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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU in thinking penguins should be banned...

190 replies

Mysterian · 22/12/2023 21:00

...from Christmas related things. Santa lives at the North Pole and penguins at the South Pole. They are NOT Christmassy and yet they get their little beaky faces plastered on cards and T-shirts and wrapping paper.

Sticking Santa hats on random animals does not make them a symbol of Christmas.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
15
RaginaPhalange · 22/12/2023 23:14

Lol

HRTQueen · 22/12/2023 23:15

You would be horrified in Australia

not only are Koalas getting in on the act but so are kangaroos

ErrolTheDragon · 22/12/2023 23:17

therealcookiemonster · 22/12/2023 23:11

I should have name changed for this. but I don't like penguins. I feel like so much unnecessary fuss is made about them. plus i dont like their attitude and they walk like wankers

FiL once tried to stroke a penguin (at Birdland in Gloucestershire), it nipped him quite hard.

Don't get that with robins!

ErrolTheDragon · 22/12/2023 23:19

HRTQueen · 22/12/2023 23:15

You would be horrified in Australia

not only are Koalas getting in on the act but so are kangaroos

It's fine! Down Under, you should be doing whatever suits celebrating the summer solstice rather than the winter one.

Agapornis · 22/12/2023 23:21
Noot Noot GIF

I love penguins, and have been on holiday to a penguin country just to see them. They don't only live in Antarctica, but also in Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and a few island nations. They're also evolutionarily successful and have been around for about 60 million years. That's about 58 million more than hominins, and 59.8 million more than modern humans. They've earnt the love.

I would rather celebrate penguins than an imaginary human, whether that's santa or jesus.

therealcookiemonster · 22/12/2023 23:21

HRTQueen · 22/12/2023 23:15

You would be horrified in Australia

not only are Koalas getting in on the act but so are kangaroos

as long as you are not trying to get cassowaries into the Xmas spirit....

Agapornis · 22/12/2023 23:23

ErrolTheDragon · 22/12/2023 23:17

FiL once tried to stroke a penguin (at Birdland in Gloucestershire), it nipped him quite hard.

Don't get that with robins!

Show quote history

Robins are so territorial that they have bloody fights and sometimes kill each other.

therealcookiemonster · 22/12/2023 23:27

ErrolTheDragon · 22/12/2023 23:17

FiL once tried to stroke a penguin (at Birdland in Gloucestershire), it nipped him quite hard.

Don't get that with robins!

Show quote history

don't be fooled by the cute innocent skipping around while chirping. Robins are absolute bastards when it comes to it. there is one that comes to my garden, all fluffy and sweet but I can see the serial killer vibe in his eyes.

avocadotofu · 22/12/2023 23:32

I have no penguin gifs to contribute but this is a lovely thread, thank you for starting it OP.

Bookworm12345 · 22/12/2023 23:35

YANBU and while we're at it penguins should also be banned from Sylvanian Families 😂 they are not woodland creatures!

Mademetoxic · 22/12/2023 23:45

Agapornis · 22/12/2023 23:21

I love penguins, and have been on holiday to a penguin country just to see them. They don't only live in Antarctica, but also in Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and a few island nations. They're also evolutionarily successful and have been around for about 60 million years. That's about 58 million more than hominins, and 59.8 million more than modern humans. They've earnt the love.

I would rather celebrate penguins than an imaginary human, whether that's santa or jesus.

This post made me smile. All hail penguins 😊

ErrolTheDragon · 22/12/2023 23:46

Bookworm12345 · 22/12/2023 23:35

YANBU and while we're at it penguins should also be banned from Sylvanian Families 😂 they are not woodland creatures!

Except...

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2RrF5ZRZpmm6zsTkYMKgzDg/forest-penguins

Grimpo · 22/12/2023 23:57

Santa's magic. If he wants penguins at the North Pole, I'm sure he can make it happen.

DwightDFlysenhower · 23/12/2023 00:09

Draw some lines on their beaks and say that Father Christmas's magic has brought the great auk back from extinction?

Bookworm12345 · 23/12/2023 00:13

ErrolTheDragon · 22/12/2023 23:46

Show quote history

Well @ErrolTheDragon I stand corrected!! That is so cool, thank you for sharing 😊
I can now put my daughter's Penguin Sylvanian Family under the Christmas tree knowing that they deserve their place in her collection 😂

DanceOfTheSugarplumFairyPenguin · 23/12/2023 00:19
Happy Dance GIF by Pudgy Penguins

Fairy Penguins are very festive: Scientists have failed to discern that their impressive range of vocalisations in fact include Christmas carolling that makes Kings’ College Choir look amateurish; they are so dedicated to the Christmas aesthetic even their poo is sparkly; & they’ve been known to sport a Christmas jumper too.

Fairy Penguins are so dedicated to Christmas that they keep up this celebrating all year round & this epic contribution to generating The Magic of Christmasâ„¢ should be applauded not overlooked much less denied in such a shocking fashion.

Ice doesn’t conduct electricity but it does (as is well-known, & hence Santy locating his workshop in snowy surroundings) conduct magic. Poor wee penguins: quietly working away to make Christmas happen, keep Santy’s sleigh in the air & on time & there they are, accused of barging in.

Am shocked & dismayed by this antipenguinism - that’s the sort of thing that gets you put on the naughty list. And not just because Santy is in fact a team of penguins in a cunning disguise.

Underthesea65 · 23/12/2023 00:19

At least penguins actually exist though

therealcookiemonster · 23/12/2023 00:20

Grimpo · 22/12/2023 23:57

Santa's magic. If he wants penguins at the North Pole, I'm sure he can make it happen.

you mean as an Xmas gifts for the polar bears? because they will eat them...

Sodullincomparison · 23/12/2023 00:21

I also thought this was going to be about the biscuit as DH had a weird rant today about his dislike of Penguin biscuits and it would have to be a desperate situation before he would eat one.

there are no penguin biscuits in the house and he wasn’t offered one so I was baffled at his angst. I thought OP felt the same way.

Ericaequites · 23/12/2023 00:37

Auks looked a lot like penguins.

Fourecks · 23/12/2023 01:57

As someone who lives in the Southern Hemisphere, I am delighted that something from our half of the world has infiltrated the Northern Hemisphere Christmas celebrations.

Every year, we are bombarded with snow/winter/chestnuts roasting on an open fire messaging despite it being summer and fire bans in many places. Our overnight minimums where I am are mid twenties all this week and our maximums are high 30s, and I'm not even in a particularly hot part of the country. It's definitely not winter!

Long live the penguins, I say!

ARockIsASlowSlowCooledOffFlameAndACradle · 23/12/2023 02:03

I might have agreed with you, OP, but there are even penguins in The Snowman when they visit Santa in the Arctic. Which is a real Christmas classic and nealy 50 years old. So I think it's too late to banish them! And they are very cute.

NoBinturongsHereMate · 23/12/2023 02:08

kitsuneghost · 22/12/2023 22:14

Is that why we eat turkey?

Show quote history

It isn't.

And - unlike St Nicholas - turkeys aren't from Turkey.

OP, if you're going to be geographically purist and get rid of penguins, you also have to ban polar bears and reindeer. You can have brown bears, mouse deer and bald ibis instead. Also wolves, and argali (a massive wild sheep).

pottypotamus · 23/12/2023 02:10

I have a Christmas Unicorn. Is that better than a Christmas Penguin?

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