If pluto is a dawg because he’s naked, and walks on all fours, and goofy is a human dawg, because he walks upright and wears cloths, then what does that make Porky Pig, who often walks upright, sometimes naked, sometimes naked only from the waist down. Same for Donald Duck. Are these two perverts, animal animals, or human animals?
I once saw something like an eight-way subdivision along these lines.
But Porky Pig, Donald Duck, and Goofy all fall into the same category. Other categories include the Big Bad Wolf (who wears clothes and talks, but acts like an animal), Chip and Dale (who don’t wear clothes and act like animals, but talk), Pluto (who doesn’t talk, but understands language) and the animals on Grandma Duck’s farm, who are just animals.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
Link to column:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_077.html
The only difference I have with Cecil’s answer is his mention of Mr. Geef. In the column, Cecil seems to say that this name was one that Goofy was given before they finally decided on the “Goofy” name. In fact, Goofy didn’t take the name G. G. Geef until the early 50’s, when they started to show him as more of a family man, but long after he had already been given the permanent name of Goofy.
Saint Eutychus
www.disneyshorts.org
i live in quebec, and have had the honour of seeing all the disney characters in their francophone versions of themselves, and every representation of Goofy in french gives him the name Dingo. so, my theory is that Pluto is a dog (or dawg) and Goofy is a dingo…seems logical to me!
There’s a flaw with the logic of that theory, mnemosyne. Dogs speak (bark). Dingos are silent (they don’t bark). I’m curious about what is so offensive about the word “Goofy” in french that someone felt the need to change it.
The name “Goofy” is not offensive, Ursa, but it doesn’t mean anything either. I suppose the Disney translaters wanted a word easier to remember for french-speaking children.
Kind of like the “schtroumpf” in french became “smurfs” in english.
Official winner of Bricker Challenge #5.
So is it the French or the Canadians we have to blame for those evil smurfs?
Running for cover
Actually, like so many other things in this world, we have the Belgians to blame for “Le Schtroumpfs”.
(cue Monty Python reference)
MISERABLE FAT BELGIAN BASTARDS!!!
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
I think you meant “praise”, not “blame”. Don’t forget that without Belgium, we wouldn’t have Tintin or french fries. Long live Belgian culture!
I thought you might find interesting that in Spanish we call Goofy “Tribilín” and the smurfs are the “pitufos”.
None of this words mean anything in Spanish, so I’ll go with the theory about the names made easier to the kids.
By the way Pluto is “Pluto”, Mickey Mouse is, well Mickey Mouse for my generation but “Miguelito” to the older ones, and Donald Duck is Donald also… So I’m starting to wonder why they changed Goofy’s name…