A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

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.

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Entry from January 13, 2017
“I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day. He wasn’t very happy”

A “ploughman’s lunch” (a lunch that ploughmen in the United Kingdom like to eat) consists of cheese, pickle and bread. A popular joke is:
   
“I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day. He wasn’t very happy.”
   
That is, the ploughman wasn’t happy that his lunch was eaten. The joke appears to date to at least 1981 and was possibly first told by British comedian Tommy Cooper (1921-1984).
 
Similar jokes include “I ate a kid’s meal at McDonald’s for lunch. His mom was furious,” “I had a shepherd’s pie for lunch. He was furious” and “I’ll have the chef’s salad.”/“That’s so rude. Order your own!”
     
     
Wikipedia: Ploughman’s lunch
A ploughman’s lunch (abbrev. to ploughman’s) is an English cold meal which consists of cheese, pickle, and bread. Additional items such as apple, boiled eggs, ham, and pickled onions may be added. As its name suggests, it is more commonly consumed at midday.
 
Beer, bread, and cheese have been combined in the English diet since antiquity. However, the specific term “ploughman’s lunch” is believed to date no further back than the 1950s, when the Cheese Bureau (a marketing body affiliated to the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency) began promoting the meal in pubs as a way to increase the sales of cheese, which had recently ceased to be rationed. Its popularity increased as the Milk Marketing Board promoted the meal nationally throughout the 1960s.
     
Google Books 
Diver
Volume 26  
1981
Pg. 11:
Latest candidate for the Beachcomber Instant Oblivion Award from a West Country after-dinner speaker: “I had a ploughman’s lunch today — he was furious.”
 
Google Groups: uk.rec.competitions
Tommy Cooper Jokes
Hedges
5/17/01
(...)
I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day. He wasn’t very happy.
   
21 December 2001, Belfast (Northern Ireland) News Letter, “Looking Down on Life” by Geoff Hill, pg. 8:
I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day. He wasn’t very happy.
 
Google Groups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
I had a ploughman’s lunch today.
Risparew Comedienne
4/7/06
He wasn’t happy.
 
Twitter
John Taylor
‏@John_Taylor
@shanelowry I had a ploughman’s lunch yesterday.. boy was he mad!  😉
6:10 AM - 30 Dec 2008
 
Twitter
derek stewart
‏@delmonifieth
I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day. He wasn’t very happy
7:38 AM - 27 Apr 2009
 
Google Books
5,000 Sidesplitting Jokes and One-Liners
Compiled by Grant Tucker
New Yrk, NY: Skyhorse Publishing
2013
Pg. 190:
I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day. He wasn’t very happy.
 
Google Books
More One Liners, Jokes and Gags
Compiled by Grant Tucker
London: Biteback Publishing
2013
Pg. ?:
I went into this pub and I ate a ploughman’s lunch. He was livid.
 
Twitter
We Print Everything
‏@ribbleprint
I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day. He wasn’t very happy - Tommy Cooper
3:34 AM - 3 Jan 2017

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityFood/Drink • Friday, January 13, 2017 • Permalink


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