The Quick 10: The Word on Woodstock

You've probably heard in the news that we're coming up on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. But I'm not talking about that Woodstock "“ you'll probably hear more retrospectives on that this weekend than you would prefer. Nope, we're going to talk about a different Woodstock "“ namely, the little yellow avian sidekick.

3. There was speculation for quite some time about Woodstock's sex, but let's clear it up here: Woodstock is definitely a boy. Schulz once said that it actually would have been better if Woodstock had been a girl since he often functions as Snoopy's secretary (and if that rather sexist comment made your hackles rise, you're not alone).

5. According to a 1995 strip, Woodstock wears contacts. Your guess as to how he gets them in his eyes is as good as mine.

6. Every now and then, Woodstock emits more than just those chicken scratch marks that serve as his speech. He gives out "Z"s when he's sleeping, he sighs when he's exasperated, and "No" is represented by an "X" in his speech bubble. He also laughs and yawns on occasion.

7. Woodstock and Snoopy shared a voice. Bill Meléndez, an animator who worked on every Peanuts film and special, recorded Snoopy's voice by talking pure gibberish into a tape recorder and then playing it at high speed. He did the same thing for Woodstock but in a different register and speed. As a side note, Meléndez also animated for Disney and worked on Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi and Dumbo. He died last year.

10. Whoopi Goldberg has Woodstock tattooed above her left breast. That might be more than you ever wanted to know about Whoopi Goldberg. Me too. Sorry.

So, Woodstock "“ Tweety Bird rip-off? Better than Tweety? Or no comparison between the two at all? I much prefer Woodstock, but I'm probably tainted by growing up in the early "˜90s, when Tweety and Taz dominated the clothing of every tween and teen in the U.S.

Have a Q10 request? I'm on Twitter and I'm all ears! Err... all keys. Something.