June 05, 2009

Apes Laugh, Tickle Study Finds.
posted by homunculus 15 years ago
  • Great sound samples there - the bonobo laugh sounds a lot more human than the chimp one, but perhaps (like human laughing) much depends on the individual and the circumstances? The chimp one reminds me of Arte Shaw's dirty old man on Laugh-In. (Yes, I'm an antique. And I just discovered that the D.O.M.'s name was Tyrone F. Horneigh.)
  • Wow--that Artie Shaw! A great musician and... a dirty old man? Methinks it was Arte Johnson... but I kinda like the mental image of Artie Shaw, riding an undersized trike while wearing a yellow slicker, wailing away on his clarinet, chasing Ava Gardner. Meanwhile this is a really cool story. I know that critters laugh--Turtle Bird the parrot laughs at eerily appropriate moments. And I know that cats laugh but are good at doing it behind our backs.
  • Antiques are so darned forgetful.
  • I'd like to think that it's just that we have so much more to remember. Still, I'm laughing at the idea of Shaw wearing a German helmet, smoking a cigarette, saying "Verrrry interesting... and now at the mike is the lovely Helen Forrest..."
  • The chimp one reminds me of Arte Shaw's dirty old man on Laugh-In... Just after he says "Want a Walnetto?" and just before Ruth Buzzi smacks him over the head with her purse.
  • Hmmm, I remember it as, "How 'bout a Walnetto?" but you're right. It's "Want a Walnetto?" Me memory plays me false. Loved the hairnet on Ruth. Oh, so kissable Ruth And Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the phone operator: "Here at the Phone Company we handle eighty-four billion calls a year. Serving everyone from presidents and kings to scum of the earth. (snort) We realize that every so often you can't get an operator, for no apparent reason your phone goes out of order [snatches plug out of switchboard], or perhaps you get charged for a call you didn't make. We don't care. Watch this [bangs on a switch panel like a cheap piano] just lost Peoria. (snort) You see, this phone system consists of a multibillion-dollar matrix of space-age technology that is so sophisticated, even we can't handle it. But that's your problem, isn't it ? Next time you complain about your phone service, why don't you try using two Dixie cups with a string. We don't care. We don't have to. (snort) We're the Phone Company!" "I gave the best years of my life to Ma Bell and what did it get me? When she went to pieces, so did I. I've got operator's hump from plugging and unplugging, I've got carpal tunnel from all those years dialing. Oh sure, everything in the workplace, now, is ergonomically correct. They worked out the kinks on me. Look at this hand: I can't even flip anybody off anymore." Me: *Snort* *stuffs kleenex in bra*