I enjoy watching Peppa the Pig with my three-year-old granddaughter. It is a fascinating cartoon series aimed at preschoolers, which my granddaughter gets to watch on Sundays via YouTube.
And, I am lucky to get to watch it when I am there with her.
Peppa and her family, as well as her many animal friends, enjoy adventures together in short, five-minute cartoon episodes. As soon as one episode ends, another begins. There have been 243 episodes since the series began in England in 2004. The British accents and the unique vocabulary words are fun to hear.
The characters act and speak like humans, except that each makes his or her characteristic animal sound during their conversations.
For example, pig family members snort during conversations, while the dog barks during his speech. The characters are plentiful.
There are 12 characters in Peppa’s family: Peppa, her younger brother, George, Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig, Grandpa Pig, Granny Pig, and 5 more pig relatives.
There are 8 rabbits, 2 sheep, 3 cats, 4 dogs, 3 ponies, 4 zebras (pronounced zeb-ras over the pond), 4 elephants, 3 foxes, 4 kangaroos, 3 wolves, 5 goats, 3 giraffes, 2 bears, and some 42 assorted animal characters such as Madame Gazella, and Mr. Bull. That’s a grand total of 101 characters.
The narrator of the series says things like “Oh, dear!” when George starts crying. He says, “Look out!” when Peppa rides her bicycle without looking where she’s going.
I actually feel as if he is taking the words from my mouth.
I love the jokes about being fat and smelly, and the scenes of the pigs jumping in muddy puddles.
One of the best things about the show is that the family almost always seems to be happy at the end of their adventure.
How do we know this? Because, at the conclusion of almost every episode, the family falls down on the ground and we see them Rolling On the Floor Laughing. Now I know where they got the acronym ROFL.
Googling the show, I see that others are as curious as I about aspects of the show.
Why does everyone live on a hill? Why does Miss Rabbit do all the jobs? Why don’t some of the animals talk? What’s the fascination with muddy puddles? Why are the animals the same size? Why are four-year-old Peppa, and eighteen-month-old brother George, in the same class?
Why do all the animals, except George, have two names? And, why do the animals fall down and laugh at the end of almost all episodes?
My granddaughter asked if I could make her a Peppa Pig balloon.
With the first 100 multi-colored balloons, and balloon pump, I succeeded in making 3 or 4 creatures that looked more like dogs. I then watched the YouTube pig balloon video at least 17 times.
A few days ago, I ordered 100 pink balloons. I figure that I may be lucky enough to make one pig balloon out of the batch. I’m still trying to perfect the pig’s snout, which is called a tulip twist, and requires that my index finger be inserted in the nozzle end of the balloon, and that I grab the nozzle with my other hand, while removing my finger carefully.
Well, good luck in getting my finger out of the balloon. But it is lots of fun!
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted robertzebsen@gmail.com