[Brian Allgar]

Jerome, I would contribute a bit more on the subject, but as a friend wrote to me, "I'm just trotting down to the pub with a palomino".

[Janice D. Soderling]

Oh, don't stop now. This is wonderful. (I wonder though if our American friends are in on the joke.)

[Brian Allgar]

Janice, I'd be willing to bet a pony that a country that has a gun called a Colt and a car called a Mustang won't be thrown by a few horse-jokes.

[Douglas G. Brown]

Jerome,

I liked the fruits of your Punch Research. The library of the technical college which I attended had a bound set of Punch from the first issue until about 1930; probably the gift of some alumnus wiped out in the Crash of '29.
I stumbled on them in my sophomore year, and spent many happy hours perusing them. Alas, my grades suffered from loss of study time.

"was 'Mr Ed' any relation to 'Francis the Talking Mule'?"

Good question - I suspect they might have been distant cousins, in a showbiz sense. Francis was a career military fellow, and Mr. Ed lived in suburban New York. I saw a couple of the Francis movies when I was a kid. The theater was packed with kids, and we got in for 25 cents. Those were the days, as Archie Bunker used to sing.

[Douglas G. Brown]

Originally Posted by Brian Allgar

Janice, I'd be wiling to bet a pony that a country that has a gun called a Colt and a car called a Mustang won't be thrown by a few horse-jokes.

Brian,

We also have Colt 45 Malt Liquor, best quaffed from a 40 ounce bottle. Allegedly, it has no relationship to the Samuel Colt's revolver. It was first brewed in Baltimore, and named for the Baltimore Colts football team. Originally, it came in a 45 ounce bottle, as a marketing edge over competing brands in 40 ounce bottles.

I doubt that you will find Colt 45 served along the boulevards of Paris, and I commend the French for this.

Oddly enough, the American practice of beers packaged in 40 ounce bottles is a relic of WWII, when they replaced 12 ounce cans to save on rationed steel. Even motor oil and pipe tobacco came in glass for a few years, for the same reason.

A few old timers still a call a 40 ounce a "GI 40". But, not many Colt 45 drinkers join the ranks of old timers.

[Jerome Betts]

Reverting or adverting to Fosen's hackneyed old chestnuts . . .

Brute and Branch

Upon a huge horse, Chestnut Beau,
Steve rode in woods near Slough
Till BONK! - he failed to pass below
A huge horse-chestnut bough.