# Obscure Cultural Reference In Popeye? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2017, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281 "2017-04-26T13:03:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/21 "2017-04-26T18:56:04Z")
Well, the hell with Wimpy. What kind of name is Wimpy anyway? ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/22 "2017-04-26T19:06:19Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > I have to admit, it has been a while since I saw a _Popeye_ cartoon. I was just a child. I don’t even know if they show it on TV anymore. > > Anyways, the cartoons long out-date me. Many of them are even in black and white. That is how old they are. > > But I do remember this one thing from the cartoon. Popeye would be walking down a street, usually with Olive Oyl. And they would reach a pole, about to separate them on their way. Then Popeye would suddenly stop, and say “Bread and butter” and make sure the pole didn’t separate them. I assume he was referring to some old superstition, or something like that. It’s at the end of _I Don’t Scare_ (1956) - most of the cartoon is Bluto making it look to Olive as if Popeye is unlucky when he discovers that she is superstitious. At the end, Popeye tells her that superstitions are bunk - just as they pass on opposite sides of a telephone pole; he then runs back around the pole, saying “Bread and butter!”, only to turn red-faced as Olive laughs at him. > [@DrCube](#): > > I’m picturing a (color) cartoon from the 40s, perhaps Loony Tunes but not any of their main characters, with a scene from a zoo, where two tigers (or were they lions?) pace back and forth in a cage repeatedly saying “bread and butter”. I don’t remember that one, but I do remember a Warner Brothers cartoon from around that time that had two trains on parallel tracks going in opposite directions, with a pole between the tracks, and the trains say, “bread and butter bread and butter bread and butter bread and butter…” In fact, these are the only two times I can remember hearing the phrase used in that sense. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/23 "2017-04-26T19:09:21Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Well, the hell with Wimpy. > > What kind of name is Wimpy anyway? Beats the hell out of Castor Oil. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/24 "2017-04-26T19:31:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, I would have assumed that in a nautical context, \ing a \ down would always refer to securing some sort of line or rope. Not sure about “blow the man down”, but could “blow me down” be a reference to the boilers on a steamship? One of the reasons to blow down a boiler is to rapidly reduce pressure in an emergency, to quite literally “let off some steam”. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/25 "2017-04-26T21:03:59Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > What kind of name is Wimpy anyway? That’s J. Wellington Wimpy to you. Wikipedia says Segar named him after a former coworker whose last name was Whimpee. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Beats the hell out of Castor Oil. Oyl. And Olive’s original boyfriend was named Ham Gravy. Segar made the mistake of starting his cartoon when he was hungry. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/26 "2017-04-26T21:15:10Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > That’s J. Wellington Wimpy to you. Wikipedia says Segar named him after a former coworker whose last name was Whimpee. > > Oyl. And Olive’s original boyfriend was named Ham Gravy. Segar made the mistake of starting his cartoon when he was hungry. Thanks for fighting ignorance, Tom Tildrum! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/27 "2017-04-26T21:59:08Z")
Ummm, so just who are Sweet Pea’s parents? Oh, and Popeye’s nephews, Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye. What are they, quadruplets? By the way, total ripoffs of Huey, Louie, and Dewey. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/28 "2017-04-26T22:22:28Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > In fact, these are the only two times I can remember hearing the phrase used in that sense. It appears in The Twilight Zone episode, \*[Nick of Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_of_Time_(The_Twilight_Zone))\*to establish William Shatner’s character as a superstitious man. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/29 "2017-04-26T22:39:08Z")
I learned about that superstition from a novel or TV show, but I remember one person saying “bread and butter” and the response was “slice 'em and spread 'em”. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/30 "2017-04-26T22:52:47Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I’m picturing a (color) cartoon from the 40s, perhaps Loony Tunes but not any of their main characters, with a scene from a zoo, where two tigers (or were they lions?) pace back and forth in a cage repeatedly saying “bread and butter”. > > My wife and I do that all the time now when we’re walking and take separate paths around a pole or low fence or something. And we were both born in the 80s. So, perhaps an old superstition, but it’s still got practitioners. The zoo cartoon is what popped into my head as well while reading the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/31 "2017-04-26T22:56:21Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > The zoo cartoon is what popped into my head as well while reading the OP. The train one is the one I always think of. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/32 "2017-04-26T23:47:14Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Ummm, so just who are Sweet Pea’s parents? > > Oh, and Popeye’s nephews, Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye. What are they, quadruplets? > > By the way, total ripoffs of Huey, Louie, and Dewey. I thought that Sweetpea was Popeye’s nephew. :dubious: On edit: In the comics, Swee’Pea is a baby found on Popeye’s doorstep (actually delivered to him in a box) in a July 24, 1933 strip. Popeye adopts and raises him as his son, or, as he puts it “boy-kid”. On edit edit: [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swee%27Pea) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/33 "2017-04-27T00:03:55Z")
Was there ever an X-rated version where Popeye took spinach with him to bed? Cause it could work. If David Lynch directed. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/34 "2017-04-27T01:37:41Z")
Don’t mess with Popeye, man. Just don’t. He will kick your ass. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/35 "2017-04-27T01:59:47Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Ummm, so just who are Sweet Pea’s parents? > > Oh, and Popeye’s nephews, Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye. What are they, quadruplets? > > By the way, total ripoffs of Huey, Louie, and Dewey. actually there’s a illustrated history of the strip (and biography of segar himself) that was written about 1985 or 6 by the guy who was segar’s assistant and who took over the strip after he died But in the strip sweetpeas mother showed up and they had a month long battle over who was keeping him (it was a satirical play on the depression eras stereotype of unwed mother with a baby that was in the movies and radio shows) Popeye won but shed show up now and again when segar wanted to have some drama in the strip Also popeyes nephews were a famous studios (the worst place ever for cartoons ) invention after their stories became stale…and not considered canon… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/36 "2017-04-27T02:03:19Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Was there ever an X-rated version where Popeye took spinach with him to bed? Or olive oil? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/37 "2017-04-27T02:06:59Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > That’s J. Wellington Wimpy to you. Wikipedia says Segar named him after a former coworker whose last name was Whimpee. **FUN FACT:** During WWII, RAF airmen called their Wellington bombers “Wimpys” in (so I’m told) \*homage \*to Popeye’s friend. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/38 "2017-04-27T02:09:51Z")
Whimpy was based on more than one person … a conman that was supposed ot be the smartest man he knew and always parted people from their money with fast talking…how he talked was based on a boxing ref that would mumble the fighters names but would say his loud and clear … in fact he wrote that him and segar could never work out a strip where popeye would win against him and when he complains about it one day segar says" well maybe hes always supposed to win" ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/39 "2017-04-27T03:24:04Z")
One I happened to hear on _Beavis and Butt-head_: Q. What happened when Napoleon went to Mount Olive? A. Popeye got pissed. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281/40 "2017-04-27T03:54:35Z")
A very old thread about this and other obscure cartoon details. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=146547&page=3](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=146547&page=3) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-cultural-reference-in-popeye/785281.md?page=3)