“If my grandmother was born with wheels, she might have been a bus.”
Prime Minister Jean Cretien
That’s unusually coherent for him. Are you sure the reporters didn’t fudge it a little bit?
nods knowingly
I think he misquoted Scottie.
Whatever the case, the meaning of that sentence eludes me in this context.
Heck, even a bus stops once in a while. Jean is the bus in a movie like Speed, just keeps crossing from side to side.
A fuller quote might make it a bit clearer:
Country, family, busses. Such eloquence brings a patriotic tear to my eye.
I’m usually the first one to cringe or laugh at the pm’s articulately challenged ways but on this issue I salute Jean and the his governing liberals. Keep Canadian soldiers out of Iraq.
It was announced today that Canada is now prepared to help the United States in its war against terrorism. They have promised to commit 2 of their largest battleships, 6,000 armed troops and 60 fighter jets.
However…after the exchange rate, that comes down to a canoe, 2 Mounties and a flying squirrel.
And 4 dead sons and brothers in Afghanistan from one of our pilots. Have a little respect for the dead.
For some reason, I wept for the first time over this incident when I read this post. I guess some things take their time before they hit you…
And that point has what to do with the topic of this thread? We have vast respect for the dead. So what’s that have to do with Iraq and your totally uncalled for snide remark?
It was a snide remark in retaliation for the snide remark about our military. We have soldiers that fight and die just the same as any country’s, so I can sympathize when my fellow Canadians start to get sick of the “OLOLOLO!!~~ CANADA MILITARY!!@~~ SLINGSHOTS AND MOOSESES~!!~@#” remarks.
Seems it is your fellow countrymen that are making the majority of snide remarks.
That doesn’t make us any less sick of the remarks… I don’t care who says it, Americans or my neighbour, it’s getting fairly upsetting.
I didn’t take it as a snide remark about the Canadian military, I took it as a shot at one of Canada’s closest allies that many view as bullying other countries into helping them, and using the commonly joked about (and exaggerated) exchange rate between the two countries as part of the shot.
In other words, it was sarcastic. Canada sez: “We’ll help you unfairly invade another country…NOT!”
So just take a deep breath.
I can very much relate to that, we Americans are getting fairly sick and tired of the many remarks made about us also. But this was a light-hearted thread started with the opposite intent of the hijack that has happened. Best thing to do is start your own thread and let the OP enjoy this thread they created.
Lessee:
FairyChatMom, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. In itself, the joke’s actually kind of funny. Foot in mouth disease is not permanent, and I don’t think anybody thinks you had a deeper meaning behind what you said.
FranticMad, thanks for remembering that, and I do appreciate the sentiment (I’ve done this myself on more than one occasion), but I think you leapt a bit of a gap there in going from the joke to the events in Afghanistan.
ultress, there is a considerable difference between making fun of our leader for his various shortcomings and what could be seen as an attack on the people who are actually out there where the bullets are flying. I don’t think it was such, but if it was interpreted that way then the vitriol will start to flow.
So, are we staying here or shall we head to the pit?
Wasn’t the canoe joke from SNL originally?
I’ve been trying to remember the original joke too. A quick google search make reference to it, but not the original source – I vaguely recall it was from a stand-up routine.