the man who signs a dictated letter but hasn't read it

Above World War II American ship camouflage, as applied to the USS Gladiator (1944), a minesweeper. US Navy photograph, public domain, AI colorized.

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Sophie Irene Loeb, WHAT IS CAMOUFLAGE? in The Washington Post, January 31, 1918, p. 7—

…The husband who pretends to be furious because his wife was so slow in letting him in the house that she forgets to scold him for being out late. When a man tells a woman he understands her perfectly. When a strange saleslady calls you "dearie," while waiting on you. The eating place that decreases the portion and increases the price on the plea of patriotism. When wifey buys her husband a lovely sofa cushion for his birthday. When a stranger tells you how much he is respected in his own home town. When a dressed up doll keeps talking about how she "doesn't care a thing about money." The new spring crepe shirtwaists. The youthful old lady who hasn't a gray hair in her head. The lounge lizard who prates about what a grand family he came from. The small boy who brings home a playmate to help square things. The individual who congratulates you on what a fine man your grandfather was and wants to borrow $5. The middle-aged chap who goes to the circus to amuse the neighbor's little boy. The city uplifter who goes to the farmer's wife to tell her how to can fruit. The landlord who tells his shivering tenants how long and hard he has tried to get coal. The climber who invites newspaper reporters to her "exclusive" pink teas. The woman who writes applications to serve near the trenches while she is having her breakfast in bed. The salesman who invites you to dinner because he is "so lonely" and charges it to his firm, from whom you are to buy. The "pillar" in the church who loudly prays for sinners, having yesterday quietly foreclosed the mortgage on the home of the widow and her children. When hubby tells his wife he has a very important meeting at the lodge or must sit up with a sick friend. The fellow in the party who is very busy telling a story when the waiter presents the bill. The man who is always "in a conference" when you telephone. He who signs a letter "dictated," but not read. Many a knitting bag carried in public. The politician who tells newly enfranchised women that his party secured the vote for them. Public officers sitting in skyscrapers and telling how they are reducing the cost of living. The storekeeper who tells you that the thing you asked for is not being "used this year."…

RELATED LINKS 

Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? /  Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage /  Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage /  Optical science meets visual art /  Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness / 

FALSE COLORS: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage

CAMOUPEDIA: A Compendium of Research

on Art, Architecture and Camouflage

SHIP SHAPE: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook

Barnum's camouflage / the cherry-colored cat flimflam

Above At our house we live with a totally black cat named Jinks (short for Hijinks surely). But I recall from childhood an earlier black cat that I was inevitably attracted to during shopping trips downtown, in the Midwestern town where I grew up. Here it is: Lucian Bernhard’s famous logo for Cat’s Paw rubber heels.

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A CHERRY-COLORED CAT: Great Showman’s Little Joke in World’s News (Sydney AU) February 8, 1919, p. 2—

Professor William Lyon Phelps of Yale University, in newly-published reminiscences of the one and only P. T. Barnum, declares that it was the great showman to whom Robert Browning referred in "Mr. Sludge, the Medium," and, incidentally.disclosed a delicious and little-known bit of highly-successful Barnum “camouflage.”

It was while Professor Phelps was a small boy, In New Haven CT, that Barnum advertised as a special sideshow attraction, "A Cherry-Colored Cat!”

Naturally, an enormous crowd trickled in to see the curiosity, and all they saw was a common black house cat. Disappointment, indignation, and chagrin. "We've been humbugged!" was the prevailing sentiment expressed In the equivalent of "stung again."

Then somebody, who was quicker to catch the point, infected the crowd with the philosophy of good humor. "Why, don't you know, certain kinds of cherries are black? This is a sure-enough cherry-colored cat, and everybody ought to see it.”

The victims caught the idea, grinned with delight, winked, and went out, and urged everybody they knew to be sure not to miss the wonderful sight of the cherry-colored cat, with the inevitable result that practically everybody got stung." The cat, which belonged to a local woman, had mysteriously disappeared two days before the circus reached the town, but reappeared the day following the circus' departure, adorned with a ribbon and a card expressing Mr. Barnum's appreciation of the involuntary loan.

scout's oath / true boys do not chew gum in classroom

CAMOUFLAGE in The Clinton County Times (Lockhaven PA), December 6, 1918—

Long before the word was used there were boys who practiced camouflage. When a boy in school gets a book up before his face apparently to study, but in reality to chew gum, he is guilty of camouflage. Camouflage is used when a boy who has not looked at his lesson attempts to make an impressive recitation, or when he looks straight at the teacher while his mind is traveling off to the baseball ground. In war, camouflage has its place, but it has no place in the life of a true boy.