Sunny, you naughty orphan!

[mrskennedy]

Well, as I said, keep in mind that I am from Indiana, and I'm sorry but any state that lets its students find out about the battle of the buldge *after* high school can't have a very good school system. I was speaking from my inferior education. I am doing my best to make up for this, but my German class teacher taught me most of what I know of Europe. Ala, in Germany, with parental permission, one can buy alcohol at 14.

[Dante]

Oh, don't worry about it. I know inferior education systems very well. I'm going through one right now.

[Brian]

idiotj said:

Cooking, biting AND interpreting? I think cooking is her more "adult" habit, and all languages are not from Sunny but from Daniel Handler. They don't have anything to do with Sunny, the books or her character, just clever little references. Of course, Sunny is clever, and Handler's characters are Handler's characters in Handler's world and stuff.

Though whether it's Handler or Sunny or half and half, most people are looking too far into what it's supposed to be.

Exactly. All "merd" is is just a fun little tidbit Handler put in there so Sunny's rambling would have some sense to it. It doesn't mean anything.

[Dante]

I can't even remember Sunny biting anything in TGG, but she definitely cooked. Similar situation with TSS (I only remember her biting the Stricken waterfall, and that failed) (although her talent at cooking was first hinted at in TCC, when she recommended that they put cinnamon (?) into their hot chocolate (?)). I think Sunny's real talent is cooking, and that biting was just something she was good at as a baby. I expect her to bite things less and less frequently, and cook things more and more frequently from now on. As for interpreting, I agree that that's just Handler.

[Antenora]

It was cinnamon hot chocolate in TCC, yes.

I imagine that Sunny picked up her cooking talent by hanging around the kitchen in the Baudelaire mansion, biting things and perhaps sampling the food. She could be a gourmet, a connouseur of good food, as well as a cook.

[LBeall]

Isn't it mentioned somewhere that Sunny used to sit in the kitchen and bang pots together (while the rest of the family was doing something else. I seem to remember somewhere a family scene with what each Baudelaire was occupied with at the moment is mentioned)? I do remember it being mentined that she used to open cans for the family. Seems like she was exposed to quite a bit of cooking, or at least was in the kitchen often.

[Juan Roberto Montoya De Toledo]

rocksunner said:

She also knows some Japanese (arigato = thank you) and she can spell backwards (edasurc = crusade).

And 'Esoobac' ,or, 'Caboose' backwards.

EDIT: I've just finished reading through the whole thread, and I noticed that someone has already put that forward.

[Sugary Snicket]

lbeall said:

Isn't it mentioned somewhere that Sunny used to sit in the kitchen and bang pots together (while the rest of the family was doing something else. I seem to remember somewhere a family scene with what each Baudelaire was occupied with at the moment is mentioned)? I do remember it being mentined that she used to open cans for the family. Seems like she was exposed to quite a bit of cooking, or at least was in the kitchen often.

Yes, in TBB. While her siblings made the puttanesca, she was banging on pots and "singing a rather repetative song she had written herself."

Yes, it was mentioned about the can opener in THH.

I agree with you Lbeall. wait a second..... *remembers back to TNN.com* Wasn't there a sebald coded play snippet (as one of the tasks in order to obtain a puzzle piece) that involved fruit salad and ants? And in it there was a Chef Sunny (Sonny?)

[Dante]

violetbaudelaire13 said:

I agree with you Lbeall. wait a second..... *remembers back to TNN.com* Wasn't there a sebald coded play snippet (as one of the tasks in order to obtain a puzzle piece) that involved fruit salad and ants? And in it there was a Chef Sunny (Sonny?)

Screenplay for Ants in the Fruit Salad by Dr. Gustav Sebald, page 43.
CHEF SONNY
(ringing a bell) The fruit salad is served!
PROFESSOR TROUT
Thank Zeus! I am starved!
MRS. TROUT
My sister simply loves a bowl of fruit. I recall she once took--
LITTLE BONNIE TROUT
Eek!
PROFESSOR TROUT
Eek!
MRS. TROUT
Eek!
LITTLE BONNIE TROUT
The ants are climbing my fork! Kill them! Kill them!

And in case anyone's wondering, Ants in the Fruit Salad was one of the Sebald films that Sally Sebald listed in the U.A.

[Grace]

Good. I like cursing. Besides, how did Olaf curse once and then never curse again, that we can hear? I don't even drink wine and I should wash my mouth out.

EDIT: And, to Dante, where was that from? I can't remember.

[Dante]

stewartgilligan said:

EDIT: And, to Dante, where was that from? I can't remember.

It's one of the Coded Communications from TheNamelessNovel.com.

[Sugary Snicket]

I don't recall it being listed..... Oh wait..... I'll reread and see.

[Shelly]

I wonder if Lemony knew this?

[Summer Wind]

oh and did you know, "merd", if you add an a to it, then in spanish you get the word "s**t", but,really I don't Handler would've put that down if he knew what it ment. Besides if you've read TPP, the last words Sunny said were "The last safe place is safe no more.", which really is a complex statement for a toddler. Another thing, I don't think that even SUNNY knew what merd ment and the Baudelaire parents did a good job with their kids, it's just their untimely death that really screwed up their kids.

[Antenora]

I'm sure Handler knew what the word meant, but its impact as a profanity is decreased because it's in a foreign language and misspelled. There's probably no correct answer to "Where did Sunny learn all the strange words she says?", but that's part of the humor of the series--Sunny's babytalk is meaningful.