Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man, Stan Lee | Tagged: daredevil, fantastic four, sixties, Sloppy Seconds, thing
The earliest known use of the phrase sloppy seconds is in the 1950s. But it was Stan Lee who popularised it a decade later.
The earliest known use of the phrase sloppy seconds is in the 1950s. The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest evidence for sloppy seconds is from 1953, in Berkshire Evening Eagle of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. A crude term referring to a person having sex with another, after they have already just had sex with a third party, it can be used to demean someone’s worth. Or simply a derogatory term for something that is a leftover. The movie, Grease, made a phrase out of “sloppy seconds just ain’t my style.” But one of the earlier uses in print is from, of all people, Stan Lee, repeatedly. In Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and more.
Such as Fantastic Four #27 from 1964 in which the Sub-Mariner broods over his desire to have Sue Storm as his bride. He disguises himself and travels to the surface world to fight the Thing and the Human Torch before revealing himself to Sue. Reed goes after Namor alone, fighting off Ben and Johnny when they try to calm him down.
Or in Amazing Spider-Man #27 from 1965, in which the Green Goblin brings Spider-Man’s limp body to the Crime-Master, for to mobsters attack Spider-Man, only for him to break free.
In the very same issue, Spider-Man takes a tip to retrieve a lost camera and the narrator gets in on the action.
While Daredevil #20 from 1966, in which Daredevil crashes in on some crooks that are snooping around inside the Nelson and Murdock law office and fights them off. Wondering why they’re looking for his alter ego, Daredevil follows them to his home, and quickly sneaks in and allows them to capture him so he can find out what’s going on.
And there are more and more examples. The question should be why did Stan Lee like this phrase so much, did he understand what it meant, and who told him? Of course these days, there is no doubt…
That’s what you get when you mess with multiple She-Hulks…
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