There's a language quirk my mom and sister have.

[conuly]

Or I think it's a quirk, anyway.

See, they insist that koopas, from Mario Brothers are really ducks, and they call them such. As in "I got killed by a duck" whenever somebody remembers how cool the original Marios were and re-downloads the old SNES emulator. (It seems, now that I think of it, that my mother was a real old school gamer. The computer, our old C64 was in my sister's room (which seems to have doubled as a family room, it was that big), and when my sister and I were going to bed, my mom would be playing on the computer, so it functioned as a nightlight for us, I guess.)

If you've forgotten, or if you've never seen Mario, this is what Wikipedia says about Koopas.

So, I promised them I'd put a poll up.

[Poll #1031305]

Thank you. Please remember to answer all questions.

Comments

[rachelkachel]

They've got shells. o_O

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

They're DISGUISED as turtles, but they're really ducks? Maybe?

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Genetically altered duck/turtle hybrids?

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

I KNOW that quote (in your icon) but I can't place it, and it's driving me batty. Please share the source? Just the name of the piece would be dandy!

[conuly]

Daine said it in one of the Tamora Pierce books.

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

YES! To Maura, during Wolf Speaker. I KNEW I knew it. Thank you. It's such a relief to finally place it.

[fjorab-teke.livejournal.com]

Even the "beak" is more turtle-like than duck-like. Ducks' beaks are long and kind-of flat protruding straight out. Like so (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck).

KoopaTURTLE.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

They're turtles. I can't see any duck resemblance. They don't have wings or feathers or beaks. I think the closest thing you get to ducks in the Mario continuity is Birdo, but even that's questionable. I'm not sure what Birdo actually is.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Platypi

XD

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Uh, wrong spot for that comment!! The platypi was to connie herself.

to you: there are some flying Koopa... They are the ones who usually kill me in the game. :(

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Well yeah, but those are paratroopas. And their wings come out of their shell. So essentially they're flying turtles.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Nah, the shells have sleev opening that the duck sticks its wings through. ;)

O_o

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

Is it possible that your mom somehow confused the "dragons" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Adventure1.png) from the old skool Atari 2600 game Adventure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_%28Atari_2600%29) with the Koopas of SMB fame? O_o While the horridly pixellated Adventure "dragons" look very much like ducks, none of the Koopas even bear a remote resemblance to ducks, IMHO.

[adina77.livejournal.com]

turtle, turtle turtle turtle, oh did I mention turtle!

They look like turtles.

[malantha.livejournal.com]

This is a long-standing argument between a surprisingly large number of my friends.

I'm on the duck side. I honestly can't tell you why. It just seems like a duck to me!

[rachelkachel]

They've got shells. o_O

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

They're DISGUISED as turtles, but they're really ducks? Maybe?

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Genetically altered duck/turtle hybrids?

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

I KNOW that quote (in your icon) but I can't place it, and it's driving me batty. Please share the source? Just the name of the piece would be dandy!

[conuly]

Daine said it in one of the Tamora Pierce books.

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

YES! To Maura, during Wolf Speaker. I KNEW I knew it. Thank you. It's such a relief to finally place it.

[fjorab-teke.livejournal.com]

Even the "beak" is more turtle-like than duck-like. Ducks' beaks are long and kind-of flat protruding straight out. Like so (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck).

KoopaTURTLE.

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

They're turtles. I can't see any duck resemblance. They don't have wings or feathers or beaks. I think the closest thing you get to ducks in the Mario continuity is Birdo, but even that's questionable. I'm not sure what Birdo actually is.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Platypi

XD

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Uh, wrong spot for that comment!! The platypi was to connie herself.

to you: there are some flying Koopa... They are the ones who usually kill me in the game. :(

[joeymew.livejournal.com]

Well yeah, but those are paratroopas. And their wings come out of their shell. So essentially they're flying turtles.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Nah, the shells have sleev opening that the duck sticks its wings through. ;)

O_o

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

Is it possible that your mom somehow confused the "dragons" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Adventure1.png) from the old skool Atari 2600 game Adventure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_%28Atari_2600%29) with the Koopas of SMB fame? O_o While the horridly pixellated Adventure "dragons" look very much like ducks, none of the Koopas even bear a remote resemblance to ducks, IMHO.

[adina77.livejournal.com]

turtle, turtle turtle turtle, oh did I mention turtle!

They look like turtles.

[malantha.livejournal.com]

This is a long-standing argument between a surprisingly large number of my friends.

I'm on the duck side. I honestly can't tell you why. It just seems like a duck to me!