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We aim to please

Posted by Smokey Stover on July 05, 2007

In Reply to: We aim to please posted by Carola on July 03, 2007

: Can anyone tell me the origin of "We aim to please"? It sounds like an advertising slogan.

I'm fairly sure you're right, although about a century ago you would have found signs like this posted in stores as well as printed in advertisements. Around 1940, at the Chautaugqua County fair, and perhaps in many other places as well, the public restroom for men had, for a urinal, a longish trough at a suitable height, with an open faucet at one end pouring into it and a drain at the other. Above it was a sign, "We aim to please. You aim, too, please!"
SS

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