Gretchen:hey we should use tumblr blaze to tell people an interesting thing about linguistics!
Lauren: but, um, we don’t do ads?
Gretchen:this is different, people are using it to promote like, photos of their pets, it’s cute!
Lauren:okay, so what should we tell them?
Gretchen:we could link to a photo of our producer…
Lauren:we’re an audio podcast, people are going to be disappointed if they start out expecting to get cat pics all the time
Gretchen:okay true. hm.
Lauren: linguistics facts wouldn’t be misleading though
Gretchen:WAIT
Gretchen: I’ve got it
Lauren:what
Gretchen: the Eeyore thing
Lauren: the Eeyore thing?
Gretchen:okay, so you know how the secondary animals in Winnie the Pooh all have really obvious names? Like, there’s a rabbit named Rabbit, an owl named Owl, a piglet named Piglet, two kangaroos called Kanga and Roo. And then there’s Eeyore
Lauren: who also has an obvious name
Gretchen: yeah, obvious to you and A. A. Milne, who both have non-rhotic accents! I was a full adult when I learned that Eeyore was just the sound a donkey makes, like it’s the British spelling of “hee-haw”
Lauren:and Australian! I have always known this
Gretchen: not for me! I still remember exactly where I was when I found out, I just spent the next five minutes saying “Eeyore” to myself in a British accent
Lauren: so, just so we’re clear, your plan is to spend $10 in the hope that a few randomly selected people scrolling through tumblr will pause and say “Eeyore” at the screen with and without the R?
