The Massachusetts Codfish License Plate Fiasco of 1928

A 1928 Massachusetts license plate with a bad omen!

1928 was a bad year for the Massachusetts codfish yield. Whose fault was it? The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles', of course—or you might think so, to listen to some of the irate fishermen that year.

The problem started with the new license plate design. At the time, it was common for states to issue brand new license plates every year, and Massachusetts was no exception. The new plates for 1928 featured something revolutionary, too: it was the first time any state put a picture of anything on the plate. Since Massachusetts was known for cod, the picture the RMV chose was, logically, a codfish. It appeared at the bottom of the plate. In the bottom left-hand corner was the year, 1928. In the bottom right-hand corner was the state, written “Mass.” And in the middle was the codfish—the first picture of anything that ever appeared on an American license plate. That should make the fishermen happy, right?

Well, no. Complaints started pouring in from irate fishermen who were not happy at all. One problem was the codfish decal. They didn’t like it because, as they complained, it looked more like a “giant guppy” than a codfish. Worse, it was facing away from the name of the state, suggesting that the codfish were leaving Massachusetts! This could have been a strange kind of modern superstition. More likely it stemmed from raw nerves on the part of the fishermen, whose nerves were already frayed because the codfish yield had been down all decade, and this probably just set them off.

The 1929 Massachusetts license plate: there, is that better?

Whatever the reason, this was a problem for the RMV, and they took action. For the 1929 license plates, the design was updated. This time, the codfish was represented in more detail, so it looked more like a real fish. And instead of swimming away from “Mass.”, it was swimming toward it. Did it help the codfish yield? Not at all. 1928 and 1929 weren’t good years for cod fisheries, but the 1920s and 1930s generally weren’t. But the RMV learned its lesson: the 1930 Massachusetts license plates had no fish on them at all!

There’s no record of how the fish felt about the license plates, but then, fish don’t drive.

The 1930 Massachusetts license plate: fine, no fish for anyone.

How the Lemon was Invented

Lemons How do you make a lemon? Silly question, isn’t it? You just take the seeds out of one and plant them, and wait for the tree to come up, right? That’s true, but it hasn’t always been that easy. Lemons today are a widely cultivated citrus fruit, with a flavor used in cuisines of countries where no lemon tree would ever grow. You might think that it was just a matter of ancient peoples finding the trees, enjoying their fruit and growing more of them, but that’s not true. The lemon is a human invention that’s maybe only a few thousand years old. The first lemons came from East Asia, possibly southern China or Burma. (These days, some prefer to refer to Burma as Myanmar . I’ll try to stay out of that controversy here and stick to fruit.) The exact date of the lemon’s first cultivation is not known, but scientists figure it’s been around for more than 4,000 years. The lemon is a cross breed of several fruits. One f...

Origins of the Word Hoser, eh?

Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as cultural icons Bob and Doug McKenzie These days we often hear Canadians referred to as “Hosers”. It’s a strange word, and it sounds a little insulting, but it’s sometimes used more with affection than malice. Any such word is difficult to use correctly, especially if you don’t belong to the group the word describes. I can’t say I feel comfortable throwing the word around, myself, but I can offer a little information about it that might shed some light on what it means. First off: is it an insult? Yes… and no. The word hoser can be used as an insult or as a term of endearment; the variation hosehead , is certainly an insult. It’s a mild insult, meaning something like jerk or idiot or loser . Its origin is unclear, and there are several debatable etymologies of the word. One claims that it comes from the days before the zamboni was invented, when the losing team of an outdoor ice hockey game...

Haberdashers and Milliners

The haberdashery is something you don’t see anymore. It used to be a common sight in Western countries, when it was expected for a man to wear a hat when he left the house. There was enough of a demand for them that they remained a staple in American shopping districts until the 1960s, when fashions began to change. But you could at one time make a good living at it; it’s what Harry Truman did before he entered politics. Some say that it was another president, Jack Kennedy, who was partly responsible for hats going out of fashion in America, since he seldom wore them. (And with a head of hair that good, why would he?) Of course, there’s no way to measure this, but the disappearance of hats from men’s (and women’s) heads seems to coincide with the Kennedy administration (though I remember my father and other men wearing hats to work until the early 1980s). A ladies’ hat shop was called a milliner’s, and those have also largely vanished....

Search This Blog