Please help settle an argument between my wife and me.
You know that song itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini? There’s a commercial for this song in which they show a yellow bikini with purple polka dots. My wife believes that this is an inaccurate representation of the bikini in the song. She believes that the song refers to a bikini of indeterminate color with yellow polka-dots while I believe the commercial is accurate and it’s a yellow bikini with inderterminate colored polka-dots.
I always thought of the polka dots as being yellow, myself, but it is ambiguous – you can make the case either way. I won’t be looking at the dots, in any case.
You gotta pay attention to the song itself, which answers this question.
???
My statement about “payinmg attention to the song” referred to Purple People Eater. Your quote-grab dropped the quote in my own post, and makes it look as if I’m commenting on the Bikini song.
And neither song is about a 5-year-old girl, AFAIK.
I don’t recall anything about the sonmg’s subject being 5 years old. In fact, I don’t think they had two-piece bathing suits for 5 year olds back then (and a two-piece is not the same as a “bikini”).
Finally, at the end of the song, she’s still in the water and turning blue, because she doesn’t want to come out, because she’s nearly naked, and she’d be embarassed.
Five year olds wouldn’t do that. They’d come out if they were cold, and they wouldn’t care about being nearly naked. Or conmpletely nakled, for that matter.
Actually, I’ve heard this, too - Paul Vance co-wrote the song, after having watched his *2 year old * daughter at the beach. There are a bunch of “music trivia” sites that say this… I’ll see if I can find anything reliable.
Interesting development Anastasaeon. I’d be interested in seeing what you find. This is the first I’ve ever heard or thought of any suggestion that the subject of the song was a young girl. My interpretation has always been the same as Cal’s, that she was older and embarrassed about showing so much skin. Who knows how old the song writer thought (pending I guess), but my belief is that defined bosom is most certainly involved. To keep it proper, let’s say she is 18-21 years old. ( Compare with “She’s sixteen, she’s beautiful, and she’s mine,” “She was just seventeen, if you know what I mean.” :eek: Man, I’m getting old!)
Granted the last line is “And the poor little girl [is] turning blue,” but the use of “little” is for scanning and “girl” can unfortunately mean any female regardless of age to some men.
Typically when two descriptors proceed a noun they are seperated by a comma (yellow, polka-dot bikini). Since clearly there is no comma (check out the words above) we have to assume it was the polka-dots that were yellow. I know, I know, now you’re asking, "So what about the itsy bitsy teenie weenie part, smart-ass? Clearly they define another aspect of the bikini and have nothing to do with coloration. It could have been written, “Big fat burlap sack yellow polka-dotted bikini,” without changing the vital realtionship between the color of the suit and the polka-dots.
Even though, back in the days when I’d never thought about this much, I’d always seen the bikini as yellow and the embarrassed young lady as a well hootered teenager. But knowledge marches on and now I see the bikini as it truely is -
BUT NONE OF YOU HAD BETTER TRY TAKING THE HOOTERS AWAY!!!
Black on white colored fabric
White on black colored fabric
Contrasting colors (red on green, etc.)
With that historical context, I always imagined the bikini to be bright yellow fabric with black polka dots or perhaps darker yellow with white polka dots. Although yellow with purple (contrasting colors) could be an outside possibility.
