Oh Honey Give Me Some

White Background with blue text and a red and white checkered edge.

Johnson Smith & Company began in Chicago, Illinois in 1914 as a mail-order novelty and gag gift supplier, settling in Racine, Wisconsin in 1922. Johnson Smith & Co. or Johnson Smith Company sold an array of toys including pinback buttons with suggestive slogans meant as ice breakers.

Comic Motto Buttons, as they became known sometime in the 1940s (previously known as Comic Celluloid Buttons), hailed from Johnson Smith & Co. catalogues and became popular in the early to mid-20th century. Recognized by their iconic checkered border, featuring salacious slogans and witty banter, the catalogue promised, “Get acquainted – wear these comic celluloid buttons. Slip one or two of these buttons on your lapel and then wait for the wisecracks to begin. The girls get lots of fun out of them. At parties, you break the ice right from the start. Just give one of these to your guest, and it gives the party a flying start.”

The phrase, “Oh honey give me some,” was likely an expression for affection or intimacy, when worn on the lapel the effect is much like that of a cat-call or a public invitation to onlookers, particularly aimed at women, to give the wearer a taste, whether literally in the case of sharing food or a beverage, or as a suggestive invitation implying a desire for physical intimacy.