hay was a pair of roadhouses where I got petrol and went to the Gents for a number two. The toilets had just been repainted and the inside of the cubicle was sparkling clean and devoid of any marks except for, high up on the inside of the door,
"Zen"
Below this, in different writing, was
"How's the Harley?"

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:03 AM

several examples I saw 25 years ago

3 words & a number on a boulder in Wooloomooloo, a harbourside suburb of inner Sydney, almost CBD. The site is now covered by a fancy block of apartments.

JOE 14
PAY UP

The other was being painted very neatly on the wall of the Indonesian consulate using a 2" brush which was wiped carefully on the tin. The writer had written MARCOS IS A when he was interrupted by a mohawk-wearing punk (this was the 70's).

They spoke briefly & the brush was handed over, jabbed into the tin, and pulled out dripping. I don't remember what the punk wrote, but it was something rude & the brush was dripping all over the wall.

tut tut, wot a mess

The brush was handed back, the owner wiped it carefully & continued A BAD MAN.

Unfortunately, the consulate folks cleaned it off the next day.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: ad1943
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:24 AM

Arthur Stace wrote " Eternity" around Sydney in chalk and Douglas Stewart wrote a wonderful poem about Arthur Stace.


There was a bit of graffiti at Bondi which said:
" Work work work till you die...plenty more fish in the sea to fry"

Allen in OZ

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 03:37 AM

Rapaire, I no longer hang around ladies toilets since I stopped plumbing.

The best graffito I ever saw was quite famous in West Yorkshire, on a wall in All Saints Road just outside Bradford City centre, ' IT'S A MEAN OLD SCENE '

Bradford council demolished the wall to get rid of it.

It was immortalised by Pete Coe with a brilliant song called ' It's A Mean Old Scene '

eric

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: JennyO
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 04:12 AM

Yes, then there's the sign "Falling Rocks - Don't stop" and the answer to that one was, "No, they don't!"

Rowan - Mr Eternity, Arthur Stace, became really famous. He was born in 1884, grew up in the slums and had a hard life. In 1930 he "got religion" and decided it was his mission in life to write eternity on footpaths everywhere - story here. I remember seeing it lots of times in the early 60's. To keep his memory alive, I've seen it done on the Harbour Bridge in fireworks for the year 2000 celebrations on New Years Eve, and I've also seen it done in the sky. His style of writing it was always the same - quite distinct.

There was even a song written about him, by Jim Low - Mr Eternity - by Jim Low

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: JennyO
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 04:17 AM

Oh yeah, another one comes to mind:

"I hate graffiti - I hate all Italians."

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 05:22 AM

There was that one someone painted in large letters on a railway wall not far from Paddington station, that so mazed the BR admen that they used it for their TV adverts in the 80s: "Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere."

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: The Walrus
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 05:27 AM

Seen on a public road through Bovington (tank training area) in Dorset
a road sign "Warning! Tanks Crossing" to which someone had added "And we're bigger than you" (not funny, but accurate).

Surely one of the more famous pieces of graffitti apopeared on a wall outside Paddington Station in letters three feet high:
"Far away is close at hand in images of elsewhere" - that was there for a few years. I believe the wall has since been demolished.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: John O'L
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 06:29 AM

On a toilet door at Sydney Uni many years ago:

"Death is the ultimate bludge"

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Bainbo
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 06:47 AM

It might be better if you never find out these things, and they remain an enigma, but here's an article abou the authorship of "Far away is close at hand ..."

Far less cerebral is one which the comedian Ross Noble says he saw written in the dirt on the side of a van coming away from Dover: "Please overtake quietly - asylum seekers asleep inside."

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Trevor
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:13 AM

Old one, on the bottom of a toilet door, just above the gap, 'Beware of the limbo dancers'.

One that's a bit crude but made me laugh 'Turds weighing more than three pounds should be lowered by hand.'

One more - '"I don't think so" said Descartes, and vanished'

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Splott Man
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:39 AM

There used to be in several locations around Richmond on Thames - "Cats like plain crisps"

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:09 AM

Toilet humour eh !

It's no use standing on the seat,
The crabs in here can jump six feet.

eric

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:26 AM

Rowan - more on Mr eternity including radio interview he gave in 1964

Valda Low's site Simply Australia is a wonderful resource for history & folklore

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:53 AM

One I like was in a toilet of a Pub I gigged in WAY Back !!

"StarDate August 1978 - Beamed down for a slash but couldnt shake off the Klingons" .

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Celtaddict
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:38 PM

On two overpasses near my home, in apparently the same hand:

'Question authority'

'How about some milk and cookies?'

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rowan
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 09:07 PM

Thanks, JennyO and Sandra, for the background on Mr Eternity. Even though I was a Melbournite (and had seen his handiwork only in 1956) I had been 'aware' of the background and had seen piccies of the Harbour Bridge sign (while recovering from the Nariel version of New Year) but it's good that he's still remembered properly.

The equivalent ubiquitous/graffitous sign in Melbourne was much more basic (& banal?);
"Whelan the wrecker was here" started as just "Whelan the wrecker" on a site in Melbourne's CBD where a building was being demolished. ABC Radio National did a Hindsight on its history which might still be around as a podcast.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 10:07 PM

When I was a commune member in the '70s, I did some interior trim, and left a subsequently invisible graffito on each layer:

One thing I do whene'er I can
Is fuck up sheets of Deciban.

But when there's none of that to do,
I'll fuck up sheets of wallboard, too.

There's lots of that. But when there ain't,
I'm always glad to fuck up paint.

And now it's ready to move in.
My fuckups end, and yours begin.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 10:32 PM

It was all over the latrine walls when I was in the Army:

Phi Theta Alpha, in greek letters. My fraternity, and that of a lot of other guys 'n' gals.

But you gotta know, ya know?

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: AgingRS
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:58 AM

Written on a condom vending machine

'This is the worst chewing gum i've ever tasted'

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Captain Ginger
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 03:18 AM

I remember the 'Cats like plain crisps' graffiti well. In North London, over the Archway Road, there was for many years the slogan 'Doris Archer is a prude' which always made my father chuckle. And, some years later, there was a rash of graffiti asking 'Who is Christian Goldman?'. I hadn't the foggiest.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: ad1943
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 05:16 AM

"Picasso was framed "

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: autolycus
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 02:40 PM

A friend saw the following at the LSE in the 60s (repeat, 60s ),

   God is dead - Nietzsche

   Nietzsche is dead - God



My friend said there was a third line, but he never remembered it.





And an old one which I think is perfect, written with finger in the dirt on a dusty white van or lorry,



    Also available in white.




Whoever first came up with that should have had a medal.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 04:03 PM

On a van I saw here "Welsh parking only."

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 04:16 PM

On the bridge over the DC beltway that frames the Mormon Tabernacle if you're driving the outer loop - Surrender Dorothy!

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Edmond
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 04:58 AM

In response to eric the red, the corollary of that one is usually

'And if you think that's rather high
Just go next door. The fuckers fly !'

One from my University days :

DO NOT WRITE ON THIS WALL

underneath in a different hand :

'You want maybe we should type ?'

And in a Gents, somewhere, sign on the wall read

'Please adjust your dress before leaving.'


to which some wag had added 'Wrong bog, mate'.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Brakn
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 05:28 AM

This was on the wall of a toilet in a Swindon factory.

Please flush the chain! The *******s in here will eat anything.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: TheSnail
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 05:46 AM

On a Marlboro Country hoarding showing a picture of Colorado with the advertising tag "Big, isn't it" -

"It isn't big and it isn't clever."

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: autolycus
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 11:02 AM

One I nearly forgot, on a tee shirt,


      When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.


And a recent ditto on the same lines.



      Fashion Sucks


A young woman was wearing that.





       Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 11:22 AM

In 1967-68 I worked in the chemical lab at Stelco (The Hamilton Steel Company) in Hamilton, Ontario. The washrooms had the graffiti very well organized. One cubical was for philosophers, one for comedians, one for artists, one for pornographers...
One shift we came in to work and discovered that the cubicals had all been cleaned of their graffiti. At the end of the shift, in small, neat block capital letters on the door of one of the cubicals was printed, "F@#& off Cleaning Ladies!"

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: hilda fish
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 11:29 AM

In Carlton, Victoria, Australia, on a wall at the side of Rathdowne Street, "do you think they'd let us vote if it really worked". I always thought this was the ultimate in cynicism but............ I did wonder.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: autolycus
Date: 13 Jul 07 - 06:02 PM

GUEST Jim      LOL, especially the different cubicles for different material - wonderful.

I also remember (great age, lotsa memory)

   Don't vote, you'll only encourage them.





      Ivor

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: treewind
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 09:51 AM

Another memorable two-parter, Cambridge, early 1970's:

"is there intelligent life on earth?"

"yes but I'm only visiting"

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 11:12 AM

Official notice on a toilet door: 'Wet floor when cleaning!'

This brought two replies:
'I always do!', and
'If I didn't wet the floor it wouldn't need cleaning!

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rog Peek
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 12:20 PM

I've only just popped into this thread, and I'm guessing eric the red ("women's toilet") is a Brit, and Rapaire ("women's restroom") is American. I'm curious, why do you Americans call it a 'Restroom'? Is that why women spend so long in there, because they're taking fourty winks?

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: GUEST,Guest; Jem. S
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 01:03 PM

From a London lav. in the late 60's

"what with the wit that is here writ
you'd think that Shakespeare had come here to s**t"

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: Rog Peek
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 03:19 PM

This one dates back to the time when in England you had to put a penny in the slot to open the door of the toilet:

Here I sit broken hearted
Paid me penny and only farted!

Vulgar I know, but what can you expect on toilet walls.

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: GUEST,Moses
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 03:23 PM

Can't remember where I saw this -it was a long time ago.

'Never drink water - fishes f**k in it'

and, not graffiti - this was on the front of a (rather large) man's T-shirt.

'This is not a beer-belly - it's a fuel tank for a sex machine'

Subject: RE: BS: Good graffito
From: gnu
Date: 14 Jul 07 - 03:51 PM

At a urinal................. first one at about eye level.......

Look up.

Look up even further.

Look way up.

You are pissing on your shoes.