Counting only to two

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:32 AM -0400 4/19/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>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

I'm sure there were a lot of Arab-Americans and/or Muslims who were
equally relieved, if not more so.

LH

>
>On 4/19/07, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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>>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
>>
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>
>
>--
>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.
>
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