# What's that tool, Charlie Brown? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [September 21, 2024, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535 "2024-09-21T00:15:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/21 "2024-09-21T21:59:11Z")
So, the joke is cows are stupid. Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/22 "2024-09-21T23:09:29Z")
Larson admitted that he screwed up by making one of the tools vaguely resemble a handsaw, which led countless readers to assume they could decipher the comic if they could only figure out what the other three tools were supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/23 "2024-09-21T23:19:41Z")
_Clearly_ the one to the left of the “handsaw” is some sort of back scratcher. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/24 "2024-09-22T00:08:08Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > So, the joke is cows are stupid. Gotcha. Lots of his cartoons are slightly (or highly) anthropomorphized animals and the point is always the incongruities that result. The bears that know about firearms, the suburbanite deer who live in houses but are still legit targets for human hunters, etc. So maybe the point isn’t that cows are stupid, but maybe we’re too stupid to recognize what tools a tool-making cow would want. Modulo the challenges of making tools when you’re a hoofed quadruped. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/25 "2024-09-22T13:16:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > _Clearly_ the one to the left of the “handsaw” is some sort of back scratcher. Looks more like a hawk to me. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/26 "2024-09-22T13:33:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think we’re expected to pretend that it’s not a toy piano, but a tiny real one. No, it’s a toy piano with [black keys](https://3eanuts.com/image/650809025765736448) [painted on](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/2c/ed/41/2ced411b1dd52fd8fe7fb569776b4802.jpg). The joke is that S is such a virtuoso he can play real music on a toy piano. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/27 "2024-09-22T14:00:52Z")
As seen in the piano’s [very first appearance](https://www.reddit.com/r/peanuts/comments/vuwf0h/schroeders_first_piano/). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535/28 "2024-09-22T14:16:51Z")
He can also get Wurlitzer organ sounds for Xmas tunes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-tool-charlie-brown/1007535.md?page=1)