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The Annual Ham Sandwich

by Clare Briggs · September 30, 2021

Clare Briggs

Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.

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Jaybird says:

September 30, 2021 at 11:37 pm

I have no idea what that means.Report
- Kolohe in reply to Jaybird says:
  
  October 3, 2021 at 3:04 pm
  
  There’s some unsourced and/or circular referenced stuff on the net that says a ‘ham sandwich’ is slang for evidence the cops plant on people they arrest. (it’s also unclear what era this slang is from). This is unrelated to ‘grand jury will indict a ham sandwich’ which apparently was first said by a New York judge in the 1980s and then popularized by Tom Wolfe.
  
  (there’s also quite a few urban dictionary-type sites that relate ham sandwiches to women in a vulgar way which I don’t think at all was the aim here)
  
  One theory that I’m pulling from thin air – remember that one comic where the main character was excited about eating 6 pounds of roast beef at the annual club dinner? Perhaps this is the counterpoint to that, where Ralph, instead of partying and feasting literally or metaphorically with the boys from work, will have to settle literally or metaphorically for just a ham sandwich because his wife is along.
  
  sorry, it wasn’t the comic itself, but the comment by MIchael Cain below where the 6 pounds of meat came from
  https://ordinary-times.com/2021/02/13/the-big-beefsteak-dinner/Report
  - Jaybird in reply to Kolohe says:
    
    October 3, 2021 at 11:20 pm
    
    Okay, I guess the thin air theory makes the most sense to me.
    
    But, dang, there’s an assumed shared cultural language there that has almost disappeared.Report
    - Michael Cain in reply to Jaybird says:
      
      October 4, 2021 at 10:09 am
      
      But, dang, there’s an assumed shared cultural language there that has almost disappeared.
      
      Based on what we’ve seen from Briggs before, “assumed” can apply to shared as much as to cultural. In the early years of Saturday Night Live, there was a certain amount of each show that was just “Huh? Is that supposed to be funny?” for people who had never lived in the New York City metro area.Report
Kolohe says:

October 3, 2021 at 3:22 pm

Not sure where my other comment went to, but here’s some of the Ham vs Beef wars in the Briggs archives

https://ordinary-times.com/2021/02/21/protest-registered-at-the-menu/

https://ordinary-times.com/2021/02/13/the-big-beefsteak-dinner/

Is it that ham is considered plain and ordinary for these folks? “annual ham sandwich” is thus sarcastic – instead of being able to feast and party it up, an ‘annual filet mignon, lobster, and champagne’, he’s going to have a boring ordinary week because of his wife’s company?Report