I agree and think the OP needs to lighten up. Of course it would depend on the build up and delivery of such a joke; a seven-year-old kid who had just thought of this witticism would probably think it’s the funniest thing since Aristophanes, and would eagerly repeat it to every adult within reach, annoying 95% of them no end. If an adult goes around in the same way with the same sort of joke, then, yeah, that’s not funny. But small lame jokes can be the currency social intercourse; “in” jokes are almost always lame when you take away the ‘in-ness’, yet they serve to bind together the group that shares them.
Down here the Census Bureau has had to include “New Zealander” as an ethnic group, because there are so many people, in a variety of skin shades, that *cannot *identify as any one ethnic group.
A very good friend of mine was hugely pissed off with the constant question “what race are you?” just because he didn’t fit any specific look. He was half Maori and was generally expected to identify as that, even though Maori would tell him he was just a fucking pakeha and not a real Maori - his skin was the wrong shade for them.
After a few drinks, we decided that he should answer, with just as much accuracy and a thick accent; “I’m Irish, now fuck off.”
My daughter is: Scots, French (including Brittany), Spanish, Maori, Niuean, Samoan, English, Irish, Danish Welsh, Hebrew, and a few others. When asked what ethnic group she belongs to, I write/reply, “Mostly Celtic.”
Just because it amuses me.
It’s also accurate, but after thousands of official forms and nosy pricks who don’t *need *to know, my amusement is more important than anyone else’s need to be taken seriously.
I didn’t take Skald’s comment as a joke it was a stament that clarified his wife’s apparent race as opposed to her official race, which made the dickless wonder’s attitude towards the ‘mixed’ marriage even more pathetic.
“Mostly Celtic” is a joke, it riffs off the Hitchhiker’s Guide description of humanity as “mostly harmless”.
And I don’t give a flying fuck if *you *find it funny.
Skald answered both the stated question and the implied one, which was somewhat relevant to the issue in the thread. The fact is, he doesn’t worry about race, but obviously the idiot harasser does. Technically it doesn’t matter which race the idiot is harassing, or why, but when people are talking about a situation they like to have some information. It gives them a little more personal feel about it.
Charter says that it’s not just this particular offense, but that’s it part of a type of something that bugs him. I don’t get what that type is. I’d like to see more examples.
No, he’s not a douchebag. But you’re a fucking whiny pussy for getting your panties in a twist over something so minor.
Skald’s reply is funny (a bit - small smile inducing, but not terribly original) and also informative (he does not like being put in a checkbox). A short response that implies a lot about an individual.
Hell, my father-in-law likes to respond Vietnamese on the Census Forms. His arguement is that since the Federal Government forced him to go there, they must consider him to be Vietnamese. (He is a very white, very bitter, Vietnam Veteran)