You Are Some Goat

You Are Some Goat Ice Breakers Busy Beaver Button Museum
Category
Ice Breakers
Additional Images
You Are Some Back Ice Breakers Busy Beaver Button Museum
Sub Categories
Illustrations
Animals
Rebus
Text on Button YOU ARE SOME
Image Description

Blue text and image on a white background with a blue border.
Back Style
Unlocking pin
The Shape
Circle
The Size
1 1/4 inch
The Manufacturer
Johnson Smith & Co.
Additional Information

Johnson Smith & Company began in Chicago, Illinois in 1914 as a mail-order novelty and gag gift supplier, settling in Racine, Wisconsin in 1926. Johnson Smith & Co. or Johnson Smith Company sold an array of toys including pinback buttons with suggestive slogans meant as ice breakers.  Their 1929 catalogue touts, “These Buttons provide subjects for pleasant jokes and amusing conversations, and thus smooth the way to a more familiar acquaintance and cordial friendship. They are very wittily worded and quite unobjectionable. Wear one and see the effect.”

In the 1930s, the term "goat" typically carried a negative or mildly insulting connotation. It was commonly used in the phrase "you old goat" to describe an elderly man perceived as ill-tempered, quarrelsome, or disapproving of younger generations. It was also used to suggest general foolishness or incompetence. In some cases, it even had a more explicit meaning, referring to a womanizer or lecherous older man. Therefore, during that era, calling someone "some goat" would not have been a complimentary statement; rather, it was likely an insult or a term used to express annoyance or disapproval.
Sources

Birnkrant, M. (n.d.). Small things: Remembering Johnson Smith & Company [blog post]. Mel Birnkrant.com. https://melbirnkrant.com/recollections/page49.html

Curious Goods 1446. (n.d.). ‘Won’t you be my baby’ vintage celluloid pinback button [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/175402616394

E-Mercantile Antiques. (2025). VTG 1930s?? Johnson Smith & Co catalog #130 novelty toys jewelry guns pistols o [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/205635513339

 Johnson Smith & Co. (1929). Johnson Smith &. Co, Catalogue. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/1929johnsonsmith0000tony/page/308/mode/2up

Johnson Smith Co. (2017). About Our Company. Johnson Smith Company. https://web.archive.org/web/20170929033510/http://www.johnsonsmith.com/aboutus/  

Price, C. (n.d.). Item Catalog Ted Hake [Pinterest pin]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/click-to-close-image-click-and-drag-to-move-use-arrow-keys-for-next-and-previous--153192824806283578/

Sicking, E. A. (n.d.). Advertising pins: Johnson Smith & Co, novelty button/pinback (1930’s) [Pinterest pin]. Pinterest. https://kr.pinterest.com/pin/311874342964093699/

Ted Hake. (n.d.). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s funny saying button with rebus [auction listing]. TedHake.com. https://www.tedhake.com/JOHNSON_SMITH_FAMOUS_NOVELTY_SUPPLY_HOUSE_1930s_FUNNY_SAYING_BUTTON_WITH_REBUS_-ITEM804.aspx

Ted Hake Vintage Buttons & More. (2019). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s funny saying button with image [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141168406868
Catalog ID IB0811