Post-Valentine’s Day Blues
Posted By Lonesome Loser on February 17, 2010
Hi, everyone. I have been working on posting another quiz but having some trouble getting it to work the way it needs to work. But I wanted to post something, since it’s been too long since the last posting.
Also, it’s a few days after Valentine’s Day. I know Valentine’s Day can be a difficult day for unrequited lovers, especially if your loved one has a significant other and tells you all about how the two of them spent the holiday, or something like that.
Have you heard of Vinegar Valentines? They are one page “cards” printed on cheap, thin paper mailed (often anonymously) to people you would like to insult. Typically, these would be certain “types” of people — spinster, wolf, hopeless case, moocher, etc. Originally printed in the late 1800s, Vinegar Valentines reached a height of popularity through the 1920s. Although greeting card departments don’t carry this particular type of Valentine anymore, the general sentiment survives in discussions of sending someone black roses or coal, that kind of thing. Calvin, of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, essentially gives “vinegar valentines” to Susie, his friend/enemy/crush.
You could fantasize about sending a vinegar valentine to your Loved One’s significant other — although I’m not advocating for actually sending them cards, it would be too hostile — and imagining their reaction. Here’s a site that has a few examples of vintage Vinegar Valentines. Check out “Wolf” and “Painted Doll” in particular. Of course, we would be likely to receive “Heart Agony” in return!
I don’t feel any hostility toward the husband of my Loved One. He’s a nice guy, and he’s never done me any harm. It’s not his fault that I’m in love with his wife.
Well said, Sundog. We don’t necessarily dislike or feel hostile towards the Loved One’s significant other, or least not seriously so. In fact, it feels best if we know the Loved One has a good relationship and is loving/loved.