Frogs and Toads.

A lovely hoppy little frog and a disgusting warty little toad.


Next week's LLC has the theme of frogs, because Callum has a sketch about tadpoles which we may be doing. I did actually discuss frogs as a possible topic before, but only in the sense of 'would having themes work? What about something as stupid as a whole night on Frogs?' But now it's actually happening.

I do think frogs and toads have a strange relationship. Nowhere else in the animal kingdom are there 2 species which are so similar, yet one is just, well, crap. Rhinos and hippos are pretty similar but they get equal respect. Imagine if as well as the giraffe, there was something almost exactly the same as a giraffe, but fatter, smellier and which walked by dragging it's hindlegs behind it. And if it licks you, you get leprosy. That's the comparison toads have to put up with. Frogs happily jump, toads crawl in a low suspicious manner. Frogs are smooth, toads are gnarled and bumpy. Frogs croak to attract a mate (and get to record with Paul Mcartney). Toads just emit noisy farts, having given up on finding that special someone.

This has gone into art and folklaw. Bad mushrooms are toad stools. Touching toads gives you warts, while touching frogs gives you a free makeover. Kiss a frog, he becomes a handsome prince, kiss a toad- warty lips. Anything toady is bad. The only exception to this trend is that delicious dish 'toad in the hole'. But I can't help thinking this is because people are relieved that it's really a sausage and not a horrid toad they're expected to eat. If it was called 'frog in the hole' they'd be disappointed when it turned out to be only sausage.