Asturian-American Migration Forum

A man is walking down a street, sees a sign on a storefront that says "CANNIBAL MEAT MARKET". Curiously... and carefully... he goes inside. On a wall in back of a display case reads a sign "BRAINS BY THE POUND". The man goes over to the case, and there he sees four types of brains for sale: ENGLISH BRAINS $7.99 LB........ GERMAN BRAINS $8.25 LB...... POLISH BRAINS $ 8.00 LB........SPANISH BRAINS $950.00 LB.
The man asks the cannibal attendant who is beside the case " How come Spanish brains are so expensive compared to the rest, it's outrageous!"
The attendant looks at the man and says "Buddy, do you know how many Spaniards we have to kill to make one pound?......."

Whomever wrote that did it with the intention of putting down Spaniards. Somebody should tell him/her that there is no such thing as a ‘Spanish’ man, men from Spain are Spaniards.

Ironic that he/she would attempt to make a putdown joke based on brain size...

OK, maybe we should all understand that Pepe's joke is that of a Spaniard telling a joke about Spaniards. It may be good or bad, but when did it become politically incorrect to make jokes about oneself?

Eli, I believe you folks living in the USA are just too touchy about everything. It is my impression that most of you are just not used to being mocked and teased anymore like previous generations, everybody get their feelings hurt for the most trivial reasons.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Vale, a lo mejor habría que explicar que el chiste de Pepe es de un español sobre los españoles. Puede ser bueno o malo, pero ¿desde cuándo es políticamente incorrecto hacer chistes sobre uno mismo?

Eli, creo que los que vivís en EE.UU. soys demasiado quisquillosos para todo. Tengo la impresión de que sencillamente no estais acostumbrados a que os tomen el pelo y se burlen, como nos pasó a todas las generaciones anteriores, ahora la gente se ofende por las cuestiones más triviales.

Good point Terechu, I agree with the first paragraph, for better or worse we can and should all be able to make fun of ourselves, lest we begin to take ourselves too seriously.

On the second part we will have to agree to disagree, as I see it entirely differently, allow me to explain. While I agree with the sentiment on a personal level i/e if somebody was to tell me that joke in person it would be OK, when addressing an audience no larger than a group of friends it may be a joke in poor taste, but a joke nonetheless. When it is said in an environment such as this, a column in a periodical, or any medium in which the audience is potentially larger than a group of close friends IMO different rules should apply.

We as people, are what we think we are, in large part what we think we are is molded by what society thinks we are. Society is ‘made’ by people like you, the poster and I. If any one of us makes a joke with a derogatory tone or a putdown intent and this is accepted with nay a comment on the intent, it becomes accepted and the practice acceptable. While one “joke”, one comment, one putdown, does not a vision of ourselves make, when the practice becomes acceptable everybody, including the afflicted, start following the practice. In the end, we informally stablish different levels within society in this case the Spaniards would be ‘accepted’ as being less intellectually and otherwise by everybody else, and worse yet, by themselves. This is not a matter of simple speculation, it is a fact. If you want to see what becomes of people that see themselves as less than the rest of the population come to America and take a look at the plight of the Native Americans, it is the same no matter were you are, in Patagonia, Puno or Arauca, for the Aymaras, the Quechuas, the Araucanos, the Humahuacas, the Diaguitas, the Kalchaquíes, the Apaches, the Crow and many other tribes for whom although the physical and political oppression ended some time ago, they still in large part believe themselves to be less than the rest, in large part because that’s what the rest believe of them.

A wise man once said “Unless we learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them”. In Castillian we have a saying that is valid in any language “Quien calla acata”


=================

Tienes razon Terechu, estoy de acuerdo con el primer parrafo. Uno debe poder reirse de si mismo, si no comenzamos a tomarnos muy seriamente.

Sobre la segunda parte vamos a tener que aceptar nuestras diferencias, ya que yo lo veo completamente distinto, dejame que me explique. Aunque estoy de acuerdo con el sentimiento de lo que dices, eso se aplicaria si se dice entre un grupo de amigos. Cuando la posible audiencia es mas grande que un grupo de amigos algo asi como este forum, una columna en el periodico o en cualquier otro medio en mi opinion las reglas de etiqueta son, o deberian ser distintas.

Como personas somos lo que creemos de nosotros mismos, en gran parte nuestra imagen propia es influenciada por lo que la sociedad piense de nosotros. La sociedad esta compuesta de gente como tu, el listero y yo. Si cualquiera de nosotros dice un chiste con tono o intencion derogatoria y los demas lo aceptan sin un comentario al respecto, el chiste es aceptado y el hacer este tipo de chistes se convierte en practica. Mientras que un chiste o comentario derogatorio no va a hacer una vision de nosotros mismos, una vez que la practica se convierte en algo aceptable, todos, incluyendo a los afligidos siguen la practica. A fin de cuentas el resultado es establecer diferentes niveles dentro de la sociedad, en este caso estamos aceptando el que los Españoles son inferiores intelectualmente y en otras maneras, una vez que aceptamos esto el se vean de esta manera es una cosa natural. Esto no es pura especulacion, esto es un hecho. Si quieres ver lo que pasa con grupos de gente que se ven a si mismos como inferiores a los demas date una vuelta por America y fijate en la situacion de las populaciones oriundas, sin tener en cuenta donde se encuentren de Patagonia a Puno o Arauca, para los Aymaras, los Quechuas, los Araucanos, los Humahuacas, los Diaguitas, los Kalchaquíes, los Apache, los Crow y muchas otras tribus para quienes aunque la opresion tanto fisica como politica acabo hace ya algun tiempo, ellos se ven a si mismos como inferiores a los demas, en gran parte porque así los ven los demas.

Algun sabio dijo "A menos de que aprendamos las lecciones de la historia, estamos condenados a repetirla". En Castellano tenemos un dicho que se aplica en cualquier idioma "Quien calla acata"

Eli: ¿no querras decir "quien calla OTORGA?"

A very interesting conversation. For our English speakers, Eli's saying ("Quien calla acata") translates roughly as "who remains silent, agrees (treats with honor, respects)." Mafalda's phrase, "quien calla otorga" is about the same in English. I think it would be more traditionally phrased as "silence equals consent."

I grew up with many kids of Italian and Polish heritage, and we used to joke about one another's (stereotyped) ethnic heritage all the time. It had a bit of an edge to it from time to time, but was all done in good humor. The world was much less politically correct back then, and we all got along and are still friends.

Haven't you all noticed that since political correctness has permeated every fibre of Society humour has disappered?
Monty Python would not be able to make any of their classic madcap films these days - they would be killed by some fanatic or cause a major diplomatic incident. No film studio would risk filming "Life of Brian" or "Holy Grail" or "The meaning of Life" nowadays.
On the other hand, since Britons can no longer pick on Germans or French (or Spaniards - remember "Faulty Towers" with that dorkey Spanish waiter?), their whole comedy industry is in shambles. It's a pity. I loved that dorky Spanish waiter who used to drive John Cleese crazy!!
---------------------------------------------------------------
No os habéis dado cuenta de que desde que la corrección política ha penetrado en la fibra misma de la sociedad ha desaparecido el humor?
Los Monty Python no podrían hacer ninguna de sus clásicas alocadas peliculas en los tiempos que corren - los mataría algún fanático o desencadenarían algún incidente diplomático del copón. Ningún estudio se atrevería a filmar "Vida de Brian" o "El Santo Grial" o "El sentido de la vida" hoy en día.
Por otra part, desde que los británicos ya no pueden meterse con alemanes y franceses (y españoles - os acordáis de aquel camarero español alelado de Faulty Towers?), su industria de la comedia está en ruinas. Es una lástima. A mí me encantaba el camarero alelado español que volvía loco a John Cleese!

¡¡¡ GLUB !!! debo estar dislexica, en el mensaje de Eli leí "ATACA" en vez de "ACATA"

Evidentemente, eso cambiaría mucho el sentido del refrán.
Gracias Bob.

Sopa! me equivoque. Mafalda tiene razon, el refran es 'El que calla otorga' no se con que otro lo he confundido arriba.... tal vez acata sea una version mal dicha del mismo refran... no se.

Excelente traduccion Bob, la diferencia entre las palabras es sutil.

==============

Soup!* my bad. Mafalda is right, the saying is 'he who remains silent, agrees' don't know what else did I got it confused it with... it may be just a poor version of the saying... don't know.

Excellent translation Bob, the difference between the words is sutil.

* Mafalda was a comic strip when the world was young and long haired humanoids roamed the earth, as all children she hated soup, and so, Soup! became her trademark curse word.

When there are two sides speaking, with which side does the silent "he" agree?

btw: can i subtly suggest that "sutil" should be "subtle"?

I heared Pepe's joke many years ago in slightly different form. Substitute whatever enthicities you like, of course, but the punchine was "Did you ever try to clean one of those bastards?"

If we can't laught at ourselves as well as at and with others, we are in big trouble. I am not among the politically correct except when humor or comments are intended to hurt others.

So tell me more abut the Mafalda comic strip. I've never seen it.

The joys of academic life. We tend to follow our curiosities whereever they may go. As my wife often says to me "you have far too much free time."

Since I learned that Mafalda was a comic strip (not just the name of one of our members) a few minutes ago, I of course had to track it down. Here's a link that may make the humor evident to both castellanohablantes and anglohablantes.

http://www.turning-pages.com/mafalda/

Eli, lighten up. It' a joke. Besides, I HAVE A VERY DARK AND SOMETIMES POETICALLY INCORRECT SENSE OF HUMUS..........so chill out everything is going to be otay. Bob and Terechu understand entirely.

IT'S A JOKE.

Oh, by the way Bob, I grew up in the same kind of neighborhood here in the Pittsburgh area. Nothing was sacred when it came to ethnic humor, and everybody got along just fine. Which is why I can speak a little bit of a lot of different languages, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Arabic, Yiddish, Romany, Slovak, etc., but Politically Correct is not one of them....

I'm not even going to touch "sense of humus".

The Buylla surname doesnt remind me of anything, and I can't find any cognates in my dictionaries. I'll check my DALLA in a couple of days, when we return to Rockport.