Talk:Heffalump

Origin of the idea of the heffalump
"...as a boys name. In psychology heffalumps have been used as an example of an animal which exists in thoughts but not in reality..." What a sheltered life I've led, never to have been introduced to a boy or man whose given name was Heffalump. Nor have I read of heffalumps treated in books, even of pop psychology. Wetman 21:44, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * They surprised me too - but both are true, I found those out by searching JSTOR (the academic journal archive) for "heffalump" and those were the results. --Imran

Heffalump is also used in other contexts including lie algebra : I have just searched in http://www.altavista.com. Searching for "lie algebra" got 51000 results. But searching for heffalump "lie algebra" or heffalumps "lie algebra" got ALSOLUTE ZERO results except this Wikipedia page. Note that Lie algebra does not mean "the algebra of untruths or of hoaxes", but is named after someone called Sophus Lie. This is a hoax. Anthony Appleyard 23:22, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC) This is NOT a hoax. Here's a paper on heffalump Lie algebras: http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/search/publdoc.html?arg3=&co4=AND&co5=AND&co6=AND&co7=AND&dr=all&pg4=AUCN&pg5=TI&pg6=PC&pg7=ALLF&pg8=ET&review_format=html&s4=&s5=&s6=&s7=heffalump&s8=All&vfpref=html&yearRangeFirst=&yearRangeSecond=&yrop=eq&r=2&mx-pid=422370 I fell victim to the same Google/Search trap. Danielbrice


 * Probably from http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/pubs/2000/1184/content.ps.gz but only used as an example there. Not really related.

"Although this is never explicitly stated, it is generally thought that heffalumps are elephants from a child's viewpoint (the word "heffalump" being a child's attempt at pronouncing "elephant")." Is this really so? My first language isn't English; can someone tell us if an English-speaking (and English) child could come up with such a strange "mispronunciation"? I have always thought of it as rather a name of a fantasy creature, loosely based on an elephant. The name sounds somewhat similar to "elephant", but not so very similar. The "lump" in the end seems to suggest, simply, a large creature. To me the word sounds more like something an adult could make up when creating a fantasy creature or making up a word. This is just my view, I'm not saying it's necessarely correct, I merely wanted to cast some doubt on the obviousness of "heffalump" being a child's mispronunciation.Shadowcrow 04:50, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
 * I, as a native English speaker, always thought it was obvious that the word was based on a child's mispronunciation, almost certainly Christopher Robin's. The first time you hear a word you may not quite get it.  For children that happens all the time (loosely speaking).  Zaslav (talk) 22:39, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

Song...
Maybe its too descriptive about the song in the Article....

E.H. Shepard
The article would be improved by a Shepard image. 惑乱 分からん 11:57, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Definitely. Preferably the one of Piglet's dream - the one where a tiny Piglet is pursued by a gigantic Heffalump. Is there some kind of copyright problem with the Shepard images (this was talked about on the Winnie-the-Pooh discussion page) or was that just some kind of big hoax?Shadowcrow 04:39, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Done. --Old Moonraker 06:27, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

now
"A heffalump is a fictional creature mentioned in the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne. Heffalumps are mentioned in Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), and later appeared in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988–1991) and now in Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)". I have removed the 'now' as this is not a recent film anymore. Kimelinor 13:13, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

The slogan for Pooh's Heffalump Movie included the words "three-headed Heffalump". I only saw this on the advert poster; I didn't see the movie. I'm surprised to see the drawing of a Heffalump with only one head. Can anyone explain? Collin237 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.203.178.120 (talk) 20:39, 6 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Heffalumps never had three heads. Read the Pooh books.  :)  Zaslav (talk) 22:48, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

"Fair Use" image.
The "fair use" image drawn by Shepard can only be used under the condition of comment on the image itself (comparing it with Disney) and thus not in an infobox. Yes, it was news to me as well, but I'd rather not have another protracted discussion like this one. Anybody got a free image to go in? --Old Moonraker (talk) 21:51, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Afterthought: if the infobox caption were changed in some way to indicate that it was in the style of the original drawing that could well fix the problem. --Old Moonraker (talk) 22:01, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Are Heffalumps in general under copyright? 2600:6C5E:497F:F7DA:786E:9B99:EF36:417A (talk) 14:08, 29 July 2019 (UTC) Carver

No witty etymology?
I always thought the "heffalump" might have been ironically coined from "have a lump", aimed at a person's fear or inhibition of serving themselves appropriately when allowed to, or something?

Some 'net findings imply there's at least significant speculation to the point, mention? (sources: google 'heffalump "have a lump"', roughly 2000 results.)

87.175.30.57 (talk) 10:07, 10 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Funny thought! I must say I found the suggested etymology within the article itself (a child trying to pronounce "elephant"?) a bit dubious. Corwin.amber (talk) 03:24, 29 July 2016 (UTC)


 * I always thought it was totally believable: (a) a normal kind of mispronunciation and (b) probably derived directly from Christopher Robin's mistake for "elephant", just as many other things in the Pooh stories are derived from the real life of Christopher Robin, starting with the animals (stuffed toys), the Hundred Acre Wood (near their house), and probably the "GON OUT BACKSON" sign at the end, corrected the next day (a bit of authorial license, no doubt) to "GONE OUT BACK SOON". The suggested etymology from "have a lump" is clumsy and inappropriate as well as out of character for the books.  Zaslav (talk) 22:46, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I think you get “heffalump” from elephant this way:
 * elephant>ephalent>effalent>effalump>heffalump. Cbsteffen (talk) 03:45, 12 May 2024 (UTC)