As an American I rely on certain comic strips to keep me up to date on the state of the Commonwealth (such as it is anymore): “Andy Capp” for Brit-land, “For Better or for Worse” for O-Canada, and “Ginger Meggs” for Down Under.
One of the things I’ve learned from Ginger is that “ginger” is a common Brit-and-related-lands word for redheads, a usage so unknown in America that it doesn’t appear in two popular American dictionaries I checked.
I was grateful to have learned this or else I would have been confused when a news interview I saw just yesterday had Prince-and-Probable-Future-King William refer to his brother Prince-and-Also-Ran Harry as a “ginger”.
(I’m hoping Queen Liz outlives Charles so we can skip the boring bloke. Assuming she’ll have the late Queen Mum’s longevity and Charles gets the short-gevity of her royal father, she will.)
Thanks for the info on Princes William & Harry. I didn’t remember which one was the eldest, and therefore most likely to become king. I agree, I would hope England could skip having Charles as king.
Yep, the term Ginger’s been around longer than Australia’s been colonized.
It’s a pretty obvious connection; people with ginger coloured hair being called a Ginger, but I can see how it wouldn’t be as plainly understood in the US if it’s not a term of common usage. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ginger)
That said, I’ve just spent the last month in the Unites States, and every single person I mentioned Ginger Meggs to, cartoonist and non-cartoonist alike understood the ‘ginger/red-head’ connection. Perhaps it’s just New York/Los Angeles thing.
Good to keep tabs on how the strip’s translating; please keep posting your thoughts as they’re all extremely valuable and, as always, thanks for reading :)
(As an interesting historical fact on the strip as an addendum to the comment above:)
Ginger was actually named Ginger Smith back when he first appeared in 1921. He wasn’t named Ginger Meggs until he was made the main character of the strip later in the 20’s. The strip was in black and white, so his hair had no colour; (and no grey or black.)
When it came time to run the strip in colour, the creator, Jimmy Bancks, was given the option of three colours for press to colour Ginger’s hair; Yellow, Blue or Red.
He chose red, and thus Ginger became a red-head! Had he chosen yellow, I suspect the parallels with Dennis the Menace may have seen the strip become less popular than it is today.
As a result, for generations any Aussie kid was given the nickname “Meggsie” or “Ginge” when they were growing up. Many fans have emailed to tell me the nickname has stuck through adulthood.
i_am_the_jam over 15 years ago
Odd, I thought they all were…
IncredibleWerekitty over 15 years ago
-_- Of course they all were, because the setting is usually done manually.
pschearer Premium Member over 15 years ago
As an American I rely on certain comic strips to keep me up to date on the state of the Commonwealth (such as it is anymore): “Andy Capp” for Brit-land, “For Better or for Worse” for O-Canada, and “Ginger Meggs” for Down Under.
One of the things I’ve learned from Ginger is that “ginger” is a common Brit-and-related-lands word for redheads, a usage so unknown in America that it doesn’t appear in two popular American dictionaries I checked.
I was grateful to have learned this or else I would have been confused when a news interview I saw just yesterday had Prince-and-Probable-Future-King William refer to his brother Prince-and-Also-Ran Harry as a “ginger”.
(I’m hoping Queen Liz outlives Charles so we can skip the boring bloke. Assuming she’ll have the late Queen Mum’s longevity and Charles gets the short-gevity of her royal father, she will.)
Smiley Rmom over 15 years ago
Thanks for the info on Princes William & Harry. I didn’t remember which one was the eldest, and therefore most likely to become king. I agree, I would hope England could skip having Charles as king.
Ginger Meggs over 15 years ago
Yep, the term Ginger’s been around longer than Australia’s been colonized.
It’s a pretty obvious connection; people with ginger coloured hair being called a Ginger, but I can see how it wouldn’t be as plainly understood in the US if it’s not a term of common usage. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ginger)
That said, I’ve just spent the last month in the Unites States, and every single person I mentioned Ginger Meggs to, cartoonist and non-cartoonist alike understood the ‘ginger/red-head’ connection. Perhaps it’s just New York/Los Angeles thing.
Good to keep tabs on how the strip’s translating; please keep posting your thoughts as they’re all extremely valuable and, as always, thanks for reading :)
Ginger Meggs over 15 years ago
(As an interesting historical fact on the strip as an addendum to the comment above:)
Ginger was actually named Ginger Smith back when he first appeared in 1921. He wasn’t named Ginger Meggs until he was made the main character of the strip later in the 20’s. The strip was in black and white, so his hair had no colour; (and no grey or black.)
When it came time to run the strip in colour, the creator, Jimmy Bancks, was given the option of three colours for press to colour Ginger’s hair; Yellow, Blue or Red.
He chose red, and thus Ginger became a red-head! Had he chosen yellow, I suspect the parallels with Dennis the Menace may have seen the strip become less popular than it is today.
As a result, for generations any Aussie kid was given the nickname “Meggsie” or “Ginge” when they were growing up. Many fans have emailed to tell me the nickname has stuck through adulthood.
Thanks for reading.