Present Imperfect

Bowler v. Sailor | January 27, 2005

I forget why I was there in the first place, but Style.com recently ran this mini-feature on dandies through the ages. Oh, how I love the dandy concept! Behold how Beau Brummell, the original dandy, eschewed frippery in favor of wit and austerity. And check out the expression on his face. Don't you love it when someone's features are so small and dainty it looks as though they're just meeting on the face for a little tea party?

Then there's Nick Foulkes, whose scarlet socks alone compel me to purchase his book on Count d'Orsay.

Oh, look! an entire site devoted to dandyism.

Also, I've been thinking a lot about Popeye lately. The other night, I woke up at about 3 a.m. and told Eric something was bothering me. Luckily, he was awake, too, so he didn't mind when I asked him whether he thought Popeye was retired or AWOL. I mean, he's a "sailor man," apparently, but you never see him in the company of other sailors. What's that about? Was he honorably discharged or was he tossed out of the military for his unnerving addiction to canned spinach? And, as a sailor, shouldn't his food of choice be oranges or lemons or something higher in vitamin C — you know, to combat the scurvy?

A coworker indicated to me that there was a World War II-era Popeye strip in which he's making off-color remarks about the Japanese, so I assumed he had served a tour of duty in the Pacific theatre and was then released from service. But my extremely limited research indicates that Popeye first appeared in 1929, unemployed and loitering on "the docks." That doesn't sound good, does it?