Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is Popeye Jewish? (Purim Mystery Fun)
Misc. | March 13, 2025 | Ezekiel

Posted on 03/13/2025 11:50:21 AM PDT by Ezekiel

This earlier report had reminded me of Popeye, especially because Purim falls around the same time, sometimes even on Saint Patrick's Day. So much green:

The parade was plagued last year by public drinking, violence, assaults, overcrowding, and disorderly conduct, officials said.

South Boston St. Patrick's Day parade will start earlier to help curb drunkenness, violence

It doesn't happen very often, but one such date merge occurred in 1946, the very year specified by the Nazi shortly before he was hanged.

"Purimfest 1946!"

It's an infamous quote related to the "Purim Code" in chapter 9 of the Megillah.

Here's a critique, but it provides the basic explanation and a lot of background details about the text.

🔵🔴🔵

"Fictional" --

Popeye the Sailor is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.[17][18][19][20] The character first appeared on January 17, 1929, in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was in its tenth year when Popeye made his debut, but the one-eyed sailor quickly became the lead character, and Thimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular properties during the 1930s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye

Popeye's character had been inspired by a real-life, scrappy, first-generation American bartender of Polish ancestry, but Popeye the Sailor Man doesn't have any stated national origin, which keeps people guessing.

Frank "The Rock" Fiedler --

His parents, Bartłomiej and Anna Figiel, were married in the city of Czarnków, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Poznań. They were wed in 1864 and emigrated to the United States before their son, Frank, was born. The family changed their name to a more easily pronounced Fiegel. When on January 27, 1868, in Chester, Illinois, a little boy was born to this world, no one could have suspected he would be immortalized in a work of contemporary art.

Figiel Surname Meaning
Polish: nickname for a prankster from figiel 'trick' 'joke'.

Fiegel Surname Meaning
German: metonymic occupational name for a fiddler from the dialect word figele 'fiddle violin' (from Late Latin figella). Diminutive of Fiege.

From a pet form of the personal name Vigil, Latin Vigilius. This surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine).

Fiddler on deck, for those who appreciate a good yoke (violin = fiddle, the "national instrument" of the Jewish people).

A Scottish or Irish origin for Popeye is commonly assumed, which oddly links to the original family name of the Polish bartender-Popeye:

The leprechaun is said to be a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and cobbling shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun

🔵🔴🔵

In the spirit of Purim and the "revealing of the hidden", such as Esther's Jewish identity...

Has anyone really thought about Popeye's iconic, identifying catchphrase?

"I YAM WHAT I YAM!"

Because... he's a sailor man, and right there is the Hebrew word for "sea", yam [ים], doubled.

Coincidence? The Megillah is all about there being no coincidences.

This year, Purim falls on 3/14, Pi Day.

It's worth mentioning this year's date because the popular meme-visual is based on reversals, like Purim itself, the plot turning to the contrary. The message has been on t-shirts for quite a while:

The name Popeye is two palindromes joined together:

POP
EYE

On 3/14, Purim-Pi Day's 2025 timing also comes with the 🔴 blood Moon eclipse (to eclipse is to transcend):

"I YAM WHAT I YAM!"

(soul food)

The name God gave to Moses on 3:14:

Exodus 3:14. And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and he said, Thus shall you say to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me to you:

Popeye sang as if he had been one of the first Jews in Space ("when Goyim attack us, we give 'em a smack, we slap 'em right back in the face"):

I'm one tough Gazookus
Wot hates all Palookas
Wot ain't on the ups and square
Boy I biffs 'em and buffs 'em
And always out roughs 'em
And none of 'em gets nowhere

Popeye The Sailor: Let's Sing with Popeye - "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" (1934)

King Features

When it doesn't say explicitly "King Achashveirosh," the word "king" in the Megillah refers to God, Who is the King of the universe. God's name in not mentioned even once in the Megillah. This is unique for there is no other book in the Bible where God's name does not appear. On the other hand, says this Midrash, God is referred to many times in the Megillah, albeit obliquely, for whenever the word "king" is mentioned it actually alludes to God. This is quite an apt technique for mentioning God. For in the story of Purim, God's presence is hidden from the naked eye. So too His name is hidden and referred to only in disguised form.

Who Is the King?

The key points surrounding the Sailor Man:

YAM = sea
I YAM WHAT I YAM = God's name with the added YY
POP-EYE, the one-eyed sailor with the π [פאי] in his name [פופאי]

It's more than enough to suspect that Popeye's Creator was Jewish.

Segar was born on December 8, 1894, and raised in Chester, Illinois, a small town near the Mississippi River.[2][6][7] The son of Jewish parents Erma Irene (Crisler) and Amzi Andrews Segar, a handyman,[8] his earliest work experiences included assisting his father in house painting and paper hanging.[9] Skilled at playing drums, he also provided musical accompaniment to films and vaudeville acts in the local theater, where he was eventually given the job of film projectionist[10] at the Chester Opera House, where he also did live performances.[6]

At age 18, he decided to become a cartoonist. He took a correspondence course in cartooning from W. L. Evans of Cleveland, Ohio.[10] He said that after work he "lit up the oil lamps about midnight and worked on the course until 3 a.m." During this time, Segar also began studying the work of cartoonists that he would later cite as influences on his work, including Rube Goldberg, George McManus and George Herriman (especially Herriman's strip Stumble Inn).[2][3][7][11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._C._Segar

Popeye's enemy is named Bluto, which in Hebrew is spelled בלוטו. When the default page translator got a hold of the name, it explained that Popeye's enemy was somehow involved with lots, the lottery:

Popeye the Sailor is a comic book and cartoon character created by Elsie Seeger in 1929. When Popeye is in trouble, he eats spinach from a can, and gains enormous power, usually to save his beloved Olive Oil from his enemy in the lottery (or "Brutus", in several versions of the series and the plot).

פופאי המלח

It's important to keep a close eye on the translators. This one also confused the creator with a cow. That truly is a grave sin.

Google Translate ignored the first letter (ב, "in"):

"When Popeye gets into trouble, he eats spinach from a can, and gains superpowers, usually to save his lover Olive Oyl from his enemy Lotto."

Was Queen Esther Really Green?

Thus, the festival of Purim derives its name from the lots cast by Haman. For this is not some incidental detail in the story of Purim, but the single event that most expresses what Purim represents.

The Pur of Purim



TOPICS: Conspiracy; History; Humor
KEYWORDS: chester; esther; illinois; nonsense; pluto; popeye; purim; vanity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last
To: enumerated
I think my brothers and I turned out OK, in spite of childhood. ;-D

Related to our TV life, my younger brother had a wonderful employment event:

My brother interviewed with Lockheed at Cape Canaveral for employment with the Shuttle program. It was an arduous interview, including a visit to the company psychiatrist. The shrink asked my brother, "When you were growing up, did you have a hero, someone you aspired to be like?". My brother answered, "Of course, I strongly admired The Three Stooges!". The shrink actually dropped the pipe out of mouth and sat with big round eyes for a few seconds. After a big belly laugh he said, "Well, I never heard that one before".

He did get the job and eventually became a lead for one of the Orbiter's refit teams.

Combat! was also a major influence.

21 posted on 03/13/2025 3:28:25 PM PDT by GingisK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: GingisK

What’s interesting about your story is that the three stooges were highly skilled at job interviews. Doctors, lawyers, plumbers - there was seemingly no profession they couldn’t talk their way into..


22 posted on 03/13/2025 3:41:20 PM PDT by enumerated (81 million votes my ass)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Ezekiel

Well, he *is* in show business...


23 posted on 03/13/2025 4:59:21 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

No wonder he got along with Bob Dylan.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4opT_5u7k4


24 posted on 03/13/2025 5:01:53 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: enumerated

” there was seemingly no profession they couldn’t talk their way into..”

Three of the best riveters that ever riveted.


25 posted on 03/14/2025 2:21:31 AM PDT by rxh4n1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Ezekiel

He’s Popeye the Sailor Man
He lives in a frying pan
He turned on the gas
and burned off his ass
He’s Popeye the Sailor Man!


26 posted on 03/14/2025 3:20:06 AM PDT by Trump_Triumphant (“They recognized Him in the breaking of the Bread.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Trump_Triumphant; SunkenCiv; dfwgator; Red Badger; null and void; The Spirit Of Allegiance; ...

Seriously, who doesn’t love Popeye?

He *is* American Man. The everyman Can-Do superman, way more real than stuffy Clark Kent.

He’s been around. People can relate. What salty language *hasn’t* he heard?

The folks hatin’ on Popeye are obviously a few knots short of a Destin-nation.

Unlike King David, they forgot how to play. It’s a sad state of ‘existence’!

“The dance on-ship became less common when fiddlers ceased to be included in ships’ crew members.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sailor%27s_Hornpipe#History

Terrible!!!

The man on The Fiddle Channel knows. Back to school:

Sailor’s Hornpipe (fiddle)- AKA the College Hornpipe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwkPddvrL58

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder / Sailor’s Hornpipe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQaLlFGl90A

***

It has been referred to as the “national instrument” of the Jewish people,[3] and modern luthiers have created reproduction lyres of the kinnor based on this imagery.

The word has subsequently come to mean violin in Modern Hebrew.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinnor

***

What I’ve been saying —

In case of emergency, break glass:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_Stradivarius

Happy 🎉π Day!


27 posted on 03/14/2025 4:55:45 AM PDT by Ezekiel (🆘️ "Come fly with US". 🔴 Ingenuity -- because the Son of David begins with MARS ♂️, aka every man)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Trump_Triumphant

I’m Popeye the sailor man
I live in a garbage can
I like to go swimmin’
with bow legged women
I’m Popeye the sailor man!


28 posted on 03/14/2025 1:15:11 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-28 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson