Jingo
From Plastic Tub
jingo n. 1. The cant of Poobs. 2. A popular Lil' AA character. 3. A person who encourages war and militancy; of a particular nationalist slant; an asshole. 4. A Scottish exclamation of surprise, considered mildly ribald in certain cirles (By jingo!).
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Lil' AA Characters of Who Demand Mention |
Extrapolation
When Lil' AA creator Jonathan Trenchwheat created Jingo in August of 1964, the character was originally a woman. Conceived as a kind of "cutie-pie Red Lady of Babylon", Trenchwheat hurriedly transformed the character into a dwarf in the very next Sunday strip. Though the change was inexplicable, not a single reader complained and the Red Lady was never heard from again. Even reprints of the single panel of Jingo's introduction have been excised, replaced with a rather crudely scrotted illustration of a pigeon.
The original run has since become somewhat of collector's item, and, collectors being what they are (Poobs), the origin of the character's name has been subject to some speculation.1 Some have pointed to the dwarf's habit of stamping on bystander's toes, suggesting a connection of pointless militarism. Other's have suggested Freudian connection between the Red Lady and the jingo-ring, a ritualistic game popular in Scotland around during the late 1800s. Jingo-ring was similar to ring-around-the-rosy; young girls would link hands, encircling and twirling about a central lass (the "jingo") while sing-song-chanting, "Here we go the jingo-ring, The jingo-ring, the jingo-ring, Here we go the jingo-ring, About the merry-ma-tanzie."
Trenchwheat remains tight-lipped, even (some have suggested) somewhat annoyed by the whole debate; he typically responds to letters of inquiry on the topic with an envelope of used dental floss.
Notes
Note 1: Stan Lee added fuel to the fire when he referenced the strip in his popular Son of Origins (Simon & Schuster. New York, New York. 1975) collection, noting that "...those familiar with Iron Man today may be shocked by his original appearance, as Marvel pulled a real Jingo twist on his costume."
