The gooberfish came into existence around 2000. Someone had given me a puppy for my graduation and he loved squeak toys. Of course he used them to talk and since he had so much to say and so much chewing to get in he quite frequently chewed through or destroyed the squeakers. After going through several toys a friend of ours took pity on us (or maybe she was just tired of hearing her dog squeak so much?) and gave us the gooberfish. She assured us that the gooberfish would not die and I think we only believed her a little bit.
The gooberfish was highly used for awhile. In fact, the dog squeaked it so much that the bird took to imitating it! Whenever the dog would start squeaking, the bird would echo and it would get quite noisy! The gooberfish got “lost” at the bottom of the toy basket several times, but my dog was always resourceful in digging through everything to find it again when he wanted it.
The gooberfish did NOT die and all these years later is still in fine fettle–except for some wear around the edges. The years have not improved on its looks in the least. Teddy the dog doesn’t use it talk as much anymore being an older dog now with less to say, but the gooberfish has gifted us with a brand new way to describe a myriad of things.
No one really wants to be called a gooberfish (because it’s so ugly and so annoying!), but I think we all know we’ve acted like one at one time or another. For instance, when you were taking that bite of chocolate cake and forgot to close your mouth afterwards…what a mess you gooberfish!
I’ve described myself as a gooberfish when I slipped and fell on a floor that I knew was slippery, but failed to take proper precautions!
I’ve called fellow drivers gooberfish when they’ve beeped at me and waved their arms wildly at me just because I stopped a red light sooner than they would have liked.
There always seem to be gooberfish involved in store checkout lines particularly when you are in a hurry. Either the cashier acts in a particularly slow and gooberfish manner, or the person in front of you seems to have excessive requests and keeps acting like a gooberfish long past their turn!
Thankfully, I don’t know any people who are gooberfish all the time. They just have their gooberfish moments.
What about you? Have you encountered any gooberfish lately?