Princeton Tiger Magazine
Encyclopedia
Princeton Tiger or Tiger Magazine is a college humor magazine
published by Princeton University
undergraduates since 1882. A number of its writers and editors later went on to notable literary careers, including Booth Tarkington
, F. Scott Fitzgerald
, and John McPhee
.
The magazine's style has not remained stagnant over the past 120 years. While the format in the mid-20th century still tended towards humorous, light pieces, the off-campus circulation was broader and the writing reflected it. In recent years, Tiger Magazine has moved to the internet, where it has begun to expand its topics to be more accessible to those outside of Princeton.
Past editorial boards have occasionally published material sufficiently offensive as to spark controversy. Most famous among those controversies was the "Brooke Book" issue of 1983, which satirized an actress named "Brook Shell" who had been purportedly accepted into Princeton -- a thinly veiled jab at the real-life actress-model Brooke Shields
, shortly after she was accepted into Princeton's class of 1987. While the published material was substantially less obscene than some of the drafts that led to it (see the links below for details), the magazine's graduate board was so disturbed as to fire the top undergraduate officers shortly after the issue was published. The issue became a campus cause celebre
, attracting national news attention.
The March 30, 1893 issue contained the earliest print appearance of the delayed postfixed Not!
joke. Tiger Magazine also has the first recorded "There once was a man from Nantucket
" limerick.
College humor magazines
Many colleges and universities publish satirical journals conventionally referred to as "humor magazines." Among the most famous: the Harvard Lampoon, which gave rise to the National Lampoon in 1970, The Yale Record, the nation's oldest college humor magazine , Princeton Tiger Magazine, the...
published by Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
undergraduates since 1882. A number of its writers and editors later went on to notable literary careers, including Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
, F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, and John McPhee
John McPhee
John Angus McPhee is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, widely considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction....
.
The magazine's style has not remained stagnant over the past 120 years. While the format in the mid-20th century still tended towards humorous, light pieces, the off-campus circulation was broader and the writing reflected it. In recent years, Tiger Magazine has moved to the internet, where it has begun to expand its topics to be more accessible to those outside of Princeton.
Past editorial boards have occasionally published material sufficiently offensive as to spark controversy. Most famous among those controversies was the "Brooke Book" issue of 1983, which satirized an actress named "Brook Shell" who had been purportedly accepted into Princeton -- a thinly veiled jab at the real-life actress-model Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields
Brooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
, shortly after she was accepted into Princeton's class of 1987. While the published material was substantially less obscene than some of the drafts that led to it (see the links below for details), the magazine's graduate board was so disturbed as to fire the top undergraduate officers shortly after the issue was published. The issue became a campus cause celebre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
, attracting national news attention.
The March 30, 1893 issue contained the earliest print appearance of the delayed postfixed Not!
Not!
Not! is a grammatical construction in the English language that became a sarcastic catchphrase in North America in the 1990s. A declarative statement is made, followed by a pause and then an emphatic "not!" is postfixed. The result is a negation of the original declarative statement...
joke. Tiger Magazine also has the first recorded "There once was a man from Nantucket
There once was a man from Nantucket
"There once was a man from Nantucket" is the opening line for many limericks. The popularity of this literary trope can be attributed to the way the name of the island of Nantucket lends itself easily to humorous rhymes and puns, particularly ribald ones...
" limerick.