# Tom Lehrer dies at age 97 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [July 27, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386 "2025-07-27T17:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/101 "2025-07-30T17:53:02Z")
I never realized that guy was supposed to be part-Lehrer; he seemed like pure Russell ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/102 "2025-07-30T18:57:55Z")
People ask me how I do it. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/103 "2025-07-30T19:44:09Z")
Did you learn it from Agnes? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/104 "2025-07-30T19:46:42Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > Did you learn it from Agnes? - Yeah, he learned not to get it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/105 "2025-08-01T00:12:25Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > Also, re: “New Math” my favorite bit is actually the part when he switches over to octal (“it’s like base 10, if you’re missing two fingers”). He’s not wrong. 🤣 What I love about “New Math” is that it was written by a humorist who really understood this stuff - being a mathematician and all. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/106 "2025-08-01T00:42:03Z")
So long Mommy I’m off to get a Commie So send me a salami\* _and don’t wait up for me_ \*this was actually a thing during WWII, or at least Katz’s Deli wanted it to be. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/107 "2025-08-01T05:05:55Z")
I stumbled upon this once, and it was a real thing. Never understood the line before learning that. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/108 "2025-08-01T13:29:29Z")
[![](https://www.insidehook.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Katzs_Harry_SendaSalami_CreditKatzsDeli.jpg?fit=1200%2C763) ](https://www.insidehook.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Katzs_Harry_SendaSalami_CreditKatzsDeli.jpg?fit=1200%2C763) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/109 "2025-08-01T13:55:22Z")
With music: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/eWhhoySpevw/hqdefault.jpg "Katz's Delicatessen - Jerry Lewis sings "Send A Salami"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWhhoySpevw) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/110 "2025-08-01T14:08:06Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > \*this was actually a thing during WWII, or at least Katz’s Deli wanted it to be. I am utterly amazed. I always thought that Lehrer was just looking for a rhyme for “Mommy” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/111 "2025-08-01T14:13:51Z")
Just for completeness: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CegxQeN3HLk/maxresdefault.jpg "Send A Salami To Your Boy In The Army") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CegxQeN3HLk) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/112 "2025-08-01T14:34:09Z")
Me too. The stuff we learn around here. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/113 "2025-08-01T15:28:55Z")
However it is unlikely anyone will get their salami delivered in the hour and a half the war is on. Short nuclear wars were the thing back then. There is the one in Pangborn’s “Davy” and the fifteen minute one in Dylan’s “Talkin’ World War III Blues.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/114 "2025-08-01T15:31:11Z")
And the book _Warday_. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/115 "2025-08-01T15:33:40Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > What I love about “New Math” is that it was written by a humorist who really understood this stuff Very true. If he’d been working in the UK, he would probably have skewered the ‘Initial Teaching Alphabet’ ‘[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial\_Teaching\_Alphabet’](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alphabet%E2%80%99) just as adroitly. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/116 "2025-08-01T15:35:03Z")
Link doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/117 "2025-08-01T15:38:58Z")
Sorry about that. Let me try again, I’ll test this time. > **[Initial Teaching Alphabet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alphabet)** > > The Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA or i.t.a.) is a variant of the Latin alphabet developed by Sir James Pitman (the grandson of Sir Isaac Pitman, inventor of a system of shorthand) in the early 1960s. It was not intended to be a strictly phonetic transcription of English sounds, or a spelling reform for English as such, but instead a practical simplified writing system which could be used to teach English-speaking children to read more easily than can be done with traditional orthography. After c... ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/118 "2025-08-01T17:18:40Z")
Except that New Math was legit. But i still love the song. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/119 "2025-08-01T19:03:18Z")
And today I learned where my dad got “The navy gets the gravy, but the army gets the beans.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2025, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386/120 "2025-08-01T19:09:36Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Very true. If he’d been working in the UK, he would probably have skewered the ‘Initial Teaching Alphabet’ Dear Og, WTF were they _thinking??!!?!_ That’s some damned fine wackiness there. But thanks for the cite; I learned something today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-dies-at-age-97/1021386.md?page=7)