Remember when Captain Jelly Belly became obsessed with the song Hard To Say I’m Sorry? And my answers to his questions about the song sent me down to the Lying Hell for Liars Who Lie?
You think I would have learned not to toss off casual answers to his questions, questions that may result in my being grilled over and over again like a key witness/secret murderer on the stand in an Agatha Christie novel.
So the other day, CJB asks me who my favourite reindeer is. His is, of course, Rudolph, because they’ve been practicing the song at school for his Christmas concert. And how easy my life would have been if only I could have said that Rudolph was also my favourite.
But did I? Oh no. I had to go and say, “Donder,” because the mutation of poor Donder’s name into “Donner” by Gene Autry in the Rudolph song is exactly the kind of nit-picky trivia that an obnoxious know-it-all like me gets off on. Last night I almost came to blows with over it, actually.
Anyway, CJB asked me to rank all of Santa’s reindeer in order of preference, and I named a couple more — next Blitzen (since he’s paired with Donder), then Prancer (since he has a movie named after him and everything). Then CJB asked about Rudolph, so I threw him in next. Then I listed the rest in a random order, as I remembered them, ending with Comet and then Cupid.
And now, I must answer for my list. Oh yes, every decision on the ordering must be carefully accounted for.
Why don’t you like Rudolph?
I do, I do, he’s my favourite.
No, you said one of the black-nosed reindeer.
Donder, yes, but really it’s Rudolph.
But that’s not what you said.
It’s what I meant.
No, you said him at number four. Why is he only your number four?
Really he’s number one.
That’s not what you said. Why do you hate Cupid?
I don’t hate Cupid!
But he’s last on the list. Is he a bad reindeer?
No, he’s fine. I like Rudolph and then all the others are tied.
But that’s not what you said.
I changed my mind.
Why don’t you like Comet?
…and so on, and on, and on, until my head explodes.
TurtleHead 
Really? He’s named ‘Donder’?
*misses point*
I know. It’s a little too close to “Dunder” for comfort.
As in Dunder Mifflin? Or is there (likely!) some twisted street reference to poop I am not getting here?
Oh man, do NOT get me started, I am such a blowhard when it comes to trivia!
Clement Moore, who wrote The Night Before Christmas, called the last two reindeer “Donder” and “Blixem” after the Dutch words for thunder and lightning.
Various printing issues over the years changed these to the German words for the same, “Donder” and “Blitzen”.
In the Rudolph song, they used “Donner” instead of “Donder”. I used to think this was flat-out wrong, but apparently, modern German does spell thunder as “donner,” so I guess I’ll get off my high horse now. 🙂
Just wait until it occurs to your children to start asking which of them you like best.
I was thinking Dunderhead. But I’m not sure it’s “street” enough to, say, put in a gangsta rap song.
Oh, already happened, my friend! We’ve made it clear that our kids are ALL TIED. Even steven. No way I’m getting sucked into that debate!