Apparently there used to be signs outside most Colonial-era houses saying 'George Washington Slept Here', so people started saying 'George slept here' whenever someone made a dubious historical claim
This reminds me of a Soviet affair, still omnipresent in the Post-Soviet world, with thousands of plaques describing events like "in this house Lenin once held a five minute speech"
In Germany have this shit with Goethe, an important German poet. There are so many places he supposedly was. You can buy joke plaques that say something like "Goethe was (never) here"
As someone from Virginia, the minute you put down the mug I understood the joke. XD "George Washington slept here" is what everyone wants to say about their historic homes and places that maybe during this or that war George Washington slept here. I used to work at a winery on an old farm that claimed that. You hear it at tons of historic locations. Its so funny it hear it phrased that way and confuse other people.
I heard this all over New England as a kid. I remember hearing that if George Washington slept everywhere he supposedly slept that he would have had to have lived twice as long and spent no time awake.
Incase you're wondering, the joke, "George (Washington) slept here," was sparked by many places making signs of this to draw in customers. The nation's people just mocked these signs. Your welcome.
Enrique Lopez That's actually a common misconception that comes from a select few paintings from that era which depict sleeping. These however were fictitious images created when what we now know as 'sleeping' was only a twinkle in the artist's eye. Sleeping wasn't invented until much later when these paintings were discovered and some creative mind decided to replicate it; the actual year they invented it is still often debated.
I believe you are wrong here, as these paintings depict dead people, not sleeping people. It was actually invented in 1973 when a Guanamalan man said “what if we did this thing” and then everyone did that thing.
It was the old timey form of a copypasta to begin with. After the revolution pretty much every hotel near a battle had a sign out front that said "george Washington slept here" i assume just like a copypasta it turns from a small "oh that's neat" when one or two people do it, but then the whole east coast does it, and it becomes "god dammit, ive seen this crap 4 times already today, you're not original get outta here" which kills the trend and why its not seen today
"Tell us how he died." Okay, he contracted strep throat and then his doctor pretty much bled him dry and made him gargle with a vinegar solution and he died in misery and pain.
"Ma'am, you're disrupting more than your students, please remain quiet like your students are" And enjoy i can take out my frustration without getting my parents called
Fun fact at 3:10 you can see a key hung on the wall in a case, that’s the key to the Bastille given to George Washington during the French Revolution when they, well stormed the bastille
I grew up in Bucks County and you have no idea how bad this gets. Every old house says something just before he crossed the Delaware he slept here. There's even a Washington's Crossing State Park and every house around it claims some Washington bullshit.
I know there is an old hotel in a memorial town for the times when automobiles were still new with a sign saying "(big text) George Washington, (smaller text underneath) Never slept here" So it might be an old advertising technique that hotels used.
I grew up in a historic part of Pennsylvania, I was actually born in an 18th century inn that my little family called home. My mother dragged me through every public historic home in the atlantic northeast (some not so public)... I can’t even tell you the amount of times i’ve heard this or something like it. It’s used to both poke fun at people’s bold claims of antiquity, as well as being used as an actual claim. And yes, my mother did actually claim that i slept in the same house that george slept in.
There was a boy who had to use an outhouse and he hated it sooo bad. One day it started to rain really hard and it got the bank all slippery and wet so he decided to push it off. He did it and later that night his father asked him if he pushed off the outhouse. He said: "Yes." His father told his son to come with him to get his whipping. The boy said: "George Washington didn't get in trouble when he chopped down the cherry tree because he was honest." The boys father said: "but George Washingtons father wasn't in the cherry tree when he chopped it down." This is where George slept. The boy was called George.
I live in the DMV. The Natural History Museum is absolutely incredible, and Mount Vernon is stunning. There's so much more to explore in D.C. and the DMV, so it's really sad that no one has been able to fully enjoy the sights we have here for a long time.
I have family in the Alexandria/DC area and I’ve seen signs in front of old buildings, there and otherwise, advertising that “George Washington Ate Here” “George Washington Visited Here” and yes “George Washington Slept Here” these signs and tourist guides might not jump out at you but they do exist. Maybe that’s what “joke” the teacher was referring to, maybe a lot of historic places in Boston advertise important historical figures’ patronage like some places in Virginia do.
he mentioned the movie... but didn't mention the joke. what's the joke?! "This is where George slept", feels like the punchline. George would sleep in an odd location, but its never brought up? WHY
@@nachochips8090 The joke is probably "George Washington slept in a dump". So I guess you could go to a place that looks bad, worn down and pretty much impossible to live there and then say "This is where George slept". But that's not funny.
According to other commenters, it was the early 1800s equivalent of a hotel saying "Elvis slept here" in Las Vegas. Apparently inns and homes would plaster the sign "George Washington Slept Here" to attract customers regardless if it was true or not. The joke is it's something you say when someone states a blatantly false fact.
George washington slept here is ALSO a play by the same name, only reason I know is I was in it during my high school acting days. The play is really funny and has less slapstick than the movie.
Ha! Great story. Usually the teacher/chaperones are thrilled to have a tour guide if for nothing else than to give them a few minutes of relief from watching over the kids.
Wow this was a rollercoaster of a video, but I loved every moment of it. I love how you messed with the audio for Mrs. Harper, goodness, that made me grin every single time she spoke.
You know despite being a huge fan of the old jack Benny radio show i don't know if i ever seen a Jack Benny movie. I will say something i loved about Jack Benny was his ability to laugh at himself. Make himself, his performance, and the movies he help make apart of a joke. Playing up the act of an egotistical star for laughs. Really makes me respect that brand of comedy to this day.
Austin, these videos are truly fascinating. They’re interesting, and it’s so great when you make a new video. This is probably my favorite RU-vid channel out there. You deserve more popularity. I’m a fan for sure, though.
I live in the DC area and went to Mount Vernon around that age. I hope you enjoyed your visit to our lovely nation’s capital despite an awful teacher. Wonderful video as always, Austin.
If there are a lot of places where George Washington slept, this (true ) place may also be one of those places of ambiguous authenticity. This is my explanation. You judge if the statement the teacher said actually was a joke in the first place. I may still be wrong about this.
@@hermask815 oh that's my bad, what I meant what that I didn't figure out what the joke was, not that she made one. As far as your explanation, I suppose that might be right. Rather than it actually being a joke, it's something that obscure places use as marketing. But we, vacationing and touring see it everywhere and it starts being funny. I can understand that
I think what you do is calmly but firmly say, "Thank you." after one of her commands. She'll either get the hint... ...or feel affirmation to keep doing what she was doing, which happened anyway when y'all stayed silent. XD That being said, what we saw here is a good example of what can happen if you keep your mouth shut: You can make a video, allowing you to get reimbursed by a sponsor for buying an extra DVD and coffee mug. :)
I remember "George Washington Slept Here" as one of those throwaway label gags in MAD Magazine back in the day. I can only assume now it was a movie reference? In Kingston Ontario, a (brief) capital of Canada, one of the local old pubs had a "Sir John A. Macdonald Slept Here" on a barstool as a nod to the joke and Sir John's (Canada's first Prime Minister) propensity for the bottle.
Thank you. I now have a name for the obnoxious character I become when I get drunk and bored in a public place. Mrs Harper lives on, Boston accent and "old jokes" no one has ever heard and all.
Little tidbit: Terry was erroneously credited as "Toto". Much later, Terry's grave was removed to make room for a highway. The body was never extracted, so she's not in her grave.
The "joke" in question here also comes from Pennsylvania. You see, during the Revolutionary War, not only did Washington have a temporary home, he also had reportedly stayed at multiple Inns. These Inns would advertise for traction by putting out signs in front that said "George Washington Slept Here" . It was the equivalent of the "Color TV" signs. I know this because my small hometown Dresher, PA is home to a couple of these Inns, but one that I'm personally familiar with that had a sign that read "George Washington DID NOT Sleep Here". That is the joke
Last year at the end of middle school my class took a trip to DC. We toured George's house and I had multiple teachers like this. Luckily we were such a big group that it was only our class touring. And the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about the small glass room at the top and how nice it would be to read in there.
I loved this video a lot! I actually watched that movie when I was younger and had a vague recollection about it throughout this video but then finally remembered when you showed it at the end!!
I really appreciate your ability at telling a compelling story. I always enjoy your videos and how you grab attention and hold it the entire time. Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing you perfect your craft!
Oh my god... I’m pretty sure this teacher is one of my old middle school teachers. We’re from A tiny town 1/2 hour out of Boston, so it’s just easier to say Boston to anyone who asks. She organized the DC trip every year and had for about a decade (and continued to until this year, when the 8th graders in my district where moved up to the High School) and NON STOP yelled at us about being respectful, to be quiet and to listen. We were extremely respectful and quiet but she was so loud and obnoxious. And Mrs. Harper (as you have dubbed her) was OBSESSED with the joke “George slept here”... obviously no one knew it in our class, but she was so insistent that we all HAD to know it... god I hated her (and she was the mother of my sister’s friend sooo she was in my school and personal life 😫)
In Germany we have something similar going on with poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - a contemporary of Washington - who slept (or performed other activities) at a suspicious amount of historical pubs, hotels and guesthouses. The most notorious claim is written on a sign in the university city of Tübingen: "Hier kotzte Goethe" - "This is where Goethe threw up".
Austin, I live in Butler County and you're like a local hero in my family because everyone tends to forget about us here in the middle of these cornsoybeancottonrice fields. We love what you do and we just wanted to say, keep it up!
finally being finished with school as of a year ago I stand by what I thought in high school most teachers (the ones that i have seen) blow things way out of proportion. Most of the time they say stop talking or behave everyone is being fine and there's one kid slightly whispering so quietly that it is not disturbing the lesson in any way.
Hey Austin, when was this? Our district's middle school goes to DC at the beginning of summer break, and they always go to My. Vernon. Maybe "Mrs. Harper" was one of our teachers
