‘Vinegar Valentines’ Discouraged Suitors. During the Victoria Era, those who didn’t want the attention of certain suitors would anonymously send “vinegar valentines.» According to Smithsonian, these cards, also called penny dreadfuls, were the antithesis of customary valentines, comically insulting and rejecting unwanted admirers. They were later used to target suffragettes in the late 19th and early 20th century.
