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Elainer remembers...I have had a Furby since I was in middle school. I have the yellow and black Furby in my ... More »
Posted on 03/08/08
Manufacturer:
There may not be much a call for speaking fluent Furbish these days, but there was a time when children all over were determined to learn it to the best of their ability. For mastery of the dialect meant you could communicate better with your Furby, a little furry creature that looked like the offspring of an owl and gremlin. And if you wanted to be hip to Furby’s jibe, you were going to need to do a little homework.
Looking and acting like something that crawled away from a Disneyland ride, the Furby was basically a small, audio-animatronic robot that was programmed to move, talk, dance, sing, blink and even converse. Thanks to a number of electronic sensors, it was also interactive and would respond to touch. Petting his belly, patting him on the head or covering his eyes, for example would get an appropriate physical and verbal response. Not always the same on, however, as a certain amount of randomness was built in so that Furby was often full of surprises. And if you want to talk impressive, Furby even knew when another Ferby was nearby and the two could communicate with each other and even teach each other tricks and songs. And if you put in a little effort of your own, even you could communicate verbally with Furby.
When you first plugged some batteries into Furby, he would proceed to tell you his Furbish name. He had plenty more to say in Furbish as well, and luckily he came with a handy translation dictionary. And over time, you began to remember that when Furby said “Doo-Dah,” he was really saying “yes”. “Wee-tee-kah-wah-tee,” on the other hand, meant “Sing me a song.” All in all, Furby knew about 200 words, in both Furbish and English and combined, could produce almost 800 phrases.
And interestingly enough, as you were diligently learning Furby’s language, he was also learning yours, having been immersed into the human world. This little talent, however, did manage to get Furby banned from a number of federal agency buildings, as rumors emerged that the doll might be able to learn and store classified information. It wasn’t true by any means, but truth is often no match for mindless paranoia.
Regardless, it certainly didn’t affect sales any. Produced by Tiger Electronics in 1998, shortly after they were acquired by toy giants, Hasbro, the Furby enjoyed respectable popularity and still does to this day. In the years that followed, many varieties have been, and continue to be, produced. Yoda from Star Wars and Gizmo from Gremlins are just two of the many versions that have been released in recent years.
And if the past is any indication, the Furby may just stick around for a while. Maybe future generations will know the fun that is a Furby. And imagine if you will, the look of admiration and astonishment in your future child’s eyes when you nonchalantly display your effortless fluency in furbish, thanks to your secret years of practice. That’ll keep them guessing for a while.
