- So, what’s with the two buttons?

- The two buttons?

- Yeah, the two horizontal buttons on the sleeves six inches from the cuff, instead of a vertical line of buttons. And that pink stripe farther down? I’ve seen it several times just here on the subway. Is it some new fashion trend?

- Oh that, those are sleeve puppets. They help people open up and talk to others, especially when not on the chat carriage. You pull your arm up your sleeve, pulling the cuff edge inwards. The reddish stripe becomes lips and the buttons eyes. Then you finger-mouth your words like a ventriloquist. Look there’s a homeless guy at the end of the car using both of them.

- Well, he seems to be talking to himself. I guess people sew on the buttons themselves.

- Yes, or you can or buy a readymade coat or sweater. Shall we pop into a boutique and check out what they have?

- I don’t know. It sounds a bit silly.
-- FarmerJohn, Mar 10 2005

// I don’t know. It sounds a bit silly//

[FJ] I have to agree with you, seriously, no strings attached.
-- skinflaps, Mar 10 2005


Wasn't there some tv show where the bloke couldn't communicate with the outside world without being really stressed or something like that, so he just talked through a puppet. And in the tv show 'Malcolm in the Middle', Otto, who runs the ranch, he could only tell his children off through the sock figure...
-- froglet, Mar 16 2005


I’m sure the concept of communicating through a marionette is older than Pinocchio, but a gold star if you’ve seen any sleeve puppets used.
-- FarmerJohn, Mar 16 2005


Two furtive looking men meet on street corner in a rough end of town.

-Got a kiss for my puppet?

-Sure, how much of a kiss?

-Twenty quid.

-Fine.

Both sleeves engage in a long and rather complex snog. The men then part ways without looking back.
-- wagster, Mar 16 2005



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