Is Tweety Bird a boy or a girl?

The simple answer is: Tweety Bird is whatever gender Warner Brothers says it is. And Warner Brothers says Tweety's a boy.

So why all the confusion? Is it the sky-high eyelashes? The all-around cuteness? As it turns out, Tweety's original name was Orson. Had Tweety kept this macho moniker, the great gender debate never would have started. Alas, Orson was dropped, leaving future fans to wonder what the heck they were looking at.

Tweety Friends explains that the bird was initially pink, not yellow. Censors took issue with the color. They felt people might think the little guy was nude (and lord knows we can't have naked animals). So -- voil�, yellow feathers. The early Tweety also didn't shy away from violence toward his predators. Of course, he's now known for his questionable charms and innocence.

Tweety first appeared with his nemesis, Sylvester, in a cartoon called "Tweetie Pie." It won Warner Brothers their first Academy Award for a cartoon. Considering his popularity over the years, perhaps ol' Tweet was the WB's good luck charm.