# Jughead's "S"

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 19, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945 "2014-09-19T16:56:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Annette\_Robertson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Annette\_Robertson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annette_Robertson)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/1 "2014-09-19T16:56:53Z")

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You know, when I was a young girl, I just loved Archie comics. But, I often wondered what the “S” on Jughead’s tops stood for. Anyways, the other day my granddaughter was visiting and as my daughter and I chatted at the kitchen table, my grandaughter was occupying herself with an Archie comic book - on the front was Jughead (and Archie) and I was reminded of the "S’ question.

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### Author: ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/2 "2014-09-19T16:58:52Z")

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Apparently, there is no definitive reason. See [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jughead_Jones)

> [@](#):
>
> Another mystery that follows Jughead’s character is the meaning of the “S” on his sweatshirt. This remains a mystery to this day, although many stories have hinted at a meaning. In Jughead #30 (1992), when his psychiatrist, Sara, asked him “why an ‘S’?” he replied “I dunno! My third cousin was called skinny…” Recently, the triangular banner on the cover of issue 140 of Archie & Friends shows that the “S” stands for Silby, as in Silby high school, where he attended for a few months as a freshman. At one time after his sweater was filled with holes due to what he thought was a moth when it was actually a chemical accident caused in lab class, he simply reveals that the S on his sweater stands for “soup, sandwich, steak and all kinds of goodies!” after his friends ask him.

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### Author: ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/3 "2014-09-19T17:12:23Z")

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So Superman ripped off Jughead? Way cool! 😉

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### Author: ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/4 "2014-09-19T17:20:02Z")

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[Moose]Uh, it stands for Riverdale.[/Moose]

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### Author: ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/5 "2014-09-19T19:04:24Z")

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**Moderator Action**

This is better suited to CS, and a move there will also allow discussion of the comic in general now that the factual aspect of the OP seems to have been addressed.

Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society.

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### Author: ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/6 "2014-09-19T20:34:07Z")

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> [@lost4life](#):
>
> [Moose]Uh, it stands for Riverdale.[/Moose]

Two favorite Moose moments I still recall from Archie comic books I owned back in the 60s:

> [@](#):
>
> Moose has a wristwatch, but the sweep hand on it isn’t functioning.
> 
> So he tells his friends of his intention to take it to be repaired…at a secondhand store.

> [@](#):
>
> Moose is seen steaming mad in the first panel…
> 
> Moose: “Ooh, I’m gonna murder that Reggie!”
> 
> Dilton Doily: “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
> 
> Moose: “Who said that?”
> 
> Dilton: “William Shakespeare.”
> 
> Moose: “Will Shakespeare, eh? Well, I’ll murder him too!”

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### Author: ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/7 "2014-09-19T21:37:47Z")

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Now…on to Jughead’s hat?

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### Author: ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/8 "2014-09-19T21:53:56Z")

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Chasing Amy

```
                                    HOOPER
		*Archie and Jughead were lovers.*
			(sips his drink)
				BANKY
		*Shut the fuck up.*
				HOOPER
		*It's true. Archie was the bitch and 
		Jughead was the butch - that's why 
		Jughead wears that crown-looking hat 
		all the time: he the king, of queen 
		Archie's world.*
				BANKY
		*Man, I feel a hate-crime coming on.*
```

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### Author: ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/9 "2014-09-19T22:39:38Z")

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It’s been around a while, but this trailer for a fake Archie movie is hillarious - and Betty is some kinda hot! [Riverdale](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djRAiiFlCy8)

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### Author: ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/10 "2014-09-19T23:07:12Z")

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> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> It’s been around a while, but this trailer for a fake Archie movie is hillarious - and Betty is some kinda hot! [Riverdale](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djRAiiFlCy8)

[Courtney Hojenski](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3979210/?ref_=tt_cl_t5)

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### Author: ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/11 "2014-09-19T23:28:38Z")

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I read a story in an Archie comic (no idea which title, issue, or what year) where the “S” was the topic.

The gang was trying to solve the mystery and Juggy wasn’t talking. In a subplot, for some reason Jug was turning on some local girls, which could have been a story in itself. Betty and Veronica were talking about the “S” on his shirt and commented that they always thought it stood for Slob but now thinks it stands for Sexy.

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### Author: ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/12 "2014-09-20T00:29:00Z")

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> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> It’s been around a while, but this trailer for a fake Archie movie is hillarious - and Betty is some kinda hot! [Riverdale](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djRAiiFlCy8)

I would totally watch that movie!

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### Author: ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/13 "2014-09-20T00:42:12Z")

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> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> It’s been around a while, but this trailer for a fake Archie movie is hillarious - and Betty is some kinda hot! [Riverdale](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djRAiiFlCy8)

I’ve never seen it before. Thank you. It’s hilarious!

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### Author: ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/14 "2014-09-20T02:39:44Z")

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The “S” stands for “Walter.”

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### Author: ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/15 "2014-09-20T03:24:19Z")

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> [@EdwardLost](#):
>
> Now…on to Jughead’s hat?

Previous thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=188465&highlight=jughead+felt). More than you knew there was to know about it.

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### Author: ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jugheads-s/698945/16 "2014-09-20T04:21:05Z")

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From der Wiki:

> [@](#):
>
> Bob Montana has stated that unlike other characters in the series who were based on people he knew, Jughead was a character he imagined.[2] Montana’s widow Peg Bertholet stated that high school friend of Montana’s named Skinny Lenahan supposedly had some of Jughead’s peculiar traits.[2] Bertholet has stated that the S insignia refers to a location called Skunk Hill in Haverhill, Massachusetts which Montana turned into Squirrel Hill.[3] The S alludes to combination of the location and Montana’s elementary school athletic team near Haverhill called the Tigers.[3] Bertholet has stated that S stands for “‘Squirrel Hill Independent Tigers,’ and you couldn’t abbreviate it any other way.”[3]
