Chatty Cathy was one of the dolls that was sold to children by Mattel Corp in the 1960s. In the past, Chatty Cathy was quite the toy. You would pull a string around her back (I believe it was around the side of her neck) She would speak things like “Where do we go?”, “I love you”, “Please Brush my hair”, “Not without a pre-nup, you will not” and so on.
As the curious kid that I am, I did an laryngoscopy of my aunt’s Chatty Cathy doll even though nobody was there to hinder me from doing it. This device which gave Chatty Cathy the ability to speak was innovative in its day and was basically a small analog record player that was powered by pulling the string.
Also, I knew Martians controlled those with a small nub in on the side of their necks. I’d seen it on The Invaders of Mars when we had our original black and white (that’s the TV you’re looking at, people!).
The doll scared me to death.
“Chatty Cathy” chatty Cathy quickly became the common vocabulary to describe young women and girls who were talking, talking, and spoke. In a less eloquent way, they would not stop talking. Anything that came to their minds came out of their mouths. It was similar to the character Chatty Cathy, someone pulled strings, this one infinity long, and once started running, they couldn’t stop. Talking was similar to an addiction.
An addiction. Hmm…
touched on the concept of addictions in a previous post, Are You addicted to the Internet?. A reader reached me with concerns about her concerns about the time that her children communicate via text with their peers. We laughed at times, even though her concerns were real.
I typically end my workday with a walk of 4-5 miles. I wear reflective clothing as well as a hat with lights as well as a flashlight. wear the reflective tape on my leg-cuffs as well as reflectors on my shoes. When I travel on the back roads in Nova Scotia and New Hampshire I’m probably looking like one of the martians that I have mentioned earlier. Motorists are slowing down, and give me with a large area. The exception is when they are texting while driving. I frequently have to go into snowbanks to stay clear of them.
Sometimes, when I drive my lane is taken over by another lane and I have to text away.
Do you remember the last major commuter train accident in California? Engineer was on TXT.
Then presidential campaigner Barack Obama routinely TXTed messages to his supporters. Things such as his choice for Vice President.
Can we stop? (I don’t TXT. My cell phone isn’t configured to support it. I’m happy Luddite and me). I’m not sure what the string’s location is, however, I’m beginning to believe that it’s there. Between phones and TXTers.
Goodbye, Chatty Cathy. Good-bye, Terri TXTer
