คำบรรยาย (48)
0:00February is home to one of the most important
holidays of the year not to forget: Groundhog
0:05If you live outside of Can-merica then you
might not know what a groundhog is so...
0:08here you go: this is a groundhog.
0:10They're basically giant grumpy squirrels who
dig burrows underground.
0:13Burrows large enough, in fact, to occasionally
make their comfy home a structural hazard
0:18This explains the first half of their name.
0:19The second half is because they're kind of
fat -- though unlike their fellow Can-mericans
0:23-- when winter arrives they need their excess
weight to go into hibernation.
0:26The story of the holiday is that on February
2nd the wise groundhogs wake from hibernation
0:30to peek out of their burrow and look at the
world.
0:32If they see their shadow they go back inside
which predicts six more weeks of winter.
0:35If they don't, then spring will come early.
0:37The holiday started in the 1800s as a Pennsylvania
Dutch custom of weather prediction and today
0:41is celebrated in Canada and 49 of the fifty
states, the exception being Alaska which in
0:452009 decided to forgo groundhog day in favor
of marmot day.
0:49Outside of Alaska, many groundhogs contend
with each other to be the King of Seasonal
0:52Weather prediction their their main weapon
in this war being their delightful names such
0:56Queen Charlotte and Sir Walter Wally in North
Carolina,
0:58Shubenacadie Sam of Nova Scotia
0:59Staten Island Chuck from New York
1:00French Creek Freddie in West Virginia
1:03Gus from Athens Georgia though this last groundhog
is somewhat overshadowed by his neighbor,
1:06General Beauregard Lee, who one must assume
has stylish facial hair and fans himself on
1:11the veranda of his plantation home while drinking
Mint Julep and pining for the day when the
1:14south will rise again.
1:161,000 miles north of the General, Wiarton
Willie is the groundhog king of Canada, who
1:19throws an annual party to help him stay on
top and make sure that people keep building
1:24But, if there could be only one, Punxsutawney
Phil would be him.
1:27Not only is his name the most fun to say but
he also has quite a posse of top-hatted, tuxedoed
1:31men who look after him and call themselves
the inner circle.
1:34According to them, Punxsutawney Phil has been
making predictions since the 1880s.
1:37Not a Punxsutawney Phil, mind you, but this
Punxsutawney Phil who is functionally immortal
1:41because of a magic life-extending elixir the
inner circle members prepare for him so that
1:45he can continue to make predictions -- and
bring in tourist revenue -- until the end
1:49He also speaks a language called groundhogese
that only the president of the inner circle
1:53If you think that Groundhog day is a dumb,
pointless holiday then, there are two things
1:571st: you have no sense of fun and 2nd, you
better be careful on Groundhog day, because
2:01in addition to their weather predicting day
jobs, these groundhogs also have the magical
2:04power to trap you in a infinite time loop
until you learn to be less of a jerk.
