Sunday, March 30, 2008

The Ballad of Bubbles P. Bubbles

This dialogue ensued on the way back from the laundromat, after I saw a little girl blowing bubbles on a street corner:

Me: Look! Bubbles!
R.A.: Bubbles P. Bubbles!
(long pause)
Me: What?
R.A.: Bubbles P. Bubbles.
Me: oh... What does that mean?
R.A.: Didn't they make you read that in L&T? ["Learning and Thinking Workshop" at college]
Me: No.
R.A.: Oh.
(long pause)
Me: So what does "Bubbles P. Bubbles" mean?
R.A.: It's from this short story that we had to read. Actually, I didn't read it. But my some of my friends read it and they thought it was hilarious.
Me: uh-huh
R.A.: And in the story the author ends one sentence with the words "Bubbles P." And he starts the nest sentence with the word, "Bubbles." So on the page, it looks like the name, "Bubbles P. Bubbles."
Me: Oh.
(long pause)
Me: So did he end the sentence with the letter "P" or with the word, "pee"?
R.A.: With the letter. Why on earth would he end a sentence with the words "bubbles pee"?
Me: I don't know.
(pause)
Me: Why would he end a sentence with the words "bubbles P." ?
R.A.: I don't know. I never read the stupid story. It was just that my friends saw the words "Bubbles P. Bubbles" and that was sort of a thing that we had for the rest of the year.
Me: Oh.
R.A: It's kind of an inside joke thing. It's hard to explain to someone.
Me: I see.
(pause)
Me: But I still don't think there is any possible way to end a sentence with "Bubbles P." Like, grammatically.
R.A.: Of course you can. You can end a sentence however you like. That's how the sentence ended.
Me: What was the sentence?
R.A.: How should I know?! I told you, I didn't read the story!
Me: But your friends still thought that it was funny that one sentence ended "Bubbles P." and the next started, "Bubbles".
R.A.: Yes!
Me: This is the worst conversation we've ever had.
R.A.: No it's not.
(pause)
Me: Top five, at least.
R.A.: Yeah, maybe top five.

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