What Keeping Up With the Joneses Means
Cartoonist Arthur R. (Pop) Momand lived in a community where many people tried to keep up with the Joneses.
This is his own recollection:
My wife and I resided in Cedarhurst, New York, one of Long Island’s Five Towns, where the average income is still among America’s highest. “Living far beyond our means in our endeavor to keep with the well-to-do-class”.
The Momands were wise enough to quit the scene and move to Manhattan. They rented a cheap apartment and ‘Pop’ Momand used his Cedarhurst experience to create his once immensely popular Keeping Up with the Joneses comic strip launched in 1913.
He first thought of calling the strip “Keeping Up with the Smiths,” but finally decided on Keeping Up with the Joneses. His comic strip ran in American newspapers for over 28 years and appeared in book, movie, and musical comedy form, giving the expression, keeping up with the Joneses a place in our everyday language.
Had any experience with ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ in your own way? Love to read your comments!
taken from the Henry Holt Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson
Funny thing – our neighbors actually ARE the Joneses! We’ve joked around that as their family has expanded, we have been “keeping up with the Joneses” and right now we are just one baby behind them! Heehee!
Audra recently posted..Over the Top Weekend
I guess we are lucky because we live on base and pretty much everyone has assigned housing. You can still come across a few situations of comparison with others but for the most part everyone is super nice and helpful.