Talk:J. Wellington Wimpy

Fictional character

I don't think it's accurate to say that Wimpy the cartoon character in Popeye owns a hamburger chain. He is just a cartoon character, right? The chain was named after him.

Completely correct. -- Infrogmation 15:44, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Image

Couldn't we find a better uncopyvio picture than a Tijuana bible? 惑乱 分からん 00:36, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Good Eats

Wimpy was also referenced on Good Eats. SargeAbernathy 07:15, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

Implausible material

In one strip, Wimpy conned Popeye and Olive Oyl into agreeing to an "indecent proposal", which he then reneged on. In a notoriously shocking Sunday strip, Wimpy tries to sell a cow to Popeye to raise money for hamburgers, but Popeye angrily refuses. Wimpy then asks if he can borrow some kitchen implements. The final, wide panel shows Popeye coming across Wimpy sitting beside a meat grinder, hundreds of burgers and a barbecue grill.

The first sentence makes it sound like Wimpy offered Popeye $1 million if he could sleep with Olive Oyl (à la the movie Indecent Proposal), and if that's not what the strip was about then the sentence is too vague to be meaningful. I doubt this happened in the Popeye comic strip since Bobby London was fired as the cartoonist for doing a sequence with references to abortion the year before the movie Indecent Proposal was released. The latter two sentences are described as "notoriously shocking" ... to whom? People who don't know what animal hamburgers come from? I'm removing these sentences until they are verified and properly cited. --Metropolitan90 04:30, 15 July 2006 (UTC) Well, wouldnt throwing a cow into a meat grinder be considered cruelty? People like animal rights activists would... um... for lack of better expression, have a cow. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.53.45.215 (talk) 03:20, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

Cleaned up trivia section

Lord, nobody cares if somebody mentioned Wimpy's name once on some episode of Family Guy or in a hamburger commercial. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.129.135.114 (talk) 15:30, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually, not true. Since Wimpy as a character is not very present in current pop culture, his appearance (not just mention) in a very popular TV series is significant and non-trivial. Should Wimpy start showing up all over the place, then additional passing mentions or appearances would be trivial, but that's not the case. Sach (talk) 01:47, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I know this is from forever ago, but I just want to point out how hilarious I find an argument about whether something is too trivial to appear in the trivia section. 128.36.184.62 (talk) 21:04, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for for a hamburger today."

The use of this phrase on The Drew Carey Show and the American The Office wasn't the result of a thousand monkeys typing randomly in the staff writing rooms for these shows. It's the height of silliness to challenge that it is a direct and deliberate reference to Wimpy. Sach (talk)

WP:AGF and WP:CIVIL. It's quite common for people to say something to effect of "If you give me X now I'll pay for it in the future." What other connection is there to the Wimpy character on these shows? Doctorfluffy (robe and wizard hat) 20:26, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

My comment was both civil and AGF, please do not throw sand into the gears. The question here is whether the use of a specific catchphrase for comic effect is random, or whether comedy writers of a comedy program used a well-known catchphrase for comic effect. The answer to that is obvious and clear -- the use of the phrase is a reference and hommage to Wimpy. When people use the phrase "Make an offer you can't refuse", they're referencing The Godfather, when they say "Two wild and crazy guys" it's Saturday Night Live, and when comedy writers use "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today", it's Wimpy. Sach (talk) 20:34, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

You called my concern "the height of silliness"; that is very close to implying that I'm ignorant. On topic, if it's so blindingly obvious that it's a Wimpy quote then find a source that says it's a reference to Wimpy. That shouldn't be difficult since, by your own admission, Wimpy is rarely used in modern pop culture, so it would follow that many people have written about this notable quotation on the tv shows in question. Doctorfluffy (robe and wizard hat) 20:44, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

There's not much point in looking for such a source, because it is so blindingly obvious that no one's going to write anything about it. People don't much comment on the force of gravity when they talk about pole-vaulting, either. Sach (talk) 20:59, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Attribution of the phrase

It can be found with even a minimally cursory search that the phrase and its variations has become intimately associated with the character of Wimpy, and has continued and repeated quotation and attribution in numerous reliable sources... Mohave Daily Miner, Prepared Foods, Kansas City Star, St. Louis Post Dispatch, San Jose Mercury News, San Diego Union Tribune, Beacon Journal, Dallas Observer, San Francisco Chronicle, Star Telegram, Walls & Ceiling, Star Telegram, to name but a very few.... as well in numerous books. Perhaps it's time to more fully source Wimpy and stop any disagreements? Schmidt, ^{MICHAEL Q.} 21:15, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Michael: Certainly, such general sources can be easily found, but I believe Doctorfluffy was challenging me to find a source that specifically said that the use of the phrase on those two sitcoms was a reference to Wimpy.

In any event, I'll use your sources to add cites to the article. Sach (talk) 21:23, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I have been searching for and have been unable to find that phrase attributed to anyone BUT Wimpy. Its his... as created for him by Segar. Cultural knowledge is the starting point. "Come-on punk, make my day" belongs to Dirty Harry. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning... it smells like victory" belongs to Apocolypse Now. While I can be understanding of DF's wish to have its usage in those specific instances sourced as an intentional quote of the Wimpy Character or to the various writers' own early influencing by the Segar character, the "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" phrase is Wimpy's... through historical usage and sourced attribution. Use of the phrase by any other media is not a unique event, all being a direct result of its creation over 50 years ago for Wimpy. The numerous sources available show that years-long continued attribution. Schmidt, ^{MICHAEL Q.} 22:22, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I can't argue with that. Sach (talk) 23:32, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

• I have integrated the Drew Carey reference into the main body, where the catchphrase is discussed. One issue which we should investigate is the exact wording of the phrase as this will complicate searches. It might start "I will gladly...", "I would gladly...", "I'll gladly...", "I'd gladly..." and I'm not sure which we prefer. I have added some sources to the article which may help us forward... Colonel Warden (talk) 15:09, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

• I have looked into this and documented the exact versions of the originals froma good source. Colonel Warden (talk) 15:44, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

That's great - I hadn't even thought of looking the phrase up in the quotation books crowding my desk. Silly! Sach (talk) 17:56, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Origin of name

It is probably incorrect to state that the character's name was meant to describe his shy or retiring character. That meaning of "wimp" was not used in this way until the 1960s. If anything it may be that "weakling" meaning of wimp is an eponym of Wimpy. In the period when the character was developed the only meaning of "wimp" cited by Oxford is slang meaning a young woman. It was sometimes used as a verb as in to go wimping. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.240.130.52 (talk) 21:42, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

• I came across a brief article printed in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper in 1935, in which a man named "H. Hillard Wimpee" of "Atlanta" is interviewed. He claimed to work with Segar at the Chicago Herald-Examiner in 1917 and seems to have believed himself the inspiration for the name. Some research indicates that a "Hilliard H. Wimpee" of "Rome, Georgia" was a real person who lived at the right time, so this man at least existed. I added the information from the interview to the main article with citation. The referenced newspaper article is available behind a paywall, but I can't find a way to make any kind of direct link to the archive. Anyone wishing to read it can go to the Oklahoman archives and pay for access. GeoGreg (talk) 23:31, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

It's an English surname (spelled slightly differently but pronounced the same) as in here: George Wimpey — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.4.57.101 (talk) 14:02, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

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the usual gripe about the usual trivia:

Every entry under In popular culture that doesn't have credible outside sourcing ought to be deleted, and I'll likely do so.

Such lists must either be exhaustive (containing ALL examples that have existed, and with a verifiable authority stating such) or exemplary (and one or more verifiable authorities need to be presented who say they're notable). Until that happy day, it's sufficient to have a handful of properly sourced examples.
Weeb Dingle (talk) 14:08, 21 July 2019 (UTC)

Some of the Character section — at a rough estimate, 90% or thereabouts — deserves to be removed. The section is one long pile of fancruft accretion. It makes only four citations: one to verify a catch-phrase, the rest to characterize him as fiscally irresponsible. Surely there must be some fan site where all this stuff belongs, but certainly not an encyclopedia.
Weeb Dingle (talk) 14:21, 21 July 2019 (UTC)

Agreed. This article gives me more information about Wimpy than I care to have. Jlaffan (talk) 21:10, 7 February 2021 (UTC)