# How come Blue the dog can't talk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 2, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019 "2001-05-02T01:39:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/1 "2001-05-02T01:39:57Z")
Steve speaks. All the other animals speak. The shovel and pail and furniture speaks. Hell, the kitchen spices talk in accents; it’s like some bad acid trip. But Blue doesn’t talk, no Blue sounds like one of the adults from Peanuts. I think Blue must qualify for ADA benefits. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/2 "2001-05-02T01:59:02Z")
Blue talks, we just don’t understand her. But Steve does and her friends do, and I swear… if you watch it enough, you’ll start to understand her and Magenta quite well. Scary, huh? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/3 "2001-05-02T02:27:47Z")
The main reason we don’t clearly understand Blue and Magenta is very simple: they’re puppies. Just like toddlers who haven’t learned how to talk yet and can be understood only by their parents, Blue is intelligible to Steve because he’s around her all the time. [sub]yes, I know Blue isn’t a real dog.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/4 "2001-05-02T02:36:04Z")
Blue talks! Christ man, have you never watched the show?? ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/5 "2001-05-02T04:14:08Z")
Besides, if Blue just talked all the time, there’d really be no pressing reason for all the damn clues! (I love _Blue’s Clues_!) ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/6 "2001-05-02T04:22:19Z")
Duh! Blue doesn’t talk because she’s a dog! Dogs don’t talk - what is this, some sort of fantasy world? How silly! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/7 "2001-05-02T04:33:32Z")
I just have to say that is the funniest and possibly the best question I’ve seen all week here. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/8 "2001-05-02T09:47:18Z")
I was pretty annoyed with the introduction of Periwinkle. Here was an animal that could talk, but didn’t talk well, and talked too much. ---
**Author:** ![gadgetgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@gadgetgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gadgetgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/9 "2001-05-02T10:05:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chef Troy \* > \*\*The main reason we don’t clearly understand Blue and Magenta is very simple: they’re puppies. Just like toddlers who haven’t learned how to talk yet and can be understood only by their parents, Blue is intelligible to Steve because he’s around her all the time. > \*\* Wow, that is so insightful Chef. It really makes a lot of sense…I’m so impressed. Boy, I need to get a life ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/10 "2001-05-02T10:42:07Z")
The cat’s got his tongue? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/11 "2001-05-02T12:01:52Z")
Not much to say, really. ---
**Author:** ![rundogrun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5daacb/32.png) [@rundogrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rundogrun)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/12 "2001-05-02T13:27:37Z")
No doubt he suffers from “Pluto Syndrome”, where Goofy can talk but Pluto cannot. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/13 "2001-05-02T14:27:08Z")
Blue talks, but you just can’t understand her. Blue, Steve, and all the other characters are aliens from the planet **Rebachpro** (Really Bad Children’s Programming). If you had some sort of translation device, similar to what they used in the movie _Mars Attacks_, you would clearly understand Blue when she says things like, “Steve, I have worms”, and “Service me, Steve…do me like that Pleebus from Rigel 7.” ---
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/14 "2001-05-02T14:35:51Z")
Thanks for the visual there Dire Wolf…and I get the feeling Steve would be up for it. Another question…Does Steve EVER change clothes? ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/15 "2001-05-02T15:07:11Z")
Lol, **hardygrrl** , my mother in law hates that show because she can’t stand that striped shirt Steve wears all the time! ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/16 "2001-05-02T15:16:40Z")
Well, from my vast experience of Blue (one episode watched with my 5YO foster sister), if Blue actually spoke intelligibly, there wouldn’t be any mysteries on the order of “Where Does Blue Want to Go on Vacation”… ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/17 "2001-05-02T16:12:17Z")
I own a shirt distressingly similar to Steve’s. I wore it to work once, without knowing anything about “Blue’s Clues”. (We have no children.) I will never wear it again. Every parent in the building pointed at me and said “Steve!”. At first it was surreal, because my name isn’t Steve, and these people know me. Then someone took me aside and filled me in. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/18 "2001-05-02T16:21:36Z")
My wife temped over a Nickelodeon for while and the Blues Clues people got a letter of complaint. What was the complaint? That the show was trying to cause gender confusion in kids. WTF? You ask? Well Blue in a girl and Magenta is a boy. Blue is colored blue and Magenta is colored pink. Everyone knows that blue is for boys and pink is for girls so the show switched them to make kids homosexual. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/19 "2001-05-02T16:37:30Z")
Variations on the “Blue’s Clues” song! 1. We just figured out Blue’s Clues! We just figured out Blue’s Clues! We just figured out Blue’s Clues 'Cos we’re really… _umm_ The ‘umm’ should be done in full moron mode - slack-jawed yokel voice, scratching head, eyes rolled up as if thinking really hard. 1. We just stepped in Blue’s poo. We just stepped in Blue’s poo. We just stepped in Blue’s poo. Beat her with a stick. _dum de dum da dum dum_ - **YIPE!** Your best imitation of a yelping dog works wonders. Try 'em out! Guaranteed crowd pleasers! As for the OP - I think **Chef** has a wonderful explanation, and that’s the one we should use for any toddler that poses the same question, as you know at least one of them’s going to somewhere down the road. But **evilbeth** nailed it on the head. I can see how the show would run if she could: **Steve**. So Blue, you have a cold? What do you want for it? **Blue**. Chicken soup. **Steve**. OK. _turns to camera and sings_ “Now it’s time for so long…” ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019/20 "2001-05-02T20:24:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*My wife temped over a Nickelodeon for while and the Blues Clues people got a letter of complaint. > > What was the complaint? > > That the show was trying to cause gender confusion in kids. > > WTF? You ask? > > Well Blue in a girl and Magenta is a boy. Blue is colored blue and Magenta is colored pink. Everyone knows that blue is for boys and pink is for girls so the show switched them to make kids homosexual. > \*\* Since there was no :rolleyes: face, I’m assuming you were serious. The color blue isn’t only for boys, and the color pink isn’t only for girls. If boys do like pink, that doesn’t also mean that they like boys. Similar for girls. Buying your daughter only pink dresses isn’t necessarily wrong, but neither is buying only blue dresses. Why do you have to assign a color to a sexual preference? I fail to see how the two are that closely related. I hope the Nickelodeon people had a good laugh when they read your wife’s letter. Are Bert and Ernie gay because they are roommates? Is Elmer Fudd into beastiality because he seems to have an obsession with Bugs Bunny? Then there’s the whole Tinky Winky issue which I won’t drive into the ground. People should stop reading into children’s shows too much. Please forgive me if I have failed to pick up on your possible sarcasm. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-blue-the-dog-cant-talk/64019.md?page=2)