O young Lochinvar is come out of the West;
Thru all the wide border his clothes were the best,
But unlike his namesake made famous by Scott,
A stealer of brides our hero is not.
Quite the happiest gallant e'er you did see,
For next to his skin he has B.V.D.
Dreaming up doggerel for a 1912 house organ called the B.V.D.ealer, an anonymous poet unwittingly set up one of the catchiest slogans in U.S. advertising: "Next to Myself I Like B.V.D. Best." The slogan, along with sturdy lines of men's underwear and saucy injunctions such as "Now, Now Cool Off—Get Your B.V.D.s On!", made...