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The Smurfs

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The smurfs (les schtroumpfs in French; lit. "what's-its-name") are a fictional people of small blue creatures who live in a forest somewhere in Europe. The Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced smurfs to the world, but English-speakers perhaps know them best through the animated television series from Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Smurfs.

File:Smurflogo2.gif
Left to Right: Smurfette, Vanity Smurf, and Brainy Smurf

Histoire"""

Rumors

Satanic Rumors

During 1983, rumors of the smurfs' satanic activities spread across Puerto Rico. Those who believed the theory claimed seeing smurfs below plants in their houses, next to their beds, dressed as the devil, etc. As Telemundo Puerto Rico had just begun to telecast smurfs programs that year, a possibility exists that a rival television channel started the rumors.

The rumors spread like wildfire through the religiously conservative Latin America, where people went so far as to claim that small, demon-like smurfs propagated through their recorded albums and attacked those who would play their music. This was very much in tune with the prevalent belief of the 1980s of satanic propagation through recorded music, as many rock bands made open references to satanism in their work.

Shortly thereafter in the United States, various conservative Christian groups also began to label the smurfs as "satanic"--due to the positive light in which their activities portrayed the use of magic and of sorcery.

The Smurfs & Communism

Main Article: The Smurfs and communism

It is now argued by some that Peyo meant to spread communist ideas through smurf cartoons. S.M.U.R.F. is translated by supporters of this theory as "Socialist Men Under Red Father" or "Soviet Men Under Red Father". The Red Father in the cartoon is Papa Smurf, who wears a red hat and trousers. It is also noted that Papa Smurf might be a representation of Karl Marx because of his similar looking beard. Of course, as Peyo used the nonsensical term schtroumpf, placing any meaning on the word smurf is a fallacy.

An analysis of the symbolism of the smurfs also can point to that theory. Smurfs live in a village with rules similar to that of a communist society including sharing of everything by everyone, absence of currency, equality (symbolized by similar clothing), everyone serving a functional and necessary purpose in the community, etc. Gargamel is said to represent capitalism with particular emphasis being made on his greediness.

Smurf Universe

The Smurfs

The storylines tend to be simple tales of bold adventure. The cast has a simple structure as well: almost all the characters look essentially alike — male, very short (just "three apples tall", a French expression--most likely crab apples), with blue skin, white trousers with a hole for their short tails, white hat, and some additional accessory that identifies each one's personality. (For instance, Handy Smurf wears overalls instead of the standard trousers, a brimmed hat, and a pencil above his ear). Smurfs can walk and run, but often move by skipping on both feet. They love to eat smilax leaves, whose berries the smurfs naturally call smurfberries.

The male smurfs almost never appear without their hats, which leaves a mystery amongst the fans as to whether they have hair or not. There is evidence from a canonical source, that they may be bald: one episode of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon has Greedy Smurf removing his chef's hat to give Papa Smurf a pie he had concealed under it, revealing a bald head. Another episode, St. Smurf and the Dragon, shows Hefty's hat rising up off his bald head briefly as he and others slide to a stop. Though both Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf have full beards and hair visibly coming from under their hats above the earline, it is not known if this covers their entire head.

The smurfs fulfill simple archetypes of everyday people: Lazy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, and so on. All smurfs are said to be 100 years old, and there are normally 100 smurfs (but this number increases as new smurf characters appear: smurflings, Nanny, etc).

For a list of specific smurfs see Characters in the Smurfs.

Smurf Language

Characteristic of smurfy language is the frequent use of the word "smurf" and derivatives of it in a variety of meanings. The smurfs replace enough nouns and verbs in everyday speech with smurf as to make their conversations barely understandable. It was implied a number of times that the smurfs all understood each other due to subtle variations in intonation that Johan or PeeWit (or the viewers) could not detect.

So that the viewer is able to understand the smurfs, only some words (or a portion of the word) will be replaced with the word "smurf". Context offers a reliable understanding of this speech pattern, but common vocabulary includes remarking that something is "just smurfy" or "smurftastic".

The smurfs even made war among themselves about the use of the "smurf" word: whether to use it as a verb or as a noun. This story is considered as a parody on the taalstrijd (language war) between French and Dutch speaking communities, still present in Belgium.

Smurf Village

The Smurfs live in houses made from mushrooms or houses that just look like mushrooms (often made of stone), somewhere in the middle of a deep forest. Johan and Peewit would make visits, as well as a number of other forest natives.

List of Smurfs

See Characters in the Smurfs

Hanna-Barbera Series Voices

The Smurfs in Other Languages

  • Arabic: سنافر (sanafer) or singular: سنفور (Sanfur)
  • Basque: pottokiak (singular: pottoki), after the Basque pony race pottoka. Early editions used pitufoak, straight from Spanish.
  • Catalan: barrufets (singular: barrufet)
  • Chinese: 藍精靈 (Lán jing líng - blue fairy spirits/elves/pixies)
  • Croatian: Štrumpfovi (singular: Štrumpf)
  • Czech: Šmoulové (singular: Šmoula), name based on their light blue colour.
  • Danish: smølferne (singular: en smølf). Originally published as Snøvserne (singular: en Snøvs)
  • Dutch: smurfen (singular: smurf)
  • Finnish: Smurffit (singular: smurffi) The word is also used of meter maids and ticket inspectors operating in subways, because of their blue uniforms.
  • French: schtroumpfs (singular: schtroumpf)
  • German: schlümpfe (singular: schlumpf)
  • Greek: Στρουμφάκια (stroumfakia) or singular: Στρουμφ/Στρουμφάκι (stroumf/stroumfaki)
  • Hebrew: דרדסים (dardasim) or singular: דרדס (dardas). (Dardak is a small child. The somewhat rare Hebrew word "dardas" has got totally unrelated meaning (slipper and also overshoe), and therefore should be treated as an invented word when refering to smurfs.)
  • Hungarian: törpök (singular: törp), and also: hupikék törpikék (singular: hupikék törpike). Please note that it is a spelling mistake to write these terms in capital letters.
  • Icelandic: strumparnir (singular: strumpur)
  • Italian: puffi (singular: puffo), the name has been reinvented from scratch because in Italian language the "schtroumpf" or (in Italian spelling strumpf) reminds speakers of the Italian word "stronzo", literally meaning 'piece of excrement'. Note that the dialect word 'strunz' is even closer to 'strumpf'. The fantasy name "pPuffi" is derived from word "buffi" (singular: buffo, as in opera buffa) a word meaning at same time "funny" and "strange".
  • Japanese: スマーフ (sumaafu - a sound approximation)
  • Korean: 스머프 (seumeopeu - a sound approximation)
  • Lithuanian: smurfai (singular: smurfas)
  • Norwegian: smurfene (singular: smurf)
  • Polish: smerfy (singular: smerf)
  • Portuguese estrumpfes (singular: estrumpfe), (Brazil knows them as smurfs)
  • Romanian Ştrumfi (singular: Ştrumf)
  • Serbian: Штрумпфови (Štrumpfovi) or singular: Штрумпф (Štrumpf)
  • Slovak: Šmolkovia (singular: Šmolko)
  • Slovenian: smrkci (singular: smrkec)
  • Spanish: pitufos (singular: pitufo; later used as a slang word for 'local cop' in Spain, after their blue uniforms). In an early time, they were published by the magazine TBO under the name of tebeítos. In some places like Argentina they are called bolites (singular: bolite).
  • Swedish: smurfar(na) (singular: smurf)
  • Turkish: Şirinler (singular: Şirin)(feminin:şirine) the name is meaning cute in Turkish from Persian "شيرن ― sweet"
  • Vietnamese: xì trum

more smurf names

Similar Creatures

  • The Astrosniks were a similar fictional race with a space-based theme, made by figurine company Bully after they lost the license to the smurfs.
  • The Snorks were a similar, though less popular, fictional people that lived underwater and had snorkel-shaped protrusions on their heads.
  • The Littl' Bits were a fictional race of tiny forest people that resemble smurfs in their size and naming convention.
  • The Nac Mac Feegle or Wee Free Men of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. They are not smurfs, but they do have a smurf-like appearance due to their small size and blue skin-tatoos.

See also

External links

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