“Make yourself at home! Clean my kitchen” is a joculat statement that has been printed on many gift items, such as posters and bumper stickers. The saying has been cited in print since at least 1999 and is of unknown authorship.
Google Groups: alt.support.athritis
Sayings that should be on buttons MILDX
Rene Ferri
1/13/99
1. Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.
2. Make yourself at home! Clean my kitchen.
19 February 1999, Augusta (GA) Chronicle, “Advice for supervisors has sting” by Bill Kirby, pg. 1C, col. 1:
Make yourself at home! Clean my kitchen.
Google Books
The Little Book of Abuse
By Jasmine Birtles
London: Boxtree
2000
Pg. 18:
Make yourself at home! Clean my kitchen.
Google News Archive
18 September 2000, New Straits Times (Malaysia), “Sayings that should be on buttons,” pg. 8, col. 2:
Make yourself at home! Clean my kitchen.
Google Books
Pastor Tim’s CleanLaugh Collection
Volume I
By Tim Davis
Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing
2001
Pg. 70:
Make yourself at home! Clean my kitchen.
Google Books
Vital Signs:
A Flip Book of Funny Signs
By Jeffrey Dobkin
Merion Station, PA: The Danielle Adams Publishing Company
2006
Pg. ?:
Make yourself at home!
Clean my kitchen.
8 February 2006, Philippine Daily Inquirer, “On the Road” by Aida Sevilla-Mendoze, pg. B6, col. 3:
TODAY’S BUMPER STICKER: Make yourself at home — clean my kitchen.
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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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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