Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"] (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Robin Hamilton]

> The best versions of this joke aren't shiftable, though, and I was
> hoping the Irish version would have been more specific.

That's interesting, and the examples you give.  Seems to turn on the degree
of specificity.  Links to George's point on another thread about slang being
a useful window on social custom.

I'll see if I can come on anything Irish-specific.  There has to be
something, especially with the Provos from the time before Gerry Adams and
Matt McGuinness became respectable.

(I was at that time working for BT on the telephones in London, and found
out from someone who said he was connected to the Provos -- he retailed this
to me with a degree of relish that was quite disconcerting -- that that made
me a "legitimate target".  All so long ago.)

Robin

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 6:48 PM
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"] (UNCLASSIFIED)

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> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"] (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>
> The best versions of this joke aren't shiftable, though, and I was
> hoping the Irish version would have been more specific.
>
> For example, there are a few such jokes about students of the various
> SEC schools (I'm a UT Knoxville grad).
>
> How many Vanderbilt students etc.
>
> Three.  One to mix drinks, one to call Daddy, and one to send for the
> janitor. (referring to the stereotype of Vandy students being the
> Southern version of Harvard students).
>
> How many Alabama students etc.
>
> Five.  One to change the bulb, and four to talk about how good the old
> bulb was (referring to the Crimson Tide's problems in finding a football
> coach who was as good as or was a student/disciple of Bear Bryant, from
> Bryant's death up until the hiring of Nick Saban.  The passage of time
> and Saban's success may kill this version).
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of
>> Robin Hamilton
>> Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 11:30 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"] (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
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>> -
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"]
> (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
>> -
>>
>> From: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>>
>> > So, uh, how many Irishmen/Provos/etc. _does_ it take to change a
>> > lightbulb?
>>
>> Here's one version (change ethnicity at will):
>>
>>         Three -- one to stand on the chair and hold the light bulb,
> and two
>> others to lift the chair and turn it around.
>>
>> Another (again, change ethnicity at will) on the same lines would be:
>>
>>         How does an Irishman work out how many horses there are in a
> field?
>>
>>         He counts the number of legs and divides by four.
>>
>> While it's possible to shift the ethnic identity of the figures
> against whom
>> the joke is addressed -- so you could for instance replace "Irish" in
> the
>> version above with "Polish", and I'd guess in America by "redneck" --
>> Dumb-As-Shit jokes aren't *absolutely trans-racial.  I can't imagine a
> Scot
>> or a Jew figuring, because anti-Scottish and anti-Jewish jokes turn on
>> different stereotypes, the Scots for instance being notoriously mean
> (in the
>> sense of tight with their cash).
>>
>> Go figure.
>>
>> Robin
>>
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