Dubid yubou ubevuber subee thube pubopubulubar grubocubery stubore ubart ubof thube bubig ubeyed chubildruben? Bubecubause yubou mubust bube ubone ubof thube uborubigubinubal duboe-ubeyed mubodubels. Hubot Pubictubure! Tubight Scubience ubindubeed! -- tubight subomethubing ubI ubimagubine!

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Answers

Full disclosure: I'm not a Harvard graduate--I just took classes there, I wasn't in a degree program.

And yeah, I used to watch Zoom all the time, so I'm familiar with Ubbi Dubbi, but I'm too lazy to write out my reply in said dialect.

-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001

Ubbi Dubbi is, in fact, a distinct language, not a dialect, and its literature is one the great triumphs of the cultural legacy handed down to us by WGBH. One might even say that the cultural Renaissance of the late 60's and early 70's would not have happened, but for the influence of Zoom. By the skin of our teeth, indeed.

Interested students should check out the "Ubbi Dubbi Translator":

http://www.pbs.org/cgi-registry/wgbh/zoom/ubbidubbi.cgi

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2001

What criteria distinguish a language from a dialect? My dictionary is unclear on the subject, but it was my understanding that languages are characterized by cultural or geographical differences between those who speak them (i.e. they are spoken by people from different countries or tribes) and that dialects within a language are mutually intelligible where as different languages are not. By those criteria, Ubbidubbi would be a dialect and not a language.

-- Anonymous, January 07, 2001

I will mark this day. It won't be hard for it has scored the fibers of my heart. Today is the day that I finally realized, the day that all my hopes were dashed and splintered against the rocks on the sandy shores below like a disgarded empty glass coke bottle thrown from a '77 Pinto, the day that I knew that Jen Wade would never be mine. Anybody willing to pull out the dictionary or any other sort of study aide in order to prove or disprove the derivation of Ubbidubbi is way, way out of my league. Sad is the day. I lay broken, reflecting bits of sunshine in a carefree facade, looking up from my rocky home masking the pain I feel as the salty unforgiving waves of reality crash upon my head. Woe is me... I am woe.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

Rudeboy -- maybe she'll accidentally clone herself -- pack it up -- and Federal Express it to you.

Okay, so maybe it will be badly deformed: one foot, head with 3 hairs, but still it would make a great paper weight.

And later, you can always preserve it in a jar of formaldehyde, forever and ever.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2001

OK, I know this may sound sick but, exactly how badly deformed are we talking? I can handle an extra eye or the lack of. I could probably deal with eleven toes (which I hear rumored to be true anyway. I would manage even if she had an extra leg or a pair of breasts on her back. (Actually the latter falls more into the realm of fantasy.)

The hair thing wouldn't be a problem cuz I always figured if we ever hooked up I'd try and get her to shave her head anyway.

-- Anonymous, January 09, 2001