“Safety first” is a slogan that has been used since the early 1900s. “Safe-Tea First” is a pun that was used in Ridgways Tea advertisments from October 1914.
A jocular saying was posted on Twitter on July 16, 2011:
“I’m about to have a cup of dangerous coffee. Safe tea first though.”
30 October 1914, San Francisco (CA) Chronicle, pg. 3, col. 5 ad:
SAFE-TEA FIRST
DRINK
Ridgways Tea
Chronicling America
12 December 1914, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, pg. 7, col. 6 ad:
SAFE-TEA FIRST
DRINK
Ridgways Tea
Google Books
May 1915, Country Life in America, pg. 33, col. 2 ad:
“SAFE-TEA” FIRST
Ridgways Tea
Twitter
Eoin Rogers
@erogers89
@PaulieCummins I’m about to have a cup of dangerous coffee.Safe tea first though.
6:39 PM - 16 Jul 2011
Twitter
PAULIEBOY#IHOW
@PaulieboyIHOW
I’m about to have a cup of dangerous coffee.Safe tea first though.
7:42 PM - 16 Jul 2011
Twitter
Rich H
@Stamford_Grinch
I’m about to have a cup of dangerous coffee.Safe tea first though.
2:09 AM - 17 Jul 2011 from Bexley, England
18 July 2011, The Sun (London, UK), pg. 20:
I’M about to have some dangerous coffee. Safe tea first though.
Google Books
5,000 Great One Liners
Compiled by Grant Tucker
London: Biteback Publishing
2012
Pg. ?:
I’m about to have a cup of dangerous coffee. Safe tea first though.
Twitter
Bad Joke Cat
@BadJokeCat
I’m about to have a cup of dangerous coffee. Safe tea first though.
5:03 PM - 29 Sep 2014
Twitter
Shit Jokes
@ShitJokes
I’m about to have a cup of dangerous coffee.
Safe tea first though.
1:26 PM - 24 Jan 2016
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“Laughter is the best medicine…except for treating diarrhea” (4/15)
•“Laughter is the best medicine. Unless you have diarrhea” (4/15)
•“If you know someone who is effortlessly happy in the morning, that is a demon. You’re friends with a demon” (4/15)
•“You know you’re a bad driver when Siri says: ‘In 400 feet, stop and let me out’” (4/15)
•“You know your driving is really terrible when your GPS says ‘After 300 feet, stop and let me out!’’ (4/15)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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