Gender and Dolls (was Re: Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?)

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:26 PM -0700 7/31/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>The scheduling times sound right to me, Larry.  Perhaps you'll
>recall too Rootie's friend Mr. Deedledoodle and the no-good, very
>scary-looking Poison Sumac.
>
>   And that Polka Dottie. Hubba.
>
>   JL

Poison Sumac made a bigger impression on me than the others
(including Rootie himself). The bad guys always got the best lines.

LH

>
>Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Laurence Horn
>Subject: Re: Gender and Dolls (was Re: Lego vs. Legos: Americanism?
>Regionalism?)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 2:37 PM -0700 7/31/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>When I was about four I owned a rubbery simulacrum of Rootie
>>Kazootie, a celebrity marionette on local TV. He dressed like a
>>baseball player. I also had one of the more celebrated Howdy Doody.
>>
>>  I did not call them "dolls" or "simulacra." They were just
>>"Howdy" and "Rootie." Girls played with dolls. Boys played with
>>copies of celebrity marionettes.
>>
>>  And no, I don't have them anymore.
>
>Too bad. I don't recall anything at all about Rootie K, except that
>he came on immediately after Howdy D (at 5:30 and 5:00 if memory
>serves, which it may not after 55 or so years) and that since
>everyone else loved Howdy, I decided I was more of a Rootie kid.
>
>LH
>
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