Baby Yoda is a character in the new Disney Plus series, “The Mandalorian” (thanks, Google!).
It’s actually sort of funny that the mom is more excited about this TV character than her own baby. The joke worked for me, even though I didn’t know who Baby Yoda was. (I had guessed some internet meme.)
When I was a younger man, I dated a midwife. Not the nursey kind that deliver kids in European hospitals rather than doctors because pregnancy is not a sickness. No, she was the hippie kind. A lovely lady. Anyway a couple she attended (this was in the 1990s) named their son “Yoda”. Not sure how they spelled it. They said that by the time the kid went to school everyone would have forgotten Star Wars. Apparently it is a real name in some cultures.
Personally, I’m not enthralled with Baby Yoda (it’s not Yoda, but that’s a whole different nerd conversation). But people seem to like Nick Nolte’s performance, even if his animatronic mouth doesn’t work too well.
narmitaj, I know nothing of this Disney+ series… but if this IS the baby version of the Star Wars character I would find it very funny if, when he speaks in baby talk, his grammar is perfect by English standards.
I see it as a new mom comparing the milestones and abilities of her kid to that of another kid. It would seem many parents do this. “Little jimmy spoke his first words at 8 months!” Then all the other parents go home and spend hours trying to get their offspring to say “Da!” for hours on end.
Well, he hasn’t spoken yet, but he would pass for a Muppet Babies version of Yoda. (Why, yes, I have watched the first two episodes, my wife is a HUGE Star Wars fan.) I may have misheard, but I think he’s supposed to be fifty years old.
CIDU Bill, what if his grammar is fine – and his delivery melodious, rich, honeyed and projected to the back of any auditorium he is in – but his vocabulary is pure baby. (Of course, if he is supposed to be 50 that would put a different spin on things).
My impression, mostly from a few comments plus what I kind of expect – is that Baby Yoda goes for the “endearingly ugly” style. And given the expression on this woman, I translated the comment to “forget the endearingly for this one – just plain ugly”. That is, she’s dissing the baby’s looks rather than being more excited about the character than the baby.
Obviously, there is some planet where Yoda comes from where all or at least some of the inhabitants are Yodas. I wonder what their grammar schools are like.
Student: “My dog ate my homework.”
Teacher: “Tell you I have to how many times? Learn with correct grammar to speak! 100 times on the board write ‘Ate my homework my dog.'”
Frankly, I’m surprised it took Disney this long to unleash Baby Yoda merchandise, but I guess they’ve beaten the Christmastime rush anyways.
Yoda’s grammar becomes much more normal in Empire Strikes Back once he stops his “crazy local” act and reveals who he really is to Luke, though he reverts a bit in Return of The Jedi. In prequel trilogy he uses inverted sentences far more often and he also much much more frequently splits verbs and ends sentences with verbs in these inversions, creating a lot more awkward sentences. Some speculate that ESB writer Lawrence Kasdan was trying to make Yoda’s speech sound medieval with occasional inversions and Lucas just ran with the idea as a verbal tick in the prequels (which, in fairness to Lucas, was how most moviegoers had interpreted it by that time).
ianosmond: So Yoda’s speech really IS based on a formal grammar with rules and with correct (“my homework, my dog ate”) and incorrect (“ate my homework my dog”) sentences! Just like there was a ship’s chandler in 17th-century Cornwall where all pirates would go to buy their puffy shirts and leather belts and eye patches.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Baby Yoda is a character in the new Disney Plus series, “The Mandalorian” (thanks, Google!).
It’s actually sort of funny that the mom is more excited about this TV character than her own baby. The joke worked for me, even though I didn’t know who Baby Yoda was. (I had guessed some internet meme.)
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Perhaps Baby Yoda, of whom I had not heard before, does baby speak but in an amusingly impressive back-to-front way.
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When I was a younger man, I dated a midwife. Not the nursey kind that deliver kids in European hospitals rather than doctors because pregnancy is not a sickness. No, she was the hippie kind. A lovely lady. Anyway a couple she attended (this was in the 1990s) named their son “Yoda”. Not sure how they spelled it. They said that by the time the kid went to school everyone would have forgotten Star Wars. Apparently it is a real name in some cultures.
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“Ga ga goo goo it is.”
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@Mitch4 I believe that was at Hooters, no less.
Personally, I’m not enthralled with Baby Yoda (it’s not Yoda, but that’s a whole different nerd conversation). But people seem to like Nick Nolte’s performance, even if his animatronic mouth doesn’t work too well.
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In fact, Mitch4, we discussed the Toy Yoda case right here.
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So… Baby Yoda is sort of this?
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“The winner will receive a brand new toy Yoda!”
True story. The winner expected a new Toyota, and sued.
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narmitaj, I know nothing of this Disney+ series… but if this IS the baby version of the Star Wars character I would find it very funny if, when he speaks in baby talk, his grammar is perfect by English standards.
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I see it as a new mom comparing the milestones and abilities of her kid to that of another kid. It would seem many parents do this. “Little jimmy spoke his first words at 8 months!” Then all the other parents go home and spend hours trying to get their offspring to say “Da!” for hours on end.
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Well, he hasn’t spoken yet, but he would pass for a Muppet Babies version of Yoda. (Why, yes, I have watched the first two episodes, my wife is a HUGE Star Wars fan.) I may have misheard, but I think he’s supposed to be fifty years old.
LikeLiked by 1 person
CIDU Bill, what if his grammar is fine – and his delivery melodious, rich, honeyed and projected to the back of any auditorium he is in – but his vocabulary is pure baby. (Of course, if he is supposed to be 50 that would put a different spin on things).
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It takes place 5 years after the Return of the Jedi so it isn’t Yoda Yoda but apparently one of his species.
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My impression, mostly from a few comments plus what I kind of expect – is that Baby Yoda goes for the “endearingly ugly” style. And given the expression on this woman, I translated the comment to “forget the endearingly for this one – just plain ugly”. That is, she’s dissing the baby’s looks rather than being more excited about the character than the baby.
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Werner Herzog found the baby yodaling (they refuse to name his species) so adorable it moved him to tears.
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Obviously, there is some planet where Yoda comes from where all or at least some of the inhabitants are Yodas. I wonder what their grammar schools are like.
Student: “My dog ate my homework.”
Teacher: “Tell you I have to how many times? Learn with correct grammar to speak! 100 times on the board write ‘Ate my homework my dog.'”
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Mark in Boston: it’s “ate my homework did my dog”, “my homework, my dog ate”, or “ate my homework my dog did.”
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Aaaaand comes into my InBox today . . .
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/business/baby-yoda-toys/index.html?utm_source=CNN+Five+Things&utm_campaign=ac4ab0bc3f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_11_22_03_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6da287d761-ac4ab0bc3f-108142157
SOMEone is watching CIDU conversations and sending out emails accordingly, I swear.
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I like the mother’s t-shirt . . . ‘KALE’ . . .
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Baby Yoda is everywhere. I don’t have Disney+ yet and avoiding mention of The Mandalorian plot points is becoming increasingly difficult.
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Frankly, I’m surprised it took Disney this long to unleash Baby Yoda merchandise, but I guess they’ve beaten the Christmastime rush anyways.
Yoda’s grammar becomes much more normal in Empire Strikes Back once he stops his “crazy local” act and reveals who he really is to Luke, though he reverts a bit in Return of The Jedi. In prequel trilogy he uses inverted sentences far more often and he also much much more frequently splits verbs and ends sentences with verbs in these inversions, creating a lot more awkward sentences. Some speculate that ESB writer Lawrence Kasdan was trying to make Yoda’s speech sound medieval with occasional inversions and Lucas just ran with the idea as a verbal tick in the prequels (which, in fairness to Lucas, was how most moviegoers had interpreted it by that time).
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ianosmond: So Yoda’s speech really IS based on a formal grammar with rules and with correct (“my homework, my dog ate”) and incorrect (“ate my homework my dog”) sentences! Just like there was a ship’s chandler in 17th-century Cornwall where all pirates would go to buy their puffy shirts and leather belts and eye patches.
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Two weeks ago I’d never heard of “Baby Yoda.” Now he’s impossible to avoid.
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