3V0785.04 Me dumb dog — a joke by Peggy (3/17/80)
Gretchen was getting Robby from scouts. I was in bed early. Miriam
put Peggy in her crib because she would not watch TV with her. Peggy
was most unhappy. I rose from bed, rescued her, and we crawled
under the covers together. After a little talk about pillows and Peggy
struggling to remove her socks, I said “Daddy love Peggy.”
P: “Why?” She asked, as she has in response to every word spoken to
her in the past several weeks.
I had heard her address these words to her toy elephant as she sat him
on her potty, “he good friend.” I tried to answer her “Why?”
B: “Peggy good friend.”
P: “No (she laughed), “Me dumb dog.”
The joke is clear if one knows that Peggy has lately referred to Scurry
as a “dumb dog,” even though she loves Scurry. she also loves her toy
elephant, but she clearly in this joke makes the distinction between the
animate and inanimate objects of love.