Every character has a story #14: U-BOOP (BETTY BOOP)

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2005/09/16 09:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2005/09/16/468578.aspx


Regular reader Maurits asked the following in the Suggestion Box:

Every character has a story - even Betty

Monday, May 09, 2005 5:00 PM by Maurits

How about a post on the Betty Boop character?
http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UBOOP.pdf

Funny you should ask (even funnier that you found that one!).

The story goes something like this....

There are many people who consider Joe Becker to be the father of Unicode.

And what can be better than a father with a sense of humor?

Perhaps that is the way to explain how U+BOOP ended up online, right?

I asked Rick McGowan about it, and his reply explained how it ended up there, and maybe even why:

This chart I think originated with Joe Becker, and  you could ask him.

At one time he installed U+BOOP into the character index as a test to
see who was actually proofreading the index. I guess it stuck.

In any case, you'll notice the date on which this chart was last modified...

Indeed -- April 1, 2002!

Joe decided not to comment too explicitly on it:

Looks familiar ...!

So even if she is not a part of the standard, the chart can hold a special place in our hearts. :-)


# Rosyna on 16 Sep 2005 11:46 AM:

You learn new things every day. Who would have thought...

cum hoc ergo propter hoc.

# Maurits [MSFT] on 16 Sep 2005 12:07 PM:

I'm a bit of a Betty Boop fan, I must confess. :)

See those hoop earrings? Betty Boop was originally an (anthropomorphic) *poodle*, with floppy ears! The ears became hoop earrings as her animators made her more human.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boop

cleo on 6 Oct 2007 5:03 AM:

heey betty boop ...kwl p. get it ready.

ANINHA on 18 Feb 2008 8:37 PM:

ADORO A BETH BOOP !!!!!


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