Poker-face Polly (Feb, 1937)
Lady Gaga’s grandmother was a parrot. This explains so much.
Poker-face Polly
LOOK! YOU’RE EVEN GIVING POLLY NERVES. IF YOU’D ONLY LISTEN TO ME ABOUT COFFEE!
NONE OF YOUR CAFFEINE-FREE COFFEE FOR ME. I KNOW WHAT I LIKE!
YOU AND I ARE GOING TO FIX THOSE NERVES POLLY. WE’LL GIVE HIM KAFFEE-HAG COFFEE TONIGHT- BUT KEEP IT QUIET
NEXT WEEK
YOU LOOK SO PEACEFUL, I BELIEVE I DARE BREAK THE NEWS. THAT’S KAFFEE-HAG COFFEE YOU’RE DRINKING.
IT IS? WELL, IT’S THE BEST DARN COFFEE WE EVER TASTED, ISN’T IT POLLY?
POLLY KEEP A SECRET!
DRINK IT TO YOUR NERVES’ CONTENT!
If your heart warms to a glorious cup of coffee — but your nerves say “No!” —then here are a few words you’ll like. Kaffee-Hag is more than real coffee. It’s the finest coffee that money can buy. It has everything any fine coffee has—except the jitters. For the nerve-lashing caffeine — 97% of it — has been so painlessly removed that not an atom of flavour is lost. Make Kaffee-Hag strong. Extra brewing brings out its finest aroma.
Kellogg’s KAFFEE-HAG COFFEE
Kaffee-Hag? Seriously? Sounds like an insult for a waitress: “Hey, Kaffee-Hag, another cup of joe down here.”
“Well,” I thought, “maybe it means something nice in another language.” Fire up Google Translate, put it in, select “Detect Language” and I get… “German: Coffee Hag.” Well, dang.
And when he falls asleep, we’ll put a pair of Trim-Jeans on him and wrap his car in straw.
Interesting stuff here http://foodcompanycookb… and http://news.google.com/…
Sanka sounds definitely nicer than Koffee-Hag. Of course the German language is not exactly a pretty sounding language.
Perhaps getting rid of that parrot would also help his nerves!
I think they were trying to make it sound Scandinavian, sort of like Haagen-Dazs, but they didn’t realize what “hag” meant to the younger generation.
PS the cover! “Sex-crazing drug menace!” “When marriage is sin!” Man, you gotta love Physical Culture.
Charlene: I don’t think so. The link I provided on the history has the brand (and name) originating in Germany and I think that we can safely assume Germans understand German.
Also your theory doesn’t account for this http://www.enjoybetterc…
Times up! It’s not Hag as in “That old hag”. It’s a reflection of the German love of acronyms. HAG is short for Handelsgesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft
Whatever its origin, hag was in common usage as meaning an ugly old woman (eg. Popeye villain “Sea Hag”) long before this product premiered. What a marketing nightmare. Pity the poor ad agency Kellogg’s saddled with this campaign.
Scott B.: Poor example. Kaffee-HAG was founded in 1906 but the Thimble Theater Sea Hag didn’t appear until 1929. But yeah, I get your point.