"Puppet On A String"

Puppets are fitted over the hand and operated with hand and finger motions, with no intervening strings (think: sock puppet or Muppet). Instead, a puppet is fitted over the hand. Of necessity said devices are controlled from below and/or behind, with the puppeteer acting somewhat like a proctologist.

A puppet usually has a hollow head, enabling the puppeteer to animate the creature's head and neck by inserting a finger into the hollow head. Therein it differs from the practice of proctology in that few doctors have fingers long enough.

The most famous puppet is Kermit the Frog.

When an such an object is controlled from above, with the operator using strings to control movement, the "puppeteer" is actually a "marionetter" using a marionette.

The most famous marionetter is Geppetto. The most famous marionette is Pinocchio. In the story of Pinocchio, the marionette was freed from his strings and turned into a boy. He sang "I have got no strings on me...". He did not sing "I no longer have Geppetto's hand crammed up my...." That's a good thing, because Pinocchio was underage, and therefore jail bait for a leacherous old man like Geppetto. Hey' I'm just sayin'....

In any case, the correct expression is "Marionette On A String." Of course, that is redundant. "Marionette" will suffice, even though it it lacks the ability to rhyme with common words such as "ring", "thing", "sing","sting", and so on.....

Get It Right, Wouldja?

Labels: marionette, puppet, puppet on a string