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A departure from his usual work


Do we have these in the States? Their website says they sell over there, but I don’t remember ever seeing them. They’re basically Tootsie Pops without the Tootsie. I am fond of them.

They’re Spanish. Chupa means “to suck” (like chupacabra, that old goatsucker). Chups doesn’t mean anything, but I like to translate it in my head as “Sucky Sucks”.

They were invented by a man named Enric Bernat in the Fifties. The Wikipedia article makes it sound like he invented the spherical candy on a stick, but Tootsies go back to 1931 and Dum Dums to 1924.

Indisputable, though, is that the logo at right was designed by Salvador Dali, who was, improbably, a friend of Bernat’s. He whipped it together in an hour after a chat with Bernat over coffee. It has been called one of the most durable logos in brand history, having undergone one small change in all these years. It’s intended be seen on the top of the pop, not the side, and the things are usually sold stuck into a stand.

I once alarmed a cashier at the grocery story by asking if it’s pronounced choopa choops or chuppah chupps. I don’t know why she found the question disturbing, perhaps because she couldn’t answer.

Turns out, you can go to YouTube and type in “pronounce Chupa Chups” and get a whole page of videos. What a time to be alive. I recommend this one. Such a soothing voice. I’d like him to read me a bedtime story.

So the Spanish speaker says Choopa Choops. But this American-sounding chap seems to be saying Choopa Chupps. He also claims Telly Savalas ate one per episode of Kojak, but I’d be astonished if those weren’t Tootsie Pops.

Their slogan was “Es redondo y dura mucho, Chupa Chups” which translates to “It’s round and long-lasting, Sucky Sucks.” Their Wikipedia page lists other unintentionally amusing slogans centered around the word “suck”.

I have no idea why I’m bringing this up.

Comments


Comment from ExpressoBold
Time: May 25, 2021, 11:02 pm

I wonder how much refined, bad-for-us, addictive, craving sugar-based concoctions like this we eat during our lifetimes..

Actually, this is just a ploy to see if the website remembers me…
~
After a bit of time… nope. I’m not remembered.

AND the “Preview” option is missing.


Comment from OldFert
Time: May 25, 2021, 11:37 pm

“I have no idea why I’m bringing this up.”

You bring it up because you want to expand our base of knowledge and bring a ray of sunshine to our lives.


Comment from Anonymous
Time: May 26, 2021, 12:36 am

It’s “Choopa Chupps”, when a vowel follows the last consonant the u is pronounced with a “oo” sound. When the word ends with a consonant the u is pronounced “uh”.

Actually I just made that up, I just like saying it “Choopa Chupps”, and dammit, that should be good enough.


Comment from gebrauschund
Time: May 26, 2021, 12:39 am

Whoopsie, apparently I am unremembered and unlamented as well.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: May 26, 2021, 3:57 am

Having first encountered the Chupa Chup in Brasil, I know beyond any doubt that it’s pronounced CHOOOOPAH-CHOOOOP, with the ‘U’s pronounced the same as in ‘Oooo’ (the hyphen is silent). In Colombia and Costa Rica it’s the same.

To pronounce it any other way is Latin Unamerican.

I’ve never heard Catalan, but it is a Romance language, so I believe it likely the above pronunciation would have been Enric Bernat’s as well.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: May 26, 2021, 4:04 am

If anyone were ever to marry the Chupa Chup with Callard & Bowser’s Butterrrrrrscotch, I would trample nuns and orphans to get my hands taste buds on industrial quantities of same.


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: May 26, 2021, 6:23 pm

Chooopah choop, chooopah choop, etc

Isn’t that the sound idling tail rotors make on helicopters in Latin America?


Comment from BJM
Time: May 26, 2021, 7:25 pm

@Uncle Al…See’s Candies makes butterscotch lollypops. They be mighty good too.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: May 26, 2021, 9:32 pm

@BJM — Thanks! I’ve had ’em and their butterscotch is indeed mighty good. But not as good as Callard & Bowser’s!

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