Milton Berle? Russell Kay? Young Student? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: Teachers enjoy sharing an anecdote about a student who was taught that the word “frugal” meant “to save”. Afterwards the student generated the following story:
The beautiful damsel was held prisoner in a tower. When she saw a prince nearby she cried out: “Frugal me! Frugal me!” The prince frugaled her, and they lived happily ever after.
Would you please explore the provenance of this joke?
Reply from Quote Investigator: The earliest match for this joke type based on the word “frugal” located by QI appeared in 1915 within “The Goldenrod” journal which was published by the students of Wayne State Normal School in Nebraska. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
A spelling lesson was in progress in Miss Bettcher’s room. One of the boys explained that the word “frugal” meant “to save.” It was suggested that he give an incident in which the word could be properly used. His quotation follows: “I once saw a girl drowning in the ocean. She had both hands up above the water, yelling, “Frugal me! Frugal me!”
The creator of this joke was unidentified, and QI hypothesizes that the gag was already in circulation.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1921 a newspaper in Chico, California printed the following version of the joke:2
A teacher had been at considerable pains to impart the meaning of the word “frugal” to her pupils. It meant “to be sparing,” or to “save” she explained, and afterwards the pupils were invited to write a little story illustrating its meaning. One bright little girl produced the following:
“There was once a princess who was riding in the forest when she was set upon by robbers, who bound her to a tree.”
“Frugal me! Frugal me,” she cried and a prince heard her. So she was “frugaled,” and they “lived happy ever after.”
In 1932 columnist Russell Kay of the “The Pensacola Journal” in Florida suggested that he was a student who misunderstood the meaning of the word “frugal”:3
I remember when I was in school we had the word “frugal” in spellin’ and when the teacher asked me to use it in a sentence it was just too bad. So I stayed after school and wrote “Frugal means SAVE” fifty times. The next morning I’m again cordially invited to get up on my hind legs and use the word “frugal” in a sentence, so I says. “When the lady got in the deep water she hollered for help and the life guard jumped in and ‘frugaled’ her.”
In 1955 a junior high teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma presented a version of the gag:4
One youngster wrote something like this:
“The queen was carried off by the villain and she cried ‘Frugal me, frugal me.’
“The king heard her, rode after them and frugaled her and they lived happily ever after.”
In 1989 a well-known comedian published “Milton Berle’s Private Joke File” which included the following item:5
A princess asked her father what “frugal” meant. The king said, “It means ‘to save.’”
The next day the princess was swimming in the palace pool when her leg cramped. She called out for help. “Frugal me, somebody!”
A prince came along and frugaled her and they lived happily ever after!
In 1997 “The Sun Herald” of Biloxi, Mississippi published the following:6
Vicki Lawrence, a Gulfport English teacher, remembers giving a similar exam. In a sentence using the word “frugal,” one student wrote:
“When the beautiful princess was a prisoner in the tower, she yelled: “Frugal me! Frugal me!” So, the prince came in and frugaled her. They lived happily ever after.”
In conclusion, this joke was circulating by 1915. The creator remains anonymous. The comedian Milton Berle included it in his joke book.
Image Notes: Picture of Neuschwanstein Castle from Wolfgang Heubeck at Pixabay. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous teacher whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 1915 July, The Goldenrod, Volume 3, Number 10, (Filler item), Quote Page 21, Column 2, Published monthly by the students of Wayne State Normal School, Wayne, Nebraska. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1921 March 1, The Chico Enterprise, The Hop Off by Havas Mile, Quote Page 2, Column 2, Chico, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1932 March 30, The Pensacola Journal, Too Late To Classify by Russell Kay, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Pensacola, Florida. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1955 December 8, Vinita Daily Journal, With Love by Sam, Quote Page 2, Column 1, Vinita, Oklahoma. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1989, Milton Berle’s Private Joke File: Over 10,000 of His Best Gags, Anecdotes, and One-Liners by Milton Berle, Edited by Milt Rosen, Section: Fairy Tales, Quote Page 246 and 247, Crown Publishers, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1997 October 7, The Sun Herald, Maybe it’s true that I’m just an old yogurt by Ron Grove, Quote Page A11, Column 6, Biloxi, Mississippi. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎