Comments on: Dude "inflates" dog as if it were a balloon

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:28:00 +0000

And she might decide to take your face as a souvenir.

By: palomeque

palomeque — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Dog inflation has been practiced since the early seventeenth century. See the prologue to the second part of “Don Quixote”: ” …by blowing, he made the dog as

round as a ball…”

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:37:00 +0000

So we’ve learned here that I can call someone an “ineffectual man” using either the terms Weiner, Schlappschwanz, Waschlappen, Feigling, or Schwächling? Good to know!

“I’ve had enough of you, you schlappschwanz, you!!” It has a good ring to it.

By: Ipo

Ipo — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:29:00 +0000

Nah. Being under the strong impression that Antinous gives a damn about language I was being more helpful than pedantic.

Pedant mode on:

You don’t speak German?
Der Weiner, —«, Mz. gl.; die —inn, eine Person, welche weint. Wörterb. »4g,. (R).
(Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache 5 U bis Z
Publisher: Braunschweig Schulbuchh. 1811)

Weiner [sl.] [sl.] [man regarded as weak, ineffectual] Schlappschwanz , Waschlappen, Feigling, Schwächling.

Not a common term, but surely not meaningless.

Pedantry continued:

Wiener Würstchen
Frankfurter Würstchen

They are made from different dead animals.

When being a pedant one should at least be correct.

/pedantry I still like you.

By: howaboutthisdangit

howaboutthisdangit — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:22:00 +0000

I gave up on that pretty quickly when I discovered that blowing it my cat’s face would make her sneeze in mine.

By: Alex Bergus

Alex Bergus — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:54:00 +0000

I think the dog is trying to lick him and is stretching out to do this. One of my old dogs would try to lick anyone blowing in its face.

By: Scott Bartlett

Scott Bartlett — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:47:00 +0000

Maybe he trained the dog to extend its legs whenever air is blown in its face.

By: twianto

twianto — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:55:00 +0000

Works better with amphibians and reptiles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McR_s2JXBvI

By: rattypilgrim

rattypilgrim — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:46:00 +0000

“Inflate like a balloon”? Was I disappointed!

By: Sirkowski

Sirkowski — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:18:00 +0000

Not cool. Someone call PeTA!

By: twianto

twianto — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:14:00 +0000

Except in Vienna they are called “Frankfurter” exclusively and “Weiner” means exactly nothing in German. Well, technically it _could_ be a word but it just isn’t, for it’s just not used in German. It’s a Jewish name as far as I’m concerned.

Common mistake.

Are we done being pedants yet? ;-)

By: Rachael Hoffman-Dachelet

Rachael Hoffman-Dachelet — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:14:00 +0000

Human babies have a startle reflex that, at least in my kids, I could trigger by blowing in their face. They would gasp, hold their breath, and arch their back really hard like that dog is doing. I often used it as a trick to interrupt a tantrum or crying jag when they were little babies. They couldn’t cry while holding their breath. Or maybe it’s the diver reflex? I wonder if there is a similar reflex going on here? When I taught infant swimming classes as a teenager we would blow on the babies faces right before we dunked them under the water and they would do that.

By: Ipo

Ipo — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Vienna sausage / Wiener Würstchen from the Austrian city Vienna / Wien.
Weiner sounds similar to whiner and means exactly that.
Common mistake.
Now throw another dachshund on the barbie.

By: theophrastvs

theophrastvs — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:17:00 +0000

it’s a simple question of weight ratios. five boingboing commenters cannot carry a 37 years old liturgy

(egad, it’s been 37 years… (and i’m still a newt))

By: kernkraftwerks

kernkraftwerks — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:58:00 +0000

…but how many could it carry *uninflated?*

By: theophrastvs

theophrastvs — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:52:00 +0000

But African rat weiner dogs are not migratory.

(that it took me to do that, is a sorry commentary on the rapidly descending age demographic of the boingboing peanut gallery)

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:50:00 +0000

The air enters through the dog’s nostrils, passes through the stomach where the special odor molecules get added, through the intestines (a straight run where any nutrients are extracted and the special odor molecules get concentrated) and right out through the anus.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:45:00 +0000

I know. I can tell because of the pixels.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:44:00 +0000

You’ve obviously never had a pet. All pet owners have this irrepressible urge to blow in their pets’ faces. All of them. Case in point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4dYE-R-yjU

By: spacemunky

spacemunky — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:24:00 +0000

That guy looks nothing like Jeff Bridges.

By: Jim Saul

Jim Saul — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:15:00 +0000

I’m thinking something similar, but that the dog is trying to get closer to the human’s face, and arching his back to lift his head. Like sticking his face into the windflow across an open car window.

By: BDiamond

BDiamond — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:08:00 +0000

That depends. What is its carrying capacity?

/edit This was meant as a reply to Antinous.

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:03:00 +0000

It surely isn’t Atlantic swordfish.

By: princessalex

princessalex — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:22:00 +0000

I think you missed the mark with the headline. It doesn’t appear that he’s inflating the dog. Just blowing in her face. And, I think the dog senses the air current in her face and thinks she can fly . . . like SuperDog!!! :-)

By: millie fink

millie fink — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:08:00 +0000

Cute!

I think the dog’s natural reaction to having air blown in its face is to move away from it. In most cases, moving away involves propelling itself with its back legs.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:04:00 +0000

Is it an African rat weiner dog or a European rat weiner dog?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:03:00 +0000

And Jeff Koons lawsuit in 3…2…1…

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:01:00 +0000

That’s one way to save a step.

By: AA

AA — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:01:00 +0000

Clearly, the dog senses the increase in air speed and attempts to lower its drag by aligning itself with the air flow…Animals with similar paleo-yet-still-active-reflexes such as this have been observed in the wild. In fact, Pink Floyd did a whole album about them. Their……flag-ship, was the flying pig.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_%28Pink_Floyd_album%29

By: GawainLavers

GawainLavers — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:53:00 +0000

Easy: it’s a “min-pin”: a doberman pinscher hybridized with a rubber plant.