Tuesday 5 March 2013

Melanie from Manchester



One morning recently I met Melanie and her mate from Manchester College selling Student Rag-mags in the Market Place.

Now I haven't seen a student ragmag for about 40 years. In some ways this was much the same, being full of mainly crudely smutty jokes and little subtlety. Both men and woman are equal targets except for the proverbial blondes. The only racial stereotypes are the Welsh and Kiwis with hints about their relationships with sheep.

The old rag mags though were always local in kind and supported student charities, but this one could be found equally in Manchester, Glasgow or Cardiff and sellers apparantly retain a portion of the cover price for themselves.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

6 comments:

  1. We have one good mag like this in Stockholm,but I haven't seen one for a decade or two. Dressed like that the girls will be noticed!

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  2. I haven't heard the term, but it makes perfect and complete sense. Those girls look like they're keeping nice and warm.

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  3. I have not seen or heard the word ragmag for donkeys years. All the funds used to go to charity. How times have changed.

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  4. Interesting!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  5. When I was a student in the 1970s though ragmags were 'local' they were all produced by the same printers in Hazel Grove who appeared to have cornered the market. Is that stil the case I wonder?

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    Replies
    1. There's no address printed anywhere - "compiled and printed by scholars and top wits at the university of Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor, London and Glasgow"

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