Toys, potatoes, and dogs

The Wayno / Piraro Bizarro strip for 2/25: Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead with their Potatohead dog:


The toy: Mr. Potatohead and his detachable-bodypart family; the potato: the russet; the dog: the Jack Russell terrier (note russet as a potato-pun on the dog name Russell) (if you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in the cartoon — Wayno says there are 5 in this strip — see this Page)

To understand this cartoon, you need to recognize it as an instance of the potatohead cartoon meme, based on the toy. Now, some details.

The toy. From Wikipedia:

Mr. Potato Head is an American toy produced by Hasbro since 1952. It consists of a plastic model of a potato “head” to which a variety of plastic parts can attach; typically ears, eyes, shoes, hat, nose, mustache, pipe (1952–1987), pants, glasses, and mouth.

The potato. From Wikipedia:

A russet potato is a type of potato that is large, with dark brown skin and few eyes. The flesh is white, dry, soft, and mealy, and it is suitable for baking, mashing, and french fries. Russet potatoes are sometimes known [inexactly] as Idaho potatoes in the United States

The dog. From Wikipedia:

The Jack Russell Terrier is a British breed of small terrier. It is principally white-bodied and may have a smooth, rough, or broken coat, with markings of various colours.

It derives from dogs bred and used for fox-hunting in North Devon in the early nineteenth century by a country parson, Jack Russell – for whom the breed is named – and has similar origins to the modern Fox Terrier. Though closely similar, it is a distinct and different breed from the Parson Russell Terrier.

 

Leave a Reply


Discover more from Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading