# Drowning coyotes and other cartoons **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [January 9, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132 "2021-01-09T16:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DooProcess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DooProcess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooProcess)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/1 "2021-01-09T16:44:50Z")
While watching some Saturday morning cartoons (unfortunately a tradition that has almost disappeared) I noticed that when Wile E Coyote becomes submerged he often holds up fingers and counts to three. Is this to do with the 3 drowning thing? Is there another reference that im missing? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/2 "2021-01-09T16:48:19Z")
I don’t know what the ‘3 drowning thing’ is, but I recall thinking he was counting down (or counting to three) as he runs out of air. ---
**Author:** ![DooProcess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DooProcess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooProcess)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/3 "2021-01-09T16:55:57Z")
So is the joke that he only has three seconds of lung capacity? I vaguely recall some theory that when someone is drowning at sea they will go under three times before succumbing. Also seems like it isn’t too funny… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/4 "2021-01-09T16:56:46Z")
There was an old movie Drowning by Numbers about 3 drownings, or 3 people, or something I don’t recall. Anyway, I’m watching Chaser on the Rocks right now and just saw that scene. I think when I was a kid my older brother told me what that was about, but I can’t remember it and odds are he was lying anyway. I feel like it’s what @Joey_P and @DooProcess are saying about running out of air or going under 3 times. Maybe it was a more common concept back then, or even older, WB cartoons (and others) often had references meant more for our parent than us. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/5 "2021-01-09T17:00:47Z")
> [@DooProcess](#): > > So is the joke that he only has three seconds of lung capacity? More or less, yeah. > [@DooProcess](#): > > Also seems like it isn’t too funny From that point of view nothing that happened to the coyote was all that funny. But it’s a cartoon. It’s okay to laugh at cartoon characters putting themselves in danger and getting hurt due to their own incompetence. Especially in a Wile E Coyote vs Roadrunner type situation where, no matter what happens to the coyote, he’s fine a few seconds later. Just like Elmer Fudd shooting Daffy Duck with a shotgun at point blank range. It’s funny because it’s a cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/6 "2021-01-09T17:05:53Z")
So happy for the return of Bugs Bunny and Friends on Saturday morning on MeTV. They have a daily toon show also. It’s fantastic to see BB and Friends again. Ever notice that Bugs and Daffy dance together so well in the opening, you wouldn’t expect that seeing them the rest of the time. MeTV is also showing Popeye cartoons (TCM randomly shows them on Saturday morning too). After watching a few I’m getting the idea they are kind of formulaic. I wonder why I didn’t notice that when I was 4 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/7 "2021-01-09T17:09:03Z")
Take this for what it’s worth. [GO DOWN FOR THE THIRD TIME](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/go+down+for+the+third+time) " go down for the third time _Fig._ to be just on the verge of failing. (From the notion that a boxer who is knocked down three times in one round normally loses the fight.) I was going down for the third time when I thought of a plan that would save my job." Possible relevant, possibly not. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/8 "2021-01-09T17:10:40Z")
> **[Do you “go down three times” before drowning?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341370/do-you-go-down-three-times-before-drowning)** ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/9 "2021-01-09T17:34:37Z")
That’s what I always understood it referred to: the third time you go down you drown. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/10 "2021-01-09T19:13:22Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > Take this for what it’s worth. > > [GO DOWN FOR THE THIRD TIME](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/go+down+for+the+third+time) > > " go down for the third time > > _Fig._ to be just on the verge of failing. (From the notion that a boxer who is knocked down three times in one round normally loses the fight.) I was going down for the third time when I thought of a plan that would save my job." > > Possible relevant, possibly not. Absolutely relevant. There were plenty of cartoons that use the phrase as a joke signifying drowning (even if the origin is from boxing, which only adds to the joke). BTW, if you can get Me-TV (on most cable systems, though hard to find), they started running cartoons every Saturday morning. The first one shown was “What’s Opera, Doc?”, so they know what they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/11 "2021-01-09T19:17:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That’s what I always understood it referred to: the third time you go down you drown. When I was a kid, watching cartoons, and seeing that “three times” trope, that was how I understood it, as well. ---
**Author:** ![DooProcess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DooProcess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooProcess)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/12 "2021-01-09T19:22:00Z")
Looks like the likely answer has been found. I actually watched it on MeTV this morning via over the air antenna. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/13 "2021-01-09T19:27:27Z")
Is there any specific evidence that the 3 knockdown rule in boxing is related to going down 3 times before drowning? I suspect the concept related to drowning is very old, going back to the mythology of the age of sailing ships. The 3 knockdown rule in boxing, not at all universal, is fairly modern, not widely seen until the second half of the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/14 "2021-01-09T20:16:45Z")
You’re right. Google ngram viewer has a cite from 1898 which definitely refers to drowning and clearly implies it was a well-known term them. [https://www.google.com/search?q=“down%20for%20third%20time”&tbm=bks&tbs=cdr:1,cd\_min:1800,cd\_max:1899&lr=lang\_en](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22down%20for%20third%20time%22&tbm=bks&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:1800,cd_max:1899&lr=lang_en) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/15 "2021-01-09T20:27:04Z")
> [@DooProcess](#): > > I actually watched it on MeTV this morning via over the air antenna. As you note, MeTV is an over-the-air channel; it’s run and distributed by a Chicago-based company, Weigel Broadcasting, which syndicates it to TV stations throughout the U.S.; those stations then run the programming on one of their “digital subchannels.” When U.S. TV stations changed over to all-digital transmission in 2009, the FCC allowed each station to also broadcast several additional signals which are tied to their primary frequency. In practice, this means that, for example, the main digital broadcast signal for a Channel 5 is classified as “Channel 5.1,” and additional subchannels are 5.2, 5.3, etc. When stations first began broadcasting using these subchannels, a lot of them weren’t sure what to put on them (for example, one of the stations here in Chicago used a subchannel to run a 24/7 feed of weather radar). Companies like Wiegel began developing syndicated channels to fill this need, often focusing on re-runs of old TV shows that don’t otherwise get seen much anymore (in addition to MeTV, there’s Antenna TV, Decades, H&I, etc.). Typically, cable companies carry the digital subchannels of the broadcast TV stations in their local markets, but, as @RealityChuck notes, they’re often buried well down on the channel list. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/16 "2021-01-09T21:56:46Z")
As a kid watching, I had also somehow associated it with going down for the third time equals drowning. No idea is this is the reason or I had heard it somewhere else. I tuned into MEtv and they were showing the newer Popeye’s and Betty Boop. I did catch a Bugs Bunny the other morning. When all these sub-channels started in my area, giving me more to watch, is when I cut out cable TV. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drowning-coyotes-and-other-cartoons/930132/17 "2021-01-09T22:48:10Z")
> [@pirviii](#): > > When all these sub-channels started in my area, giving me more to watch, is when I cut out cable TV. We’d cut cable when we had our first child (budget-wise, not protecting the progeny… we were piss-poor at that, with our hippie sensibilities). But imagine our excitement when we suddenly had free access to classic TV shows. And now, _Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit!.._ Oh, and I clearly remember the “come up for air twice, drowning on the third time down” meme. Saw it in a lot of old cartoons and TV shows in the late '50s and '60s.