I assume Europeans call it pipe as well, a section of a cylindrical tube generally used to transport things like water. In my case, it was the plastic pipes of some toy my sister and I were using to pretend we were snorkeling, cut the roof of my mouth requiring stitches.
>>>> Cookie Monster carries a pipe in one recurring parody—and then eats it.
>> Translation of "pipe", into European? Intrigued!
> I assume Europeans call it pipe as well, a section of a cylindrical tube generally used to transport things like water.
In the context of the warning, I think it was talking specifically about a tobacco pipe (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_pipe), not a generic pipe used for liquid transport.
So it seems more of an issue of not wanting to model certain behaviors for young children that are now considered dangerous.
You're probably right. The idea that he would hold a tobacco pipe was so bizarre to me I assumed it was a regular pipe and they just didn't want even the possible miscommunication to be displayed.
> The idea that he would hold a tobacco pipe was so bizarre to me I assumed it was a regular pipe
I think the bit started as a spoof of a character that I assume held a pipe. It doesn't seem too bizarre to me, so they were being true to that. Holding a regular pipe would have been a non sequitur. When I grew up, smoking was definitely presented as bad, but I still got licorice tobacco pipes at a candy store on a couple occasions (e.g. https://economycandy.com/product/red-licorice-pipe/). It seems like now they don't want kids to even know what smoking is.
