Counting only to two

[Wilson Gray]

What I had to say about Gypsies wasn't meant to be funny. The fact of
the matter is that stereotypes are all too often extensions of
reality. A recent unfortunate example is the shootings at VA Tech. I
was deathly afraid that the shooter would turn out to be black. When
it became clear that he was *not* some crack-crazed, black street thug
who'd lost what was left of his mind after he was finally dumped by
the naive, white-liberal, teen coed that he'd been pimping off of, a
great weight was lifted from my shoulders.

-Wilson

On 4/19/07, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Counting only to two
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4/18/2007 08:33 PM, Wilson wrote:
> >You left out the funny part of that story, Joel. ;-)
>
> What part did I leave out?  I didn't see it below  :-)
>
> Joel
>
> >As for Gypsies, they've been making a good living off the colored for
> >dekkids. As the saying goes, "When you find a good horse, ride it to
> >death." Gypsy fortune-tellers are mentioned in any number of blues and
> >rhythm-&-blues songs. Gypsies posing as Native Americans collecting
> >money for rehabbing the educatonal facillities of reservations once
> >conned me and some friends out of money. The story in the local paper
> >warning that Gypsies running this game had hit town came too late to
> >save us. But, at least I was able to recognize this particular con,
> >the second time that I came across it. The Gypsies hadn't changed the
> >game at all, another way of riding a good horse to death. The only
> >thing different was the location. They succeeded in conning me in
> >Porter Square in Cambridge.
> >When they hit on me again in Boston''s
> >Downtown Crossing about twenty years later, I knew better than to go
> >for the okey-doke.
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On 4/18/07, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >>Subject:      Re: Counting only to two
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>And then there is the tale of the two Romanian noblemen (as told by
> >>either Victor Borge or Theodore Bikel) who had a contest -- who could
> >>name the larger number.
> >>
> >>The first thought for a moment, and said "two".
> >>
> >>The second thought for a while longer, and then said "I give up."
> >>
> >>(This probably immediately preceded, or followed, the slur that a
> >>gypsy would sell you his mother, but a Romanian gypsy would deliver.)
> >>
> >>Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                                      -Sam'l Clemens

"Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org