The word “tardy” (late) is not the same as the politically incorrect word “retard,” but William Ader joked on Twitter on December 21, 2012:
“Yesterday my boss asked why I was tardy and I said, ‘I don’t think you’re supposed call people that any more.’”
The tweet became immediately popular and the joke was printed in a 2014 book.
Twitter
Just Bill
@WilliamAder
Yesterday my boss asked why I was tardy and I said, “I don’t think you’re supposed call people that any more.”
7:02 AM - 21 Dec 2012
Twitter
Kimbooo
@kr27734
Showed up this morning and my boss said I was tardy. Now I’m going to HR because I don’t think you’re allowed to call people that anymore.
8:23 AM - 12 Mar 2013
Twitter
Stan
@J_W_O_17
My boss just asked me why I was tardy and I said “I don’t think you’re supposed to call people that anymore.”
6:57 AM - 10 Jun 2013
Facebook
Epic Statuses
September 12, 2013 ·
Yesterday my boss asked why I was tardy and I said, “I don’t think you’re supposed call people that anymore.”
Google Books
Roadmap into a Twisted Mind
By Bruno Gagnon
Victoria, BC: FriesenPress
2014
Pg. 114:
Yesterday my boss asked why I was tardy and I said, “I don’t think you’re supposed call people that anymore.”
Twitter
Marcelo Mayol
@MarceloMayol
Yesterday my Supervisor asked why I was tardy and I said, “I don’t think you’re supposed to call people that anymore.”
8:52 AM - 25 Aug 2015
Funny Status
Fall Break, 20 Funny Statuses, Ordering At Restaurants
October 5, 2015
(...)
20. Yesterday my Supervisor asked why I was tardy and I said, “I don’t think you’re supposed call people that any more.”
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.
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.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.