Comment by atuladhar
1 day ago
> Really, though, is it impossible to imagine no one, ever, using a cigarette pack to jot something down? It's a colloquialism. It doesn't even have to be taken literally to make sense. What is gained by questioning it on that level?
I took the OP's question to really be a question about the origin of that phrase, and with your answer, I learned something I didn't know before. So I, for one, am happy the question was asked.
I'm glad it was asked too and enjoyed the answer.
The OP's question was clearly skeptical though:
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napkins, and envelopes at least kind of make sense.
Who was ever writing on the back of cigarette packs?
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Implication being that writing on the back of cig packs does not make sense. I'd agree with your reading if not for the "at least kind of make sense" bit.
My father taught me times tables, each one written on the back of a fag packet, in 1972. And we used matches for addition and multiplication before that.