AY Honors/Puppetry/Answer Key

Template:Redirect6 A sock puppet is a puppet made from a sock (or similar garment) which is placed over the hand of a puppeteer. When a sock puppeteer fits their hand into the closed end of the sock, the sock puppet can be made to "talk" with the opening and closing of the hand. The puppet's mouth is formed by the region between the heel and the toe, with the thumb forming a jaw. At a minimum the shape of the hand will instantly form the shape of a mouth, but sometimes the mouth is padded by putting in a fairly hard piece of felt (often with a tongue glued inside). Sometimes the region between the toe and heel is cut open with scissors to form a mouth.

Sock puppet

The sock is stretched out fully so that it is long enough to cover the puppeteer's wrist and part of the arm. Often, but not always, the puppeteer will hide behind a stand and raise up his or her hand above the stand so that only the puppet is visible. Many sock puppeteers, however, stand in full view along with their puppets and will hold conversations with their own sock puppets, using ventriloquism.

Composition

Sock puppets can be made from socks or stockings of any colour. Worn-out socks may be used, although socks that are too tattered may fall apart during performance, but socks are usually bought brand-new from the store in order to make sock puppets. Various additions can be glued on in order to give the sock a personality. Streamers and felt strings are popularly glued on for hair. Googly eyes (obtained from craft or fabric stores) are glued on for the puppet's eyes. Sometimes clothes can be added, but this is not frequently seen.

Uses

As sock puppets appear friendly, non-threatening, and clearly non-human, therapists often have their child patients use sock puppets to help them talk more freely about things. For the same reasons, and because oneself and one's sock puppet often feel like two different people, one can speak through a sock puppet to express thoughts or facets of one's personality that one would not feel free to admit in person or fears would harm one's reputation were they actually said in one's own person.

Controversial practices

Starting as early as July 2006, several commenters posted comments on conservative blogs (especially when there was an article critical of Greenwald and perceived mis-stating of facts and other distortions he used in his blog and writings) praising Greenwald from his IP address. These commenters have names like Ellison, Thomas Ellers, and Rick Ellensburg. The commenters posting from his IP address are similar to Greenwald in personality, writing style, and verbal tics; English competency and usage; and obsessive interest in and encyclopaedic knowledge of Greenwald’s posts, Greenwald’s updates, his commenters, and his enemies. In some cases "Rick Ellensburg" would write comments very similar to Glenn Greenwald posts the day before Glenn Greenwald actually writes them on his blog.. Some confusion has resulted from this, as each of these commenters sounds exactly like Glenn Freaking Greenwald. Consequently, their views have been mistaken for his by some readers.

This situation was documented by conservative bloggers Ace of Spades HQ as well as Patterico's Pontifications, which tracked Greenwald's IP over many comment threads. Greenwald claimed someone else in his household was making the posts, not he, but despite "someone's" voluminous written defense of Greenwald in comments sections, "someone" never stepped up to claim responsibility. The consensus conclusion was that it was indeed Greenwald defending himself while pretending to be various anonymous posters. This led to doubts about Greenwald's veracity and honesty, tarnishing his reputation as one of the up-and-coming leftist bloggers.

• Parody of Greenwald's sockpuppetry
• Roundup of investigationsabout Greenwald's alleged use of false identities to defend his writings on conservative blog's comment threads.
• The Glenn Greenwald Sock Puppet Story, From Start To (Almost) Finish
• To Know Glenn's Sock-Puppets Is To Love Glenn's Sock Puppets
• Devoted Fans of Glenn Greenwald Emphasize the Same Points About His Resume — From the Same IP Address
• Glenn Greenwald’s IP Address Stolen

Sock puppets are often used for the education and entertainment of children. They can be used in often elaborate puppet shows or children's plays, much as marionettes would be used. The process of making sock puppets is popularly taught as a creative activity in elementary schools. Many schools teach children to make sock puppets and then have the children put on shows or plays for the whole school with them, sometimes with all the sock puppets singing.

Sock puppets also appear in children's television shows where they can be used alone on the puppeteer's hand, without a complex stage or show. Two orange sock puppets named "Fu" and "Fara" are used in teaching German children how to read. In the United States, sock puppeteer Shari Lewis was well known for her television show Lamb Chop's Play-Along featuring the sock puppets Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy.

Sock puppets have also been used in television programming aimed at adults. The 1990s saw the introduction of the Ed the Sock character on the MuchMusic video network, and the Sifl and Olly show on the MTV music network. Both of these were aimed at teenagers and young adults. Sock puppets have also appeared in advertising geared towards adults. During the late 1990s, the ecommerce company Pets.com used a "spokespuppet" in its advertising to much critical acclaim. The Pets.com puppet was given a "second chance" by 1-800-BarNone, which helps consumers obtain financing for autos. In 2003 the online bank Egg also used sock puppets in its advertising campaign.