# Pufnstuf a dragon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 2, 1999, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225 "1999-09-02T13:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/1 "1999-09-02T13:43:00Z")
I had no idea that giant melon-headed guy was supposed to be a dragon until Cecil mentioned it. [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/990827.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/990827.html) I mean look at him! ( [http://www.jackwild.com/puf.htm](http://www.jackwild.com/puf.htm) – note the groovy boots) The only vestige of his noble draconic heritage is that scaly underbelly! No wings! No snout! He has the eyebags of a third-year graduate student! That’s one weak-ass dragon. But sure enough Cecil and the IMDB both identify him as a dragon. Oh yeah, those other things in the picture are supposed to be ants. Pssh. Good riddance to the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/2 "1999-09-02T20:41:00Z")
I had _ **NO IDEA** _ either. But then Arthur (on PBS) is supposedly an Aardvark. Yeah right. BTW Anyone know the words to Puff 'n Stuff Theme? I only know part of them ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 1999, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/3 "1999-09-02T21:10:00Z")
I hate myself for this, but… H.R. Pufnstuff, Who’s your friend when things get rough? H.R. Pufnstuff Can’t do a little cause he can’t do enough. Once upon a summertime Just a dream from yesterday A boy and his magic golden flute Heard a boat from off the bay “Come and play with me, Jimmy Come and play with me. And I will take you on a trip Far across the sea.” But the boat belonged to a kooky old witch Who had in mind the flute to snitch From her broom broom in the sky She watched her plans materialize She waved her wand The beautiful boat was gone The skies grew dark The sea grew rough And the boat sailed on and on and on and on and on and on. But Pufnstuff was watching too And knew exactly what to do He saw the witch’s boat attack And as the boy was fighting back He called his rescue racer crew As often they’d rehearsed And off to save the boy they flew But who would get there first? But now the boy had washed ashore Puf arrived to save the day Which made the witch so mad and sore She shook her first and screamed away. H.R. Pufnstuff, Who’s your friend when things get rough? H.R. Pufnstuff Can’t do a little cause he can’t do enough. H.R. Pufnstuff, Who’s your friend when things get rough? H.R. Pufnstuff Can’t do a little cause he can’t do enough. * * * Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University Homo vult decipi; decipiatur ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/4 "1999-09-03T01:45:00Z")
That was great DrFi! Do you know the Bugaloo’s theme? ---
**Author:** ![dwtno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@dwtno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwtno)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/5 "1999-09-03T02:27:00Z")
Good one Doc! But I gotta call you on one point… Wilhelmina Witchiepoo rode a “Vroom Broom” not a broom broom. Definitely a much cooler sounding name! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/6 "1999-09-03T07:47:00Z")
Let’s see if I can do this right \ \ Dr. Fidelius\ \ Thanks for the words \ \ COOL DUDE \ \ ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/7 "1999-09-03T12:36:00Z")
Thank you all, but all I did was use Yahoo! I don’t know how to post this as a link, but check out: [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/4760/](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/4760/) For PapaBear– The Bugaloos The Bugaloos We’re in the air and everywhere Flying high, flying loose Flying free as a summer breeze The Bugaloos The Bugaloos We’re climbing high and diving low Through the sky, 'cross the land Straight to you With a helping hand Ready with a helping hand We’re friends indeed Should you need If you ever need The Bugaloos The Bugaloos We’re in the air and everywhere Flying high, flying loose Flying free like we all could be… ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/8 "1999-09-03T20:01:00Z")
Update: Ignore that URL. It leads to one of those furschlugginer GeoCities pop-up ads. I must have linked to the wrong window… ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/9 "1999-09-03T21:41:00Z")
[[Good one Doc! But I gotta call you on one point… Wilhelmina Witchiepoo rode a “Vroom Broom” not a broom broom. Definitely a much cooler sounding name!]] Ooooh, then you’re going to love Cecil’s column this week. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 1999, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/10 "1999-09-03T22:55:00Z")
**DrFi:** > [@](#): > > …furschlugginer… The only place I recall seeing that word is in the Mad comic books from the '50’s. Is it used anywhere else? I always assumed it was a “Mad thing,” like “potrzebie.” Or is “potrzebie” used in other places? Maybe I should start a new topic in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![SSittser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@SSittser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSittser)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 1999, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/11 "1999-09-04T05:31:00Z")
You know, I always kind of figured Pufnstuf was, well, a Puffin. You know, the aquatic bird. I mean, I wasn’t really sure, and he didn’t LOOK like a puffin, but then he didn’t look like much of anything, as far as I could tell. (On the other hand, I felt pretty certain that Mayor McCheese was a giant cheeseburger. I guess the folks at Krofft were more abstract; the folks at McDonalds more representational.) But apparently he was a dragon - and now that I’ve heard that, and looked at Pufnstuf again, I guess it fits. It’s kind of satisfying to have a childhood mystery solved 30 years later. (Egad, can it really have been 30 years?) It was one of my favorite shows, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 1999, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/12 "1999-09-04T14:52:00Z")
I don’t know about “potrzebie” outside of “Mad”, but “furschlugginer” is Yiddish (more usually spelled “farshlugginer” nowadays, when spelled in the Latin alphabet at all). I’m no Yiddish scholar, unfortunately. The root meaning is something like “beaten”, “slammed” or “punched”, but Yiddish words tend to stray. Early “Mad” was _very_ Jewish. * * * John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 1999, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/13 "1999-09-04T18:21:00Z")
Pufnstuf’s voice sure sounded a lot like the voice of “Milton the Monster.” Don’t know if they were the same person. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 1999, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/14 "1999-09-04T19:10:00Z")
Thanks, John Kennedy! ---
**Author:** ![mok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mok)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/15 "1999-09-05T14:17:00Z")
“Potrzebie” is Polish for “needs” or “wants”. Why Mad magazine used it is beyond me. -m ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/16 "1999-09-05T20:35:00Z")
Geez, answers on _two_ Mad Magazine words! Maybe I should make a Mad Magazine vocabulary list and have the Teeming Millions supply definitions. Then again, the only remaining Mad word that comes to mind is “Moxie,” and I already know what that one is. m: > [@](#): > > Why Mad magazine used it is beyond me. Probably to make goofballs like me ask questions! ---
**Author:** ![stf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/db5fbb/32.png) [@stf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/17 "1999-09-08T18:45:00Z")
“furschlugginer” was also used in the movie Hercules…don’t know why so many Yiddish words turned up in that movie… “the furschlugginer heal of his!” ---
**Author:** ![Potrezebie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Potrezebie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Potrezebie)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 1999, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/18 "1999-09-12T05:05:00Z")
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this, but I was told that the “H.R.” in “H.R. Pufnstuf” stood for “hand rolled.” Hand-rolled puffing stuff. Get it? Certainly consistent with the various drug references, e.g. “Lidsville.” ---
**Author:** ![Hungry\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hungry\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hungry_Boy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pufnstuf-a-dragon/225/19 "1999-09-27T18:26:00Z")
Next thing you’ll be telling me Electro Woman and Dyna Girl were vibrators. 🙂