Housepets!

Someone's probably brought up a theory like this before, but whatever.

I've been rereading the comic and noticed something... Save for one instance around Sasha, Any time Daisy is on screen, she always has really forced looking smiles, like "I'm smiling because they expect me to but I don't want to be" levels of forced. They never look genuine in the slightest. Between that and her characteristic verbal tick she reminds of an aunt I have who only speaks Japanese, and when confronted with other languages just repeats generic greetings because that's all she can say.

But if that's the case, what language could she be fluent in?

As fun of a theory as that is, it's been explicitly stated by Mr. Slinkydoodle Rick Griffin himself that Daisy's only meant to be a one-note character, and that one note of hers is a reference to this.

Althought the notion on her constantly stroked-looking smiles is interesting. The poor thing just looks utterly broken.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, the only time Daisy has ever looked relatively normal was way back when.
(Panel 2 from So Very Very Naive)

RemonyRavine wrote:As fun of a theory as that is, it's been explicitly stated by Mr. Slinkydoodle Rick Griffin himself that Daisy's only meant to be a one-note character

Oh. Well that's a disappointingly bland explanation...
It's a lot more fun when a character has a reason to be quirky other than 'author said so'.

I'm holding to the theory that she's an alien with a broken translator.

"It troo. Dat darn Dayshee stole ma spacechip!"

Buster wrote:"It troo. Dat darn Dayshee stole ma spacechip!"

Calvin and Hobbes FTW!
_____

"Hi, I'm D4157!"

I quite like the fact that she repeats her name over and over again. Its how I annoyed my younger siblings.

my theory is that she gets nervous easily.
let's look at the times she's said her trademark greeting
meeting Fido: the neighborhood idolizes him, he's more or less a local celebrity. she'd have reason to be nervous
giving a gift to a raccoon: maybe she's uncomfortable around ferals?
on stage in front of everyone: no extra explanation needed
talking to a new dog who happens to be drunk: maybe she just doesn't want that hug, or maybe she thinks he's cute and is trying to flirt
getting caught up in tinsel: she probably didn't want to get in trouble for messing up the decorations.
then there's her "happy new year" valentine's card, so I guess she's actually just kinda airheaded

You know, I never really thought of it like that until now!

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:my theory is that she gets nervous easily.
let's look at the times she's said her trademark greeting
meeting Fido: the neighborhood idolizes him, he's more or less a local celebrity. she'd have reason to be nervous
giving a gift to a raccoon: maybe she's uncomfortable around ferals?
on stage in front of everyone: no extra explanation needed
talking to a new dog who happens to be drunk: maybe she just doesn't want that hug, or maybe she thinks he's cute and is trying to flirt
getting caught up in tinsel: she probably didn't want to get in trouble for messing up the decorations.
then there's her "happy new year" valentine's card, so I guess she's actually just kinda airheaded

Possible. Who knows, maybe she's a genius but has serious communication problems.

1071-CCN wrote:Possible. Who knows, maybe she's a genius but has serious communication problems.

I think it's more like a combination of extreme air-headedness and social anxiety.

Or maybe the author is correct and she's actually just an idiot.

1071-CCN wrote:Or maybe the author is correct

i still think that explanation is too boring.

Maybe she was dropped on her head as a puppy.

I just assume she's not very smart. Also perpetually cheery.

Which could be symptoms of head trauma as a puppy.

Buster wrote:

1071-CCN wrote:Or maybe the author is correct

i still think that explanation is too boring.

You do have a good point, there.

Buster wrote:

1071-CCN wrote:Or maybe the author is correct

i still think that explanation is too boring.

It may be boring to you, but it's pretty much canon at this point. Take note, not all of Housepets characters are fleshed out creatures, some are simply there to play a part of a joke. And Daisy wouldn't be the first dog who wasn't too bright.

...You are really good at sucking the fun out of a bit of pointless speculation, you know that?

It's what I do. Better at it then Diss.

1071-CCN wrote:Possible. Who knows, maybe she's a genius but has serious communication problems.

you know i completely forgot about this thread. funny how ccn of all people was the one to guess right.

I've went from thinking that she had some head trauma and was smart and showed flickers of it to now deciding she is a savant.

Might well be she's just a riotous introvert ("extremely shy") and this eccentricity allowed her to engage in limited interactions without self-disclosure. She has appeared - when she's appeared at all - at parties, receptions, and the Good Ol' Dogs Club, so Daisy's not a total recluse. She even donates trashbags of stuff to ferals at Christmas.

Nonetheless, when Mungo and Fox start to interrogate her about the vanished Sasha, she did try to repeat her trademark "Hi, I'm Daisy" when Fox cuts her off sharply. And that's when Daisy opens up and reveals she and Sasha are serious pals. She also displays a pretty astute understanding of psychology, surprising us that she's a fairly insightful critter and that Sasha has a psychology (so to speak). Interestingly, while her vocabulary is quite elevated, her sentences are rather elliptical and a bit opaque. It's as if she still wants to be a little personally elusive, even though she's forcing herself to become a bit more vulnerable to her friend.

I've stated before I'd like to see more of the "new-and-improved" Daisy, including her becoming Fox's gal-pal or see her and Sasha in an arc together. Since I don't do Facebook or Twitter, I don't know if Rick has given further consideration to taking Daisy beyond "The Dumber (than Sasha) Dog" he labeled her all the way back in Book One. Housepets is Rick's world so he can do what he likes with his critters, but I'd hate to see Daisy slip back to being a mere one-joke waLk-on or just disappear like Jasper. She has such possibilities. But it's his world....

Or so thinks me.

Thinking about it, I do have to say that it would be cool if Sasha and Daisy have secret meetings where they have deep conversations. XD

Given their verbal loop-de-loops, the conversations between Sasha and Daisy could be seriously comic...

Or if they aren't secretly geniuses, cause IQ's to drop down fast.

Amazee Dayzee wrote:Thinking about it, I do have to say that it would be cool if Sasha and Daisy have secret meetings where they have deep conversations. XD

I thought this was pretty much confirmed here:

AD was away for almost a year, being a touch out of the loop is to be expected.

I was thinking about that but I didn't remember her speaking so eloquently at the time when it came out. I thought she just gave a normal short answer with a few details.

Now I wonder if Daisy is going to have any thing where she isn't just there to say that her name is Daisy in this arc

Sadly I think her saying something other than the Mario Kart: Double Dash quote from Princess Daisy was just a one time thing.

Well, since CyberDragon was kind enough to post the first of the two strips when Daisy drops her facade, it's pretty much obvious Rick's taken her to a new development level. We learn a bunch of new stuff about "the Dumber Dog" - starting with she's pretty NOT dumb.

Along with a number of possible arcs already mentioned for Daisy is "why the mask of being a dummy?"

So, I like the "new" Daisy. Rick could do a lot with her - comic, slice of life, a new role besides "dumb dog" (there are several already), personality growth, foil to Sasha or another character, gal pal for Fox; it's his call. Maybe she'll get some eventual stage time.

Hope so. Regards.

I really hope I'm wrong but it does really feel like that was a one time thing.

Well, a boy can hope, eh?