Claim: A young man with a blind date arranged for later in the evening stops by a drug store one afternoon to pick up some condoms (just in case). To cover his nervousness, he jokes with the pharmacist about how he plans to "get lucky" that night. When the young man arrives at his date's home later that evening the door is answered by the same pharmacist, who turns out to be his blind date's father.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1994]
A teenager makes a date with a girl who has a bit of a reputation. Feeling confident, he makes an afternoon stop at a pharmacy to buy a box of condoms. He even tells the pharmacist, "I'm going to score tonight."
That night, the whistling teenager strolls up to his date's house and rings the doorbell.
Her father answers. The kid's jaw drops. The pharmacist is his date's father
Variations:
- A more modern version of this legend is gender-switched: a young girl buys a home pregnancy test from a glaring female store clerk, then finds out the clerk was her boyfriend's mother.
- Another updating of this legend involves a man who purchases condoms from a female pharmacist, then meets her again that evening when she turns out to be the blind date arranged for him by friends.
Origins: This
legend dates from at least the 1940s, in the days when a young man was expected to meet a girl's father before dating her, premarital sex was still taboo, and condoms were the most effective means of birth control available (but sold only in drug stores as a behind-the-counter item). As society's attitudes towards sex have changed, the legend has changed with them, producing modern versions in which the protagonist is much younger and female (a 13-year-old girl buying a home pregnancy test), or versions in which the pharmacist is a woman (and her customer's eventual blind date as well).
The Pharmacist's Daughter appeared as a first-person account in
Sightings: This legend appeared in comic strip form in a 1972 Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers cartoon and as anecdote in both the 1988 Lewis Grizzard humor book Don't Bend Over in the Garden, Granny, You Know Them Taters Got Eyes and the 1971 Max Shulman novel Potatoes are Cheaper. Look for this legend in the 1988 remake of
Last updated: 24 June 2011
 | Sources: |
Angwin, Julia. "Levi's, Chevron Ads Win Big." The San Francisco Chronicle. 4 May 1996 (p. D1). Berkowitz, Harry. "British Firm Wins Top Clio for Levi's Ad." Newsday. 4 May 1996 (p. A23). Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Mexican Pet. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986. ISBN 0-393-30542-2 (p. 126). Brunvand, Jan Harold. Too Good To Be True. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. ISBN 0-393-04734-2 (pp. 153-155). Elgart, J.M. Over Sexteen. New York: Grayson Publishing, 1951 (p. 79). Landers, Ann. "Ann Landers." 1 May 1994 [syndicated column].
| Also told in: |
Healey & Glanvill. "Urban Myths." The Guardian. 13 January 1996 (p. 59). Shulman, Max. Potatoes are Cheaper. New York: Doubleday, 1971. (pp. 144-145). Young and Modern. "Say Anything." July 1993 (p. 10).
The Big Book of Urban Legends.New York: Paradox Press, 1994. ISBN 1-56389-165-4 (p. 121).