# Please explain this anonymous note? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344 "2011-02-14T19:32:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/1 "2011-02-14T19:32:14Z")
Someone put it in my mailbox. It’s neatly hand-written in ink, on a 3 X 5 card: [QUOTE=anonymous note] Culture Note #2: When Gumby reached the moon by streching the ladder of his fire engine, he stretched our minds, as well. But as each and every one of us eventually would learn, Gumby was in fact not made of clay, but common, industrial grade rubber, and that he could not, in fact, “walk into any book, with his pony pal Pokey, too.” The longest I could ever stretch Gumby was two feet and seven inches. How about you? Thank you. [/quote] That’s all it says. No name, phone number–nothing. Is this some kind of threat? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/2 "2011-02-14T19:43:46Z")
Well, since they put it into your mailbox, and you don’t say it was mailed to you, they did commit a crime under US Postal regulations. 😃 Seriously? Ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/3 "2011-02-14T19:44:20Z")
Awesome. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/4 "2011-02-14T19:45:37Z")
If you find a single guy in his 30’s at the other end of that note, send him my way 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/5 "2011-02-14T19:47:52Z")
Well, do you have an answer? 31 inches is quite a stretch for a Gumby action figure. I’m not sure you can beat it. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/6 "2011-02-14T19:55:20Z")
These Mafia warnings keep getting stranger and stranger. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/7 "2011-02-14T19:57:47Z")
[Eddie Murphy] I am **Gumby** , dammit! [/Eddie Murphy] ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/8 "2011-02-14T20:05:12Z")
Obviously they’re trying to wound your heart with a monotonous languor. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/9 "2011-02-14T20:07:06Z")
Back around twenty years ago, my friends and I did extensive LSD “experimentation.” We did all kinds of crazy shit that is only funny if you’ve ever been on the bus. We would do things like make what appeared to be children’s drawingx with crayon on construction paper but make then slightly off is bizarre ways. Then we’d mail them to random people from the phone book. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/10 "2011-02-14T20:21:40Z")
A gumby conspiracy, yes! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/11 "2011-02-14T20:42:29Z")
Delivered to the wrong address? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/12 "2011-02-14T21:00:21Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Back around twenty years ago, my friends and I did extensive LSD “experimentation.” We did all kinds of crazy shit that is only funny if you’ve ever been on the bus. > > We would do things like make what appeared to be children’s drawingx with crayon on construction paper but make then slightly off is bizarre ways. Then we’d mail them to random people from the phone book. Even without the aid of drugs, I think a lot of people in the mid-teens to early twenties go through a stage where “freaking out the squares” is a common social activity. I’m guessing some bored HS seniors were having a good time. Beats having them spray paint a bad word on your garage. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/13 "2011-02-14T21:09:07Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Beats having them spray paint a bad word on your garage. Bad word? Irregardless? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/14 "2011-02-14T21:15:51Z")
One morning back when I was in college I woke up to find that, sometime in the night, someone had written the following in shoe polish on the windshield of my car: I brake for ponies. ``` **totally SFW, just spoilered for comic effect** ``` I had a similar WTF moment, and, as above, chalked it up to someone messing around while under the influence of hallucinogens or something. I was just grateful they wrote on the glass and not on the body/paint. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/15 "2011-02-14T21:18:55Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > …someone had written the following in shoe polish on the windshield of my car At least it wasn’t on the **inside** of the windshield. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/16 "2011-02-14T21:52:04Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Delivered to the wrong address? Hmm. In the household to the west, just about everyone was born in Armenia. I can’t imagine them involved in something like this. The native-born children are all under ten. To the east is an apartment building. There are several likely candidates there. I’ll have to investigate. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/17 "2011-02-14T22:05:52Z")
Sounds like an art project to me. (Not necessarily under the influence of psychoactive substances, but they don’t hurt…) I would take it as someone providing me with a little free whimsy and imagination in my life. I mean, it does mean your neighborhood is infested with art college kids, but that’s better than an infestation of frat kids or investment bankers or something. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/18 "2011-02-14T23:07:59Z")
Yeah, I’d chalk it up to some combination of bored or imaginative high-school or college students, and controlled substances. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/19 "2011-02-14T23:37:01Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Obviously they’re trying to wound your heart with a monotonous languor. Hmm, I recall the quote It is a reference to the English translation of a line of French poetry (Baudelaire?) that signalled to the French underground that D-Day was happening - according to the movie “The Longest Day” but I’m not clear on its relationship to a strange Gumby note. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344/20 "2011-02-15T00:06:16Z")
**Champion-Of\_Truth** saying “Hello”? 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-this-anonymous-note/571344.md?page=2)