Well, I know you’re there cackling at getting the best of me, or catching me in a lie or whatever, but to me (and I already said i’m not thinking clearly right now), when I say NAZI jokes, I mean, jokes in a NAZI viewpoint.
Jokes poking fun at the idiocy of NAZIS are ‘jokes ABOUT Nazis’
“Have you heard of the latest German microwave? It seats twelve”
HIGHLY OFFENSIVE. NOT FUNNY. See the difference?
I agree. I ain’t mad at cha. 
To speak for others, it’s the Torontonians’ fault.
Yeah, pretty funny, but bound to offend the Quebecois.
But diversity’s good, too, right? And if a country is 90% Anglo and 10% Franco, then the Francos will inevitably get the screw job on language issues.
Speaking for myself, Triumph’s humour is stupid, and people who like it are stupid… but not every single person who likes it is stupid. Get it?
No, this one got out of control because of a mix-up in the rhetoric.
Always. But not always in Newfoundland.
I’m going to Kensington market to get a bad-ass Jamaican patty and a falafel and some bread and coffee and booze. I’m oh so happy it’s Friday.
Bye guys!
I’m not cackling. I’m just trying in my own special way to get you to think a little more clearly before you post.
whew. Thank god you never make mistakes or that post would seem silly.
I"ve tried to bury the hatchet, but I see it isn’t going to work with some.
And just to be serious for a moment, being someone who lived very close to Canada and who vacations in Red Bay nearly every year, I was always taught that making fun of people from Newfoundland was as mean as making fun of black people…so, I guess things really are funny to different people.
I just watched the Star Wars clip – thanks, Dewey! I’ve been wanting to see it for months.
The saddest part about it was the insults the nerds tried to return with. “You’d look good with mustard and ketchup.” What the fuck? Your grasp on reality is being mocked by a guy talking through the puppet on his hand, and this is the best you can do? Your ability to get laid is being insulted by a puppeteer, and all you can do is argue with the freakin’ puppet? What the hell is wrong with you people?
It was damn funny, anyway. I haven’t seen the Canadian skit; since I figure that Canada is better than the US in every way except climate, y’all can stand to have a thicker skin about insults from down South. When Americans insult you, just remember we’ve got an inferiority complex.
I’ll leave it to the reader to figure out where the irony is above.
Daniel
Thanks for your polite and intelligent response.
thanks for not cutting me an INCH of slack after I explained that perhaps I wasn’t expressing myself clearly.
Slight hijack - a great deal of this thread reminds me of an article in a recent Economist, which begins with this passage:
‘Baron, how did you find the English?
‘Very distracting. They have a form of conversation called humour, which makes everyone laugh a lot.’
‘Humour—is this like esprit?’
‘No, not really.’
‘But then how do you translate it?’
‘Well, I can’t. We in France don’t have a word for it.’
Having further contemplated the situation since my last post…
First of all, I don’t blame any American who thinks we’re being uptight about the situation. At ALL! If I put myself in their shoes, I would think it was funny too.
You have to LIVE here in Quebec to know how bad the French/English thing is. If you care to fight your own ignorance on the situation, please look up sites which will educate you on the “October Crisis”, like this one.
Though I’m French-Canadian, I went to an English school, in French-Immersion (meaning my only class in English was English). To get home, we had to pass by the French school. We got the shit kicked out of us daily. Me! A French-Canadian! But since I went to an English school, I was a ‘sympathizer’, and got the shit kicked out of myself regularly. Priviledged kids who didn’t live far enough from school for a school bus service used a taxi service to bypass the situation.
People don’t get jobs because they have an English name. English families are shunned from certain neighbourhoods. Parents (back in the days of my childhood ~ 70’s-80’s) would FORBID their children to play with “the others”.
One summer day in 1979 during a catepillar epidemic, I had the shit beaten out of me and was attacked by a dozen neighbourhood kids who put caterpillars in my clothes, up my skirt and in my panties, because my mother was “une anglophone” (English). I remember screaming at the top of my lungs, frozen in fear, as my father picked me up and brought me into the house, put me in the bathtub and sprayed the shower nozzle all over me to rinse off the caterpillars. They kept falling into the water at my feet, but wouldn’t go down the drain. They were in my privates, they were in my nose, they were everywhere.
Are you all aware of the “Office de la Langue Francaise”? They have what is commonly known as “the language police”. These people are hired by MY government to go around to businesses and literally MEASURE signs, for one. French must be twice as prominent as English on signs. If your sign has 5" French letters, and 3" English letters, you will be heavily fined. Many ‘Mom and Pop’ businesses couldn’t afford to make new signs, and suffered extreme fines ~ leading to bankruptcy. Huge department stores such as the former Eaton, had to pay for new signs, new stationnery, a new logo. Simply removing the ‘appostrophe S’ did it, but at the cost of major major money. Funnily enough, Eaton’s has since claimed bankcruptcy. This isn’t blaming the OLF completely, Timothy Eaton’s sons certainly didn’t manage the business like he did, but the OLF certainly played a big part in it. Funnily enough, another huge department store, Simpson’s, also suffered the same demise.
Many businesses just don’t want to bother coming to Quebec. It’s just too much trouble. Bad enough that we lost a lot of our corporate offices after the last close call (1995 referendum), as well as having lost a huge Anglophone population down the 401, because of the ‘political crap’, new businesses just can’t be bothered with us. Many times you may notice that contests are open to all Canadians except those in Quebec. A major reason why is all of the political crap companies have to go through (jumping hoops and such) to comply with our language laws.
More recently, in the 1995 Referendum, I lost a friend because of my vote. We were good friends at work. On the day of the vote, she called me to ask how my day was (which wasn’t unusual). I said it was a nightmare because I had to bring my 85-year-old grandmother to vote. Bringing her to Walmart was an excursion, forget voting.
“What happened?”, my friend asked. “Well,” I said, “She had problems understanding the question (which was notariously unclear). So she asked the lady at the polling station if I could come to help, (which was legally allowed). I explained the question to her in terms she would understand, and she said, ‘So I vote NO, right?’ I replied, ‘Right. Vote no if you don’t want Quebec to separate.’”
WELL! My friend proceeded to tell me to go back to where I was from (Ontario apparently~ which I had only visited twice in my life ~ being born and bred in Montreal Quebec). She thought it was unconscionable that I would “take advantage of the elderly” and sway their vote. Of course, when Grandma was 70 in the 1980 referendum, she also voted no with no help of my 9 year old self. My friend even accused me of treason, and said people like me should be arrested. Keep in mind, she’s not even a moderate separatist in comparison to what I’ve seen. Needless to say, our friendship was over. She just never called again, pretended to not see me passing in the hallways at work; I guess she was deaf the first few times I said “Hi!”. I was prepared to bury the hatchet, she wasn’t.
Quebecers celebrate St-Jean-Baptiste Day on June 24th. For a reason unknown to myself, it’s become known as “La Fete Nationale” (national holiday). But do understand what ‘national’ means in this context. “National” as in Quebec is a nation. You will find many Quebec flags flying in the days before and on this day. Huge magnificent parades, fireworks in municipal parks, celebrating “our country Quebec”. According to these people, Quebec is a separate country. A week later, on July 1st, is Canada Day. Well good luck to you if you want to fly a Canadian flag then. If you don’t get a rock through your window (minimally) you’re lucky. Going to the (much more conservative) Canada Day Parade is almost asking for problems. Ironically, the St.Patrick’s Day Parade in Montreal is one of the biggest in the world. This goes to show you that it’s more AGAINST something (English Canada) than FOR something.
Here’s another example: I used to work at the Montreal Casino. We had a pretty decent medical insurance with Sunlife. We had decent coverage at a ‘fair’ price. (Yes, surprise surprise, Canadians need supplemental medical insurance coverage). Many employees complained that our money was going ‘outside Quebec’ (Sunlife’s head office is in Ontario. USED to be in Montreal, til the separatist shit got too heavy duty and they packed up shop, as many companies did) and that we should keep our money ‘in our country’ (Quebec, to separatists). So we switched to “Desjardins” ~ a quebecois company. Just so happens our premiums doubled and our coverage was cut, but to the separatists, it made sense. Desjardins now also has the privilege of being the casino employees’ credit union. A portion of their shares go towards support of the Quebec separatist movement.
It’s one thing after another. And I’m getting out. Yes, me, with a Quebecois ‘pure laine’ paternal lineage ~ I’m outta here. I’m not going down the 401 (Trans-Canada highway), like most of my friends have. The 401 is saturated with my kind. I’m getting the fuck out of here and going to Australia. For the ones I leave behind, I’m sorry. I’m sorry because the referendum results were:
Results: 1980 YES (separate): 40.4%; NO (stay in Canada): 59.6%
Results: 1995 YES (separate): 49.4%; NO (stay in Canada): 50.6%
G-d knows what the next referendum will bring us. Of course, I realize that the No Side Votes were discounted for an X instead of a V-shaped check mark, on their ballot. I realize some No Votes were disqualified because the V-shaped check mark ended outside the box. And I realize many Yes Votes were from people in jail (with no means to vote) as well as the deceased. (There were complaints lodged about this, but since “No” won, it wasn’t looked into at great length). Makes Miami Dade seem organized. And I realize how close we were to keeping a country together this time. I realize my vote will be missed next time (as well as all the elderly I can connive into voting ‘my way’) ~ when, not if, there is a next time. But I must go. It’s been a slice, but it’s too much. There’s been a weight on my back since I can remember. And it’s over.
As for Conan, I can’t blame you either. Unless you live here, you couldn’t possibly imagine the connotations of the skit. It’s funny from the outside. It’s life-changing from the inside. It’s so bad that most of us don’t talk about it. When we do talk about it, it’s usually amongst close family. It’s our dirty little secret and we’d like to keep it that way, just for peace in our daily lives. It’s that bad.
To all Canadians, especially mes amis quebecois, please let’s not make a big deal of this. Please don’t let this turn into another laughing stock “Boobgate”. The more coverage they get, the more they know they’ve hit a sore spot. And it’s just too sore, I’m sure you’ll agree. Let’s take it on the chin and hope they go back to making fun of Poutine.
That being said, a special BBQ pit thread should go to the Toronto audience heard on the laugh track accross the country today. You laughed, heartily. It’s funny? Funny how like I’m a clown funny? Take a look around you. Toronto was the first big stop on the Quebec Exodus Bus. How many ex-quebecois do you work with? A shitload I’m sure. And how many are your neighbours? A shitload I’m sure. How many businesses do you see around you that used to have their head offices in Montreal? A shitload I’m sure. Before you laugh, take into account how many lives were uprooted because of this.
PS: Conan, as for “We’re in North America, speak the language!” I thought most Mexicans spoke Spanish (as well as a lot of Americans ~ why else would your ATM machines be bilingual)? And last time I checked, Mexico was part of North America. As far as I’m concerned, North America is Tri-Lingual. How funny. That’s what I find the most humourous in this. But I won’t get on that now.
Notice most of us aren’t taking exception to the “personality implants” joke? We can take a joke; it’s the one about a situation that threatens the very existance of our country and livelihood as we know it that isn’t funny. It’s only fair to let us live peacefully, now that the Liberals have won and the separatists seem to have subsided. Don’t give them a new bone to chew on.
Thanks for the info cheekymonkey. It’s nice of you to try and explain your position and the atomosphere in Quebec.
Although I will say I am left MORE confused. Sounds like the French contingent are…well…assholes. Why would anyone want to support people who treat other human beings like that?
As someone else in the situation, (anglo Montrealer, lived here all my life), I have to say that I think CheekyMonkey’s experiences are definitely not mine. I have never been personally harassed by a francophone for being anglo. But I do think her post shows how many people feel - everyone here feels oppressed, francophones and anglos alike.
No, you’re not understanding correctly, and never having lived in Quebec, I wouldn’t actually expect you to. However, to draw a little analogy here:
Imagine Conan went to China and did his show, dog puppet an all. During the show, the dog made fun of Tibetians. “Tibetians are stupid and they all wear those dumb ass orange robes. Bunch of weenies, and they’re all gay, even the monks.” Lets say, for kicks, that the Chinese audience laughs at this schtick.
Can you honestly say that if the Tibetians watching were offended, you would tell them they were all humourless gits who should lighten up 'cus, you know, it’s just a sock puppet, or do you think you would be able to understand why they were a tad offended?
And FWIW, I am saying that many Quebecqois feel EXACTLY the same as many from Tibet.
Okay.
Then putting all the politics asside, and going back to one of the original questions in this thread… let me ask this. If you were in germany, say, and a guy handling a puppet, with a camera crew, stopped you on the street and said:
“Got the latest german microwave that seats twelve? Bet it works great! Crispy every time! Totally soundproof, too!”
Would you find it funny because hey, it’s only a puppet? Why get so upset! It’s just a puppet! And the guys in the studio audience (conveniently not in the country) thought it was an absolute riot! He picks on everyone, after all.
See what I mean? When it hits too close to home, it’s NOT FUNNY. I’m sure we can agree to disagree on other points, but let’s agree on this one.
As for CheekyMonkey’s experience: A group of anglophone bullies in my neighbourhood would wait for the “Frogmobile” (that was our schoolbus) to stop at our corner and would throw stuff at us after school n’ beat up the kids who just didn’t run fast enough. There are assholes everywhere. It’s hard being a “minority” kid, no matter what kind.
LaurAnge… I would venture to say your upbringing was in CoteStLuc, NDG, Montreal West, Westmount, West Island? Mine was in Brossard. Could make the difference.
Heh, yep. I’m an NDG/Westmount girl. I agree, the neighborhood probably did make a huge difference. I just wanted it to be clear that it’s not like it’s all out warfare all the time.
True, that.
Same with the Scots… And the Irish… And the Basque… probably a whole bunch of welshmen, too…
Come ON, jar, now you’re just saying shit to provoke reactions out of people. For gawd’s sake. It’s like saying “I read a book about WWII and now I’m all confused. I went to Germany last summer, and the Germans really seemed like nice people! Now I know they’re all nasty people who killed the jews like it was a weekend out at the shooting range!”
Hey… I used to get attacked with shitbombs when I got off the “frogmobile” (that’d be like the “niggervan” or something, to a person of african american heritage). Why the hell wouldn’t you support our effort to get away from human beings like that?
Or my grampa, who doesn’t speak much english, being in the ER and told “sorry, we have no one here who can treat you in french…” so they couldn’t tell him what they were doing, didn’t tell him what he needed, what was going on… nothing. Just left a scared 75 year old man with a bad heart to sit there in his room, machines beeping away, without a clue as to what was going on. Ah, yes, and that’s right when we were told we didn’t NEED our french language hospital and its ER was shut down. Gee. Humane, that is. Really humane. In a city where almost 1/4 of the people living there are francophones, and their linguistic rights are actually written into constitutional documents…
I mean, come on - there are assholes on both sides of the fence, you know.
Oh probably.
Perhaps I just don’t understand why, while admitting that the puppet dog insulted a particular group, Jarbaby doesn’t get why members of that particular group might be a bit cheesed off.
It’s hard to believe that people ever viewed any part of Canada as a “less than ideal” vacation spot, what with the fact that a few poorly worded jokes could lead to a declaration of martial law.
You people are worse for tourism than the SARS virus.
. . . And now I eagerly await someone telling me that was offensive because I don’t understand how seriously people in Canada take the SARS issue.
Actually, in Conan’s early years, he found out that Houston wasn’t broadcasting his show until (something like) 3 a.m. Instead, the Houston affiliate was broadcasting repeats of Rikki Lake or Roseanne or something. So Conan went to Houston and did a bit on how horrible the city was (and years before the Super Bowl). The bit culimated with Conan making a trip to a Rice University dorm and waking up a couple students to watch his monologue – the final clip was Conan and 3 students (one of whom had fallen asleep) sitting in a darkened room, and everyone just stared, tired and unamused, at the television while Conan on tv ripped off jokes. That bit was hilarious, too.
Now, I eagerly await someone telling me that statement was offensive because I don’t understand how seriously people in Canada take Rikki Lake.
Hello. Remeber me? No, probably not. And you probably don’t care what I think after skimming through this thread, but I’m going to tell you anyway since two of my very good friends, elenfair and jarbabyj are so embroiled in it.
Triumph is just a puppet dog. I don’t think that the guy voicing him (Robert Smeigel, iirc) is a sick fuck or anything. I don’t think that Triumph’s voice represents Smeigel in the least. Triumph just says what you would expect an ignorant person to say. I, personally, think he’s funny as hell. If he were a person instead of a puppet, I would hate him. Seems like a contradiction, but i don’t think so. He’s a fucking puppet. A puppet with no feelings. He’s just making fun of whoever the victim is to make a joke. Getting upset at something a puppet says is just stupid.
That said, sometimes a joke hits a little to close to home, especially when you’re reading the words instead of seeing it live (I didn’t catch which is the case for Elenfair). If I had read those jokes and not known they were Triumph, I’d probably be upset. I’m super-fat and I don’t like fat humor all that much, so the donut joke would have rubbed me the wrong way. But it’s a puppet. Yes, he’s ignorant. That’s his thing. But I can see how someone who felt strongly on the subject would think it was horribly insensative. It would be like someone making a joke about prison rape to someone who had been raped; it just loses it’s humor.
So, in short, I think everyone is wrong. Also, everyone has a point. If you need my completely unsolicited and unhelpful opinion on anything else, let me know.