Talk:Shmoo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contrary to the article as it stands, there was at least one other Li'l Abner story featuring Schmoon. I believe it was the one with a pair of them as the "Ultimate Weapon" possesed by General Rumbumbo. He used them to hold the USA ransom, Dr. Evil style. Abner was trained to destroy them, but never got the chance, as Rumbumbo deployed them via bomber aircraft. They never reach the mainland, however, as the Schmoon reproduced in the hold and overloaded the plane, bringing it down in the ocean. Abner notes that their last act was, once again, sacrificial in nature - very Schmoo-like. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.130.81.225 (talk) 04:09, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

An anon user, as their only edit, added the text "In Australia shmoo is a commonly used slang for the clitoris". I am moving this to talk pending confirmation that this is common slang from our Australian editors. -- Infrogmation 06:59, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Im from melbourne, and i've never heard that expression.

I have hazy memories of a show called The New Schmoo as well. sjorford →•← 21:54, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Schmoo and Spoo

Is it possible that the Happy, Friendly, helpful Schmoo evolved into pasty, mealy, sighing Spoo, the depressing delicacy farmed across the Galaxy in Babylon 5?

[edit] Sustenance

The lead paragraph now reads "They require no sustenance of any kind." If I recall correctly, they were described as living on air. -- Infrogmation 15:33, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reasons for Destruction

The article here gives the distinct impression that the destruction of the Schmoos was purely due to government propoganda, not any real danger the Schmoos posed to society. However, the other commentaries I've seen on this all seem to say that Al Capp meant them to be dangerous, in a paradoxical way. Most importantly, I've seen it claimed that Ol' Man Mose in the strip said they were dangerous. Ol' Man Mose doesn't sound like a government propagandist; it sounds a whole lot like Al Capp trying to drive a point home. Does anyone have any sources that would shed light on this?

My source for the previous is http://www.deniskitchen.com/thestore/bios_shmoo.html . Better sources should be used, I think. -HappyMan250.1 User:68.50.195.159 03:42, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

  • The schmoos were Capp's catch-all satire on any social phenomenon that supposedly took away people's incentive to do for themselves. It's hard to tell for sure which side of the welfare state issue he was satirizing, as he himself evolved from liberal to conservative to pervert. Wahkeenah 15:19, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
    • You'd have to read the comic strips. Briefly, the old miser, who makes his living selling rotten food to the citizens of Dogpatch goes out of business, because they have shmoos. He gripes about his problems, all the way up to the big syndicate boss, in a major metropolitan city. The boss doesn't care, he's about to take his floozy out to dinner, who laments that she has to please her sugar daddy to get herself a steak dinner. Li'l Abner, appears out of nowhere and gives her a schmoo, even city folk aren't immune to the benefits of a schmoo. Deprived of his mistress, the boss send the mob to kill every last schmoo. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.233.5.127 (talk) 14:49, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

I seem to recall a late 1960's story arc where the Shmoos were involved with one of General Bullmoose's concerna ("General Dy-De namics") which transformed the Shmoos into "Shimfants"- perfect infant-like creatures.Saxophobia 01:02, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plural

Isn't the plural of shmoo, shmoon?

  • No, it's "schmoos". Wahkeenah 01:15, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Either one is correct. 134.39.153.20 17:37, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't think it is "grammatically appropriate" (for lack of a better term) to create an irregular plural for an originally coined word in English. English standard pluralization is to add s to the end of the singular (or es when a simple s creates cacophony) and irregular plurals are only correct when inherent, and most if not all irregular pluralizations predate the modern English convention. So far I have seen shmoos, shmoon, and shmoo (in the externally linked article from the main article about Shmoo's First Appearance) as plurals. Using shmoon as a serious plural in the main article looks unprofessional and silly. I think mention of the shmoon plural should be retained only in reference to the fact that Capp deliberately created an amusing plural, but shmoos should be used in the main article.

Mal7798 (talk) 21:00, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] guinea pig

OK, other then the fact that they are kind of roundish and are animals of some sort, what do the schmoos have to do with guinea pigs? (see 'see also' section) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.4.74.65 (talk) 19:27, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

I agree. This is an unnecessary reference. At the very least, if guinea pigs have been compared to shmoos anywhere else besides here, it should be explicitly referenced.

[edit] References

Magnetic core memory devices were described using Shmoo Curves. 32.97.110.142 13:49, 29 March 2007 (UTC)Dave

[edit] SCHMOO

My Mom had a cardboard cutout which you put on a page or something like that where you just see him peeking over the top with his big nose flopped over. She called this a Schmoo. I seem to recall a WWII reference to 'Kilroy was here'. Any more information?

[edit] FTL Newsfeed

I don't have any episodes of this stuff on tape, but I seem to remember that the Shmoos were mentioned as a genetically engineered livestock that was named after the ones in the comics books. Anyone got some more info on that to confirm? Sweetfreek (talk) 01:28, 8 March 2008 (UTC)