What's the deal with Bert and Ernie?

[dolo amber]

A burning question for all Gen-Xers since whataver age we became cynical. Subject of countless hours of debate in many a coffee shop. So I leave it in the hands of you very capable DUers to resolve it once and for all.:D

[bleedingheart]

1. why does sex have to enter into everything...

why can't they just be puppets..
or teletubbies or purple dinosaurs...

that said I never liked sesame street as much as I liked the Muppet Show...

[alfredo]

18. that purple dinosaur is a T Rex. It is a meat eater

Little kids are meat.

[cspiguy]

2. brothers. That's what I always thought.

Mama and papa killed in tragic accident. Living in inherited parental apartment.

[trof]

3. Fraternal twins

NOT identical.
;-)

[JVS]

9. Not twins

Bert seems more like Ernie's older brother.

[dolo amber]

5. Hmmm....

That's a thought, I believe I had that one struck down during a particularily heated debate, due to the obvious fact that Bert is yellow and Ernie is orange, not to mention the fact that they share no common facial features apart from eye and hair color. :D

[vi5]

4. I never really bought into reading too much into this...BUT....

My daughter's new favorite DVD is CinderElmo which is the cinderella story with muppet characters.

There is a scene where Bert and Ernie are discussing the prospect of the princess asking one or the other of them to marry her. They realize what this means and they start crying about having to leave each other.

Make of this what you will.

[LanternWaste]

6. Hmmm...

I thought one was a cop and the other a cab-driver who were both pretty good frineds of George Bailey....

"Mary, Mary, is it really you? Are you real? Zu-Zu's petals! Zu-Zu's petals!" :)

[CanuckAmok]

16. Aha! I noticed that, too! :) n/t

[nuxvomica]

7. Just two guys who roomed together to save money

Until each could afford his own place. They didn't expect it to last 30 years.

[short bus president]

8. Anyone else

notice how Ernie's rubber ducky is the EXACT same shade of yellow as his pal Bert? I wonder if Bert's not a shape-shifter. He may also have been Big Bird. And I'm pretty sure he's Dan Quayle, and also quite possibly Chef Boyardee's special yellow Beefaroni hat.

:tinfoilhat:

[qb]

10. Two asexual dufuses sharing an apartment

[MarianJack]

11. Race!

I think that the idea was for an example of how different races could live in friendship and harmony.:hug:

Given that I'm white, my wife is Puerto Rican and our son is black, in my family it works! :grouphug:

[AntiCoup2K4]

12. Different Races??

Ok, Bert is a conehead, obviously, but what race is Ernie??

[MarianJack]

19. I Can't site a source...

... but I think Bert is white & Ernie is black. I seem to remember that this was the idea. This is from the late 60's-early 70's when my brother and sister were among the early generation of Sesame Street fans. My 3 year old is one of the current generation.

[Kellanved]

13. I don't knoww about Ernie and Bert, but

I know about Bernie & Ert
(Ok: bad, lame, German and X-Rated)
http://www.meinewenigkeit.net/bernie.htm

[SOteric]

14. Bert is evil.

http://www.spacecat.com/bert/bert.htm

[kodi]

15. it concerns me that they always have someone's hand up their butts

.

[buddhamama]

17. they represent

the continuous battle between mean v. nice, good v. evil,

[Ouabache]

20. kick

:kick: