If dogs could talk

Question

We all know the Simpsons' little greyhound.
But what is Bart's pet saying in this picture?

Wittgenstein: "If a dog could speak, we could not understand him." Philosophical Investigations, p.223 + my edit :) — Lamar Latrell, Aug 08 '15 at 03:37
@CanadianLuke - Yes. I considered saving the puzzle for Christmas and using his name in the title.. Maybe I'll do another puzzle around then. — chasly - supports Monica, Aug 09 '15 at 06:41
@Silverfish - No, that was deliberate. I was referring specifically to Bart. That was necessary to indicate that it was his pet rather than the whole family's. — chasly - supports Monica, Aug 09 '15 at 12:31
I'm still not sure "the Simpson's little greyhound" is quite right. I guess it is the "the" in front which is confusing me! — Silverfish, Aug 09 '15 at 12:37
Well Bart is the Simpson who has the pet. Is it the grammar that's your concern or the validity of the clue? — chasly - supports Monica, Aug 09 '15 at 14:25
@chasly Just the grammar. I don't think that if John Smith, of the Smith family ("the Smiths") had a pet dog, I would call that dog "the Smith's dog" to signify it belonged to John alone and not his entire family. — Silverfish, Aug 09 '15 at 16:14
I think we could say, "I know the Smith family. The Smith who has a dog is John." However we're getting into grammar rather than puzzling so maybe we should stop or move to English Language SE ;-) — chasly - supports Monica, Aug 09 '15 at 16:24
@LamarLatrell - True, but then not many people could understand Wittgenstein ;-) --- For the record most dog owners understand what their dogs are saying only too well. It usually relates to food and going for walks! – I don't suppose old Witters ever had a pet. Just another armchair philosopher. — chasly - supports Monica, Aug 10 '15 at 00:25
@dennisdeems - See my answer to Silverfish above and the subsequent discussion. — chasly - supports Monica, Aug 31 '15 at 14:25

Roland · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-07T21:35:04.923

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It must be:

Eat My Shorts!
He's repeating anagrams of Bart's catchphrase. What a clever dog, that Santa's Little Helper!
For the record, Deusovi answered first (+1), verifying that they were all anagrams, but didn't come up with the one which most fits the puzzle.

He might also be barking "HANDWOVEN AT CAMO" ;)

edited Aug 07 '15 at 21:35

answered Aug 07 '15 at 21:14

Roland

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Actually I think you probably did get the extra bit because you mentioned the word 'ca------se' . I've given my answer anyway. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 07 '15 at 21:26
I didn't consider the wordplay with "pet" until you answered. I haven't personally heard it used other than in the idiom "teacher's pet", but I looked it up, and it indeed can mean "a thing particularly cherished". – Roland Aug 07 '15 at 21:31
I was amazed at how quickly the two answers appeared! I suppose I should expect that on a puzzling community! – chasly - supports Monica Aug 07 '15 at 21:34
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@chaslyfromUK Don't be amazed: this one was super easy. There are online resources for getting anagrams, so all you have to do is stick in one of the phrases from the question and see what results come out. – Rand al'Thor Aug 07 '15 at 21:38
@rand al'thor I did this without those resources, but they are quite abundant. Unfortunately, most of their output is jibberish, like Handwoven at Camo, which I did use a website to create :) – Roland Aug 07 '15 at 21:50
Good point! I just checked and there are a LOT of fairly meaningful anagrams of this phrase. Not so easy after all then :-) – Rand al'Thor Aug 07 '15 at 21:52
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@randal'thor - Yes but surely there aren't many others so appropriate to the subject matter as Deusovi's - You have to admit that was quite a coincidence. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 07 '15 at 22:03
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@chaslyfromUK Indeed! So much of a coincidence that I wonder if it could have been intentional on the part of the people who made the show... – Rand al'Thor Aug 07 '15 at 22:06
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@randal'thor - Not according to this, "The real history behind the phrase is that Nancy Cartwright, Bart's voice actor, improvised the line during a table read. She first said it as a prank when she was in her high school marching band at Fairmont High School. " http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Eat_My_Shorts! – chasly - supports Monica Aug 07 '15 at 22:19
Dry banana hippy hat! – BCLC Aug 07 '15 at 23:04
If I could start this question again, I would omit the anagrams and just have a blank speech balloon. That surely would have made it tough to crack, yet the tricksy bit would still have been in place. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 07 '15 at 23:05

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 07 '15 at 21:05

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Is it...

"Homer's tasty"?

I guessed this because

each line was an anagram of the others, and this seemed to be the most logical missing anagram.

answered Aug 07 '15 at 21:05

Deusovi

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Well no - but I am flabbergasted by the fact that it could yield this answer! It is not the one I had in mind. When you see the reasoning you will understand why mine is more apposite. I'm still amazed by the coincidence. – chasly - supports Monica Aug 07 '15 at 21:11
@chaslyfromUK: Yeah, I figured there was a more 'elegant' answer. Still trying to find it - my original thought was that there would be some sort of anagram indicator and that's currently what I'm looking for. (e.g. "GSGE" cluing "scrambled eggs") – Deusovi Aug 07 '15 at 21:13

chasly - supports Monica · Answer 3 · 2015-08-07T21:36:36.173

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I'm amazed by the responses to this question in so many ways. Here was my intended formulation of the answer:

Eat My Shorts!

The reason is:

"What is Bart's pet saying?" can be interpreted as "What is Bart's favourite saying." The anagrams weren't actually needed to answer the question!

edited Aug 07 '15 at 21:36

answered Aug 07 '15 at 21:25

chasly - supports Monica

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If dogs could talk

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