Comments on: Toupee

By: J-L

J-L — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:23:25 +0000

When little kids (or anyone, really) get introduced to an English word in its written form before they hear it pronounced, they often invent a pronunciation for it that stays around in their heads long after they learn the correct way to say the word.

I’m guessing that the writer of this strip saw the word “toupee” written down before he heard how it was pronounced, so he assigned the sounds “too pee” to it. So he makes a joke out of “too pee” sounding like Shakespeare’s famous “to be” line.

(Thankfully, the artist went with toupee illustrations without resorting to a urination theme. Otherwise, the comic would be appearing in the “Friday Morning Ewww” section.)

By: mkilby

mkilby — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:12:25 +0000

There is an excellent “toupee” pun (using the “to pay” pronunciation) in the Wallace and Gromit movie “The Curse of the Were Rabbit”.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:03:42 +0000

It would work if he talks like Forrest Gump. Think of the scene where Forrest meets JFK: “Ah gawt teh pay.”

By: David in The Lab

David in The Lab — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:48:06 +0000

Didn’t get the Hell Toupee link in, here it is.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0511100/

By: David in The Lab

David in The Lab — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:46:08 +0000

Scott E, The Simpsons borrowed it from Amazing Stories, many Treehouse of Horror episodes are parodies of other “scary” TV shows/movies.

By: Scott E

Scott E — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:38:33 +0000

Dave in Tech Support, are you sure that wasn’t an episode of The Simpsons?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehouse_of_Horror_IX#Hell_Toup.C3.A9e

By: Heather D

Heather D — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:02:23 +0000

I don’t think it needs to rhyme for it to work. It’s got “to” as part of the word, so that’s where the connection derives from. Some versions of the gag use the opposite, such as Patrick Stewart’s Sesame Street letter pontification, “a B, or not a B”.

By: Dave in Tech Support

Dave in Tech Support — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:59:16 +0000

(Expresses frustration at the inability to edit one’s own post…)

That should, of course, have read, ‘allow ‘toupee’ to be rhymed with ‘to be’ ‘

By: Dave in Tech Support

Dave in Tech Support — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:54:44 +0000

I am unfamiliar with any regional dialect that would allow ‘toupee’ with ‘to be’, but I do seem to recall a segment of the ‘Amazing Stories’ TV show about a possessed hairpiece called…

‘Hell Toupee’

(It frightens me that I remember that…)

By: AleksO

AleksO — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:42:29 +0000

When pronounced to rhyme with “to be”, you have to admit it’s a pisser of a pun!