Trolling was much funnier before the Internet came along. See any of Don Novello’s “Lazlo Letters” books, for instance.
I was working at the dining room table one day and looked over at my daughter, who was playing the same Clifford computer game she always played. The picture on the screen was perfectly innocent, but I thought it was rather funny and decided to have a little Lazlo moment with the Scholastic tech support people. I didn’t draw this out nearly as much as I could have, but it amuses me all the same.
Click the “more” link below….
clifford_enema.jpg
Me to Scholastic tech support:
Hello,
I was very surprised to look over at the computer to see that my daughter was coloring what appears to be Clifford getting an enema. Surely this is supposed to be something else?!?!? She thinks it’s “a light that’s bent, shining on his butt.”
His eyes are suspicious.
Regards,
Me
Scholastic to Me:
Hello,
Which software title is this for? I checked all the titles we publish and support(Clifford Learning Activities, Clifford Thinking Adventures, Clifford Phonics, Clifford Musical Memory Games, Clifford Reading), and could not find any screen similar to that one. The screen looks like a picture creation area, which means that your child may have created that picture from the available palette of objects and poses provided. I cannot tell from the screen which product it may be from.
Me to Scholastic tech support:
Hello,
It’s the SCHOLASTIC CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG READING cd. Here’s a picture of it.
clifford_questionable_cd.jpg
I don’t know where or how my daughter got there, but I also know that she didn’t intend to have Clifford get an —–. She doesn’t even know what that is. My wife is a nurse, and she was embarassed, but she thought that instead of an —–, it would be more properly called a “colonic.” And I should have said “fire hydrant —–” before, but it’s obvious that it looks like a fire hydrant and hose.
If you need my hard drive I can send it to you.
Regards,
Me
Scholastic to Me:
Hello,
That picture is part of the book she earned, called Clifford and the Cat. The first page is a cat trying to climb a tree. The second picture is Clifford trying to climb a lamp post. The third picture which you see is the lamp post bent because Clifford was too heavy to climb the lamp post. The picture was not meant to convey anything other than Clifford looking sad and the lamp post he bent. Sorry for the confusion.
If you have any complaints about the software, please contact our Customer Service Department.
I hope it amused them as much as it did me…..