Good Humour Man

[Allen Crisp]

I have been listening (again) to my collection of songs by the great Tom Lehrer and it has reminded me of a question I've always wanted answered. The subject of the song is in the Army and has been so indoctrinated that '.. it was so deeply rooted/ that the next day he saluted/ a good humour man, three ushers and a nun'. The idea is that he salutes anything in a uniform. A nun wears a uniform of sorts and so does an usher (assuming it is a US word for what we'd call a commissionaire), but what is a 'good humour man'? On the same American theme, and to save another post, what is a 'soda fountain' - is it a soft drink machine, or a place where you can buy soft drinks, or something else?

[IndieSinger]

Ah I can answer the "soda fountain" one! You know the long thing they pour soft drinks out of in McDonald's, Burger King etc.? The fizzy drinks machine with Fanta (although they don't have that in America, but they do often have Dr. Pepper), Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite etc.? Where they stand the cups and let them fill up with drinks? Well it's not that.

Just kidding, it is.

[Quizmonster]

'Good Humor' (note spelling!) was, apparently, the name of a brand of ice-cream in the USA. Hence, 'a good Humor man' was the driver of an ice-cream van, who would clearly be 'uniformed', too. Click http://www.spies.com/~weasel/crappyjobs/erickjob.h
tml for an appropriate website. A Google search - using the spelling above - will reveal more such sites.

[woofgang]

Indie's almost there, not only is (was) the soda fountain the piece of gear, it was also the place that had the piece of gear, selling soda's, icecream and snacks. BTW in the sweetshop at the bottom of Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire, if it is still there, there used to be a magnificent marble and chrome soda fountain, alas not in use...any one know if it or the shop are still there?? Good Humor was one of the original trans state brands of icecream, sold from trikes. ther uniform was a white shirt, bow tie and peaked cap

[woofgang]

It wasn't a trike, it was a push cart. go to http://www.icecreamusa.com for a pic.