# What can make a hippopotamus smile? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 17, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208 "2008-06-17T14:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/1 "2008-06-17T14:26:58Z")
What can make him walk for more than a mile? It’s not a party with a paper hat. Or cake and candy that will make him fat. That’s not what hippos do! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/2 "2008-06-17T14:40:23Z")
Some smiling hoppos in this. Maybe the song does it: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtqIM_bPTws) Or you can try this book: [http://www.shop.com/+-a-Hippopotamus+smile-p33515637-k36-st.shtml](http://www.shop.com/+-a-Hippopotamus+smile-p33515637-k36-st.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/3 "2008-06-17T14:42:33Z")
Take him to The City of Light: > [@](#): > > A Hippopotamus was walking down Mulberry Street one afternoon, happily enjoying the sights of the City. It was a fine spring day, and the weather was simply delightful. The sunshine sparkled in the windows of the tall buildings and in the eyes of the city pigeons hopping about on the sidewalk. The flowers in the flower-pots outside the storefronts were ablaze in the brightest colors. The shopkeepers and restaurant owners flung open their doors and pulled back their curtains to let the warm sun flood into their establishments. And the sparrows and other small birds of the City filled the air with sweet songs of spring as they flew from rooftop to rooftop, the warm sunbeams on their wings. > It was a fine day indeed! The Hippopotamus, smiling happily, continued down Mulberry Street, gazing at all the wonderful sights of the City. [http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~fturner/hippo.htm](http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~fturner/hippo.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/4 "2008-06-17T14:44:40Z")
When I want to make him smile, I tell him that my whanger is bigger than his. When I want to make him cry, I show him. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/5 "2008-06-17T15:45:51Z")
I hear that hippos are actually nasty, mean-spirited creatures. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/6 "2008-06-17T15:59:39Z")
No, you’re thinking of Ms. Montoya. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/7 "2008-06-17T16:02:35Z")
Show him your belly button. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/8 "2008-06-17T16:03:00Z")
[Pumpkins can make a hippopotamus smile](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/605/406/1600/hippopumpkin.jpg) However, if yours takes offense at your offer of squash, remember these immortal words: [QUOTE=Hilaire Belloc] I shot a hippopotamus With bullets made of platinum Because if I used leaden ones, His hide would surely flatten 'em. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/9 "2008-06-17T16:06:33Z")
[…and two hippos, who are incredibly fat.](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ncOgMk1xEzc) (:38) “Flavio, are we actually fat?” “No, my Delectable, we are simply bigger than life itself.” ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-make-a-hippopotamus-smile/453208/10 "2008-06-17T16:55:29Z")
Mud might do it. [Flanders and Swann](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0WPwFD9is)