# I can't see spot running. Where the hell is he? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2005, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715 "2005-06-10T07:39:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/1 "2005-06-10T07:39:59Z")
‘See Spot Run’ was originally a children’s book, right? I thought I remembered reading it when I was a kid once. But I checked Amazon and all I can find are titles of books that parody the famous title. Everyone is familiar with the term as a basic sentence; hell, it is _the_ basic sentence! 😉 But when was the original sentence written? Wikipedia has nothing… Actually the shortest sentence in English is ‘I do.’ Married Dopers would call this the longest sentence, though… ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/2 "2005-06-10T07:50:06Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > Wikipedia has nothing… [Not exactly nothing.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_and_Jane) Try searching for “Dick and Jane”. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/3 "2005-06-10T08:08:46Z")
Thanks. _I’m Rick I’m Rick James I’m Rick James, bitch!_ (teach your kids that one) ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/4 "2005-06-10T13:24:37Z")
🙂 My Grampa taught me how to read out of the Dick & Jane reader. I remember that the last story in the book, about the family spreading a blanket on the floor to have a indoor picnic on a rainy day, was too hard for me, and I kept getting frustrated in the middle of it and giving up. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/5 "2005-06-10T13:54:10Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > I remember that the last story in the book, about the family spreading a blanket on the floor to have a indoor picnic on a rainy day, was too hard for me, and I kept getting frustrated in the middle of it and giving up. They had fun. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/6 "2005-06-10T19:14:44Z")
[Sample pages.](http://faculty.valpo.edu/bflak/dickjane/) ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/7 "2005-06-10T19:39:49Z")
You know what I’d like to see: a special on Dick and Jane: Where are They Now? Dick grew up to realize he wasn’t the biggest Dick out there. Jane grew up to realize she lived in a world of Dicks. The african american kid later became the token black guy in sitcoms. Spot gave birth to Brian from Family Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/8 "2005-06-10T20:27:32Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > ‘See Spot Run’ was originally a children’s book, right? I thought I remembered reading it when I was a kid once. But I checked Amazon and all I can find are titles of books that parody the famous title. Everyone is familiar with the term as a basic sentence; hell, it is _the_ basic sentence! 😉 But when was the original sentence written? Wikipedia has nothing… > > Actually the shortest sentence in English is ‘I do.’ Married Dopers would call this the longest sentence, though… I think the book was called “Fun With Dick and Jane”. The opening pages were along the lines of “See.” “See Spot.” “See Spot run.” ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/9 "2005-06-10T20:47:15Z")
And now, in hardcover, the [Dick and Jane compilation](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0448433400/qid=1118437124/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-7832943-5559025?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/10 "2005-06-11T02:26:01Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I think the book was called “Fun With Dick and Jane”. The opening pages were along the lines of “See.” “See Spot.” “See Spot run.” I remember reading that the first word of the book was “Look”. “See” would have made a lot more sense and would have been much easier on first graders. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/11 "2005-06-11T03:14:50Z")
I loved these books. I remember them so well. My first one had a yellow cover and was all about Dick, Jane and Sally and ? (and Spot of course). My brother’s (2 years older) was blue and Dick and Jane got to do more and have more fun–so I started reading HIS book… I know they were fairly racist, gender stereotyped and boring as hell–but to a 5 year old, they were solid gold. I really loved the illustrations–I had to wear dresses to school and I had dresses just like Sally’s–complete with sash. Sigh. It is better now, in all ways, but I can’t hate those books. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/12 "2005-06-11T04:19:04Z")
Yeesh…is it a bad sign that I can still remember the story about Katie doing something she wasn’t supposed to and thinking she got away with it, until she heard a katydid outside the house saying, “Katy did it! Katy did it!” and ran in to confess everything to Mother? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/13 "2005-06-11T04:38:21Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I know they were fairly racist… 😕 I was looking through that compilation a few weeks ago and there was nothing racist in it. “Gender stereotyped and boring as hell” I can accept but the only thing “racist” was that everybody was white, at least until long after I used the books. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/14 "2005-06-11T13:05:52Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I loved these books. I remember them so well. My first one had a yellow cover and was all about Dick, Jane and Sally and ? (and Spot of course). Puff! You forgot Puff, the cat! Oh, the felinity! ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/15 "2005-06-11T15:07:23Z")
All this racist talk- so many people have nothing better to do than to point out that a 1950’s childrens book marketed to white america had a white family primarily (as did, what, every tv show?!) What about the fact that the book never honors WW2 veterans? And the lack of Hispanics? Let’s bring in PETA- why should we watch Spot run all the time? Let him run w/o being watched, as a dog should. Run away, Spot. How about a literay analysis of the [compilations](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0448433400/qid=1118437124/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-6036137-5499863?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) that were posted above, done by a council of NAACP and Feminists and PETA members and Dopers? I’d buy that! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/16 "2005-06-11T15:09:10Z")
But then again, how many decades was it until they introduced the african american characters? You may have a point… I was making observations, not ranting. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![smaft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@smaft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaft)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-see-spot-running-where-the-hell-is-he/307715/17 "2005-06-11T15:21:02Z")
I would be remiss not to point out SomethingAwful’s [Friday Photoshop](http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2957) feature for this week…