See and… Say What?

What DOES the fox say?
The classic See-and-Say didn’t tell us.
And won’t.

Safety Culture made sure of that

Dog goes “woof”
Cat goes “meow”
Bird goes “tweet”
And mouse goes “squeek”

Fisher Price never meant to hurt us – probably.

But DAMN that string…

Strangulation hazard, dontcha know.

Cow goes “moo”
Frog goes “croak”
And the elephant goes “toot”
Ducks say “quack”
And fish go “blub”
And the seal goes “ow ow ow”

My beloved childhood toy
has gone the way of the Corvair
and the Pinto.

Thanks, Ralph.

I always liked quickly tugging the string
in the middle of playback

“The Cat Says..”
(tug)
“Moo”
(uproarious 3 year old laughter)

Just kidding – I don’t think I laughed much
and certainly not uproariously.

Still – there was a certain… satisfaction…
in messing with the system.

But there’s one sound
That no one knows
What does the fox say?

Classic See-and-Say DOES tell you
What the coyote says.
Interesting choice.
Also – CRAZY WEIRD SOUND.

But the fox?

Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!
Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!
Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!

What the fox say?

Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!
Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!
Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!

What the fox say?

Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!
Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!
Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!

What the fox say?

Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!
Tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!
Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!

Exactly.

And was anyone ever
ACTUALLY
strangled by a See-and-Say?

Or was Someone
just worried it COULD happen?

I mean – at least Corvairs and Pintos really exploded.

The secret of the fox
Ancient mystery
Somewhere deep in the woods
I know you’re hiding
What is your sound?
Will we ever know?
Will always be a mystery
What do you say?

I’d actually like to know
What the fox DOES say

Isn’t a little risk worth it?

We might know by now
if we weren’t afraid
of being strangled.

We keep ourselves safe
and become more ignorant by the day.

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This week, Frank’s challenge was: “This week’s inspiration is the 2013 song “What Does the Fox Say?” by Ylvis. Emulate the lyrics and meter as best as you can, though you can take it in whatever direction that feels right. Use as much of the imagery as you feel appropriate.

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About #FFFocus:

Frank Chloupek holds a PhD in Physics from The Ohio State University. We have been friends since our undergraduate days at Michigan State University over 30 years ago.

Frank hates poetry

(except for any and all Limericks about a certain boy from Nantucket).

He provides challenges, topics, themes, rules to guide whatever gets put together on Fridays.

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If you would like to join the weekly challenge, feel free! Just reference “Frank’s Friday Focus” (#FFFocus) on your own page, provide a pingback (paste the URL link someplace in your post) to this page, and copy/paste the link to your entry into the comment section below.

Thanks, and have fun!