And that’s not surprising when you consider that the actual “jokes” involved were mostly pretty well-worn fifty years ago. I think novelty is more important in comedy than in any other form of entertainment, so now that the shock value of ethnic/racial humor has dropped to about that of an eight-year-old flicking boogers in class, I say it’s time to move on.
“Getting”?
Anyway, I quite agree.
I’m with you, except the word you want is “clichéd.”
Just remarking on something weird that happened:
I read this thread, and was thinking that Keeping The Faith had one scene that was tolerable mostly because it was very funny. But it skirts the line by both indulging in and exposing the stereotype, kind of like Shallow Hal. Arguably that’s not in the same class as the deliberately shocking “politically incorrect” humor, since it seems to inspire a “Was that okay to laugh at?” feeling. The other stuff seems to be saying, “Some WHINERS are going to say this isn’t FUNNY because it makes fun of the Proogles. But plenty of people were laughing at the Proogle jokes 50 years ago and when did it suddenly became WRONG to do so? So I’m going to do it. I’m not afraid to laugh at the PROOGLES, or the GLINGILESE, or the YURPS! I’m going to make all these jokes and shock you people who try to tell other people how to think!”
Anyway, the weird part is, five minutes later, I turn on the TV, and notice that Keeping The Faith is on, and it’s just a couple minutes before that scene.
“Clichéd” is certainly acceptable, but it’s not more correct enough to warrant a correction: “cliché” is the proper past tense in French, so it’s perfectly acceptable as well.
Anyway.
I agree with the OP to this extent: funny is funny; unfunny is less so. The problem with most unPC humor is that it’s more unPC than humorous. If it’s truly funny, the rest of it doesn’t matter so much.
That said, I am *extreeeemly *tired of the whole “I’m so PC I can be totally unPC” shtick. Carlos Mencia does racist humor, mostly, but he hides behind the PC mask of being “courageously” unPC. Or something.
But we are conversing in English, aren’t we? Or should I be using the correct Latin tense of conversari?
Are you aware that cliché comes to English as a French word? As a French adjective? Like many, many, many words in English?
In other words, it was imported into English as a ready-made adjectives, and requires no English “-ed” to make it an adjective.
(One of my personal rules, when posting here, is: Always consult a dictionary before correcting someone’s vocabulary/spelling/grammar. Saves hijacks and embarrassment.)
Good point. So . . . what was the scene?
The scene from Keeping The Faith is probably more funny if it isn’t spoiled, so I’ll just give a bit of the set-up.
So a priest and a rabbi walk into a store (that’s not the joke; those are actually the main male leads)… the characters are at the electronics store because they’re trying to set up a karaoke bar together.
The rest is on Youtube.
edit : be sure to watch the whole clip.
The clip doesn’t strike as as particulary PC or non-PC… it was mildy amusing, though.
Absolutely incorrect. English almost always transforms loan words into the appearance they would have in English rather than the originating language.
I just checked a dictionary and found no evidence that cliché can be used in place of clichéd in such a sentence. Please cite the dictionary you have that says it can.
As Exapno Mapcase said. In English, “cliché” is a noun, “clichéd” an adjective. Whatever it is in French has no bearing on English usage.
“Politically incorrect” humor is becoming a cliché" would have been an acceptable thread title.
So too would be “Politically incorrect” humor is getting clichéd."
But as written, the title of this thread is non-standard. It’s a minor pet peeve of mine, but I apologize for bringing it up.
To meander back from this hijack, I’m reminded of the bedroom conversation between Don Cheadle and Jennifer Esposito near the beginning of the movie Crash. I thought Cheadle’s character’s “oh no he didn’t!” remarks were funny there, but maybe that’s because the movie wasn’t otherwise a comedy.
Certainly the scene with Sandra Bullock, Brendan Fraser, and the locksmith wasn’t the least bit funny, even though the un-PCness of Bullock’s rant was similar.
“*Absolutely *incorrect”?
Absolutely?
Wow.
Like many things in English–a mongrel language–what you choose to do in this case is a matter or style, and is by no means prescriptively exclusive of other appropriate usages, such as the perfectly correct use of the word “cliché” as an adjective.
Why are y’all using the accent if it’s an English word?
So you can type a word into google.
Now how about pointing out exactly which one of those definitions covers the use of cliche in the the thread title?
I don’t know why you insist on trying to pick a fight. Why do you feel the best way to move this discussion forward is sarcasm? The definition is there for you to read; I’m tempted to be sarcastic about having to do so for you:
cli·ché /kliˈʃeɪ, klɪ-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[klee-shey, kli-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
. . . .
–adjective
5. trite; hackneyed; stereotyped; clichéd.
The definition of “cliché” is “clichéd?” That seems pretty…um…clichéd to me.
[whoosh?]They’re synonyms; i.e. equally correct.[/whoosh?]
To get away from the linguistic nitpicking, there are lots of problems I have with “un-PC”. The obvious one are jokes that weren’t funny to begin with (like Sarah Silverman’s Holocaust jokes) or were funny once but got hammered into submission (David Chappele, I’m looking at you). Also their definition of PC is often so ridiculous. Telling a joke about stereotypical female behavior isn’t “un-PC” if it would only upset the most hardcore womyn’s study groups. Also, it undercuts the daring if you only pick on your own group or pick only on easy targets. Remember the firestorm when Ted Danson wore blackface to a Hollywood party? I can’t think of any “un-PC” comics who would have the guts to do that.