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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 and 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.” 

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.

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"What's Buzzin Cuzzin" was a popular phrase during the 1940's. 

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"What you see is what you get" is an expression popularized by Flip Wilson in his performance as the drag character Geraldine in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the late 1960s and on The Flip Wilson Show.

Evidence suggests that the phrase was coined in the 1940s; the earliest citation of a form of the phrase traces back to an ad for a Filmo Sportster 8mm film camera in The Charleston Gazette in November 1949:

"You just sight, press a button and what you see, you get!"

The citation of the phrase in its exact form was first seen in print from an ad for a house sale, in The Oakland Tribune, May 1966:

"So with the exception of landscaping and decorator furnishings, what you see is what you get."

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The term "Waiter from Hell" is a humorous, tongue-in-cheek phrase used to describe an extremely unpleasant or disastrous waiter or service experience. Common among service industry workers, it’s often used sarcastically by waiters or as an inside joke among colleagues. Similar to idioms like "boss from hell" or "vacation from hell," it emphasizes the severity of the situation. It also appears in comedic stories, such as Gene Perret’s article, which uses it satirically to describe memorable dining disasters.

Ephemera, Inc. is a Phoenix, Oregon-based novelty wholesale company founded around 1980, known for its humorous, irreverent products like magnets, buttons, and stickers. The company considers itself the “belligerent drunk of the online novelty item community,” featuring sarcastic, edgy slogans in a bold, throwaway style reminiscent of the literal meaning of “ephemera.”

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Have info on this button? Contact us here.

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The mascot "Tough Guy" represents Hastings Manufacturing, a maker of piston rings for use in automotive, marine, agricultural, and other industrial engines. The mascot was introduced in 1936 and has been used in Hastings ads for nearly 80 years, including in the "Tech Tips" section of the company's website. Hastings Manufacturing was founded in Hastings, Michigan in 1915.

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This phrase is commonly used to refer to somebody who is extremely good looking and has a nice body.

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“THIS IS SO SUDDEN” plays on the humor and irony of a phrase often used in moments of surprise. While the words might literally express shock or unexpected emotion, the context in which this button is worn is usually sarcastic or playful, such as reacting to something that was actually very predictable. With its simple design and deadpan delivery, it is meant to be a quirky conversation starter. This button doesn’t have a fixed meaning; it leaves room for interpretation, often used to make people laugh or to poke fun at dramatic clichés in a light-hearted way.

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The phrase ‘the world is flat’ was a theory when men of science first began hypothesizing how the world might be shaped. The first known map of our earth from sixth-century Babylon depicts the world as a flat or “disk floating in the water.” It wasn't until the Hellenistic Period that a globe or spherical theory became the more popular of the theories. Today, modern science sticks with the spherical theory and the once believed theory that ‘the world is flat’ is now considered antiquated. 

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The Electric Hand was a column-mounted electro-mechanical shifter located under the rim of the steering wheel in 1935-38 Essex, or Terraplane, and Hudson models. It was advertised as a feature to make driving easier and safer because the driver could shift gears without having to take your hands off of the steering wheel. The Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit manufactured the Terraplane between 1932 and 1938.