posted
I was just curious if this phenomena exists anywhere else.
It just seems that, among the people I know, it's very common for a friend to make a terribly offensive joke or comment to someone and get a laugh. And when I say get a laugh, I mean everyone including the person the joke or comment was directed too. And I'm talking racial jokes, jokes about body type, the old blonde jokes, sex jokes and even the occasional "dead baby" joke.
I ask because, when I find myself in that situation (and I've made plenty of the jokes myself), I always realize that if anyone who didn't know us was listening in, they'd think we all hated eachother and were horribly un-PC.
Is this normal behavior, or at least somewhat common? Or is it unique? I admit, almost everyone I know and lumped into this group is either a theater major or a film major, so that might have something to do with it. Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I'm an evil, un-PC racist, and I'm going straight to hell. And anyone who's eavesdropping on my private conversation can get over it.
Posts: 226 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
My current group of co-workers is kind of like that. There are three or four of us that are often shockingly rude to one another, but we are pretty close. We like to hang out with each other outside of work, on occasion, etc.
Every once in a while one of the women in the group seems to get a little fed up with it, and the others try to back off. It's a strange phenomenon, I'll grant you, but I don't think it's uncommon.
It's probably a nightmare for an HR person who most likely thinks such groups are a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
I do not, because I possess an almost Aspergers-like inability to read other people's feelings in person, and know when I've gone too far. I always try to play it safe, and even then I still piss people off all the time without meaning to. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Ethnic jokes might be uncouth (but you laugh because they're based on truth) They're not meant as personal attacks, Everone enjoys them, so relax. P: Okay, stop me if you've heard this one K: ok P: There's a plane going down, and there's only one parachute, and there's a rabbi, a priest... K: and a BLACK guy! G: Watchu talkin' about, Kate? You were tellin' a BLACK joke! P: Well sure, Gary, lots of people tell black jokes G: I don't. P: Well sure you dont, you're black. But I bet you tell Pollack jokes, right? G: Sure do, those stupid Pollacks!
I'd just like to say that I copied this from memory. *gives Avenue Q CD a hug*
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:And when I say get a laugh, I mean everyone including the person the joke or comment was directed too(sic). And I'm talking ... even the occasional "dead baby" joke.
So you've gotten dead babies to laugh at your jokes?
quote: Ethnic jokes might be uncouth (but you laugh because they're based on truth) They're not meant as personal attacks, Everone enjoys them, so relax.
Let me just go on the record here as saying that I don't actually enjoy ethnic jokes.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I usually don't either, I find them distasteful. Some are worse than others, though, and a lot of it depends on the situation and the people involved.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I had a friend who used to love to tell me Mormon jokes. I thought it was generally pretty funny, until one day he told a joke about crossing a Mexican and a Mormon. He couldn't figure out why I would be offended. Posts: 285 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Personally, I can't get enough of Terry Pratchett's ethnic jokes involving dwarves, trolls and such. Men at Arms is full of them.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I read something really cool about ethnic jokes, but I can't remember where. You know all those polish jokes, right....the dumb Polish ones? Turns out that most of them have only been around since WWII, because before that they were dumb Irish jokes, or dumb Italian jokes...
During WWII, in the invasion of Poland, the poles were decimated by German tank devisions. Most of the Poles had very little equipment, and were not ready to take on those Panzer divisions, but they fought anyway...for their country, for their families, and for their homes.
They led horse charges against the tank divisions, not really understanding how effective tanks had become.....no one really knew how effective they were, and one of the old ways of dealing with tanks had been to ride up to them and attach bombs to them, or throw grenades into them.
However, the Panzer divisions chewed them up bad...really bad. The Poles knew they were toast, but they fought as best as they could anyway, because they felt they had to....and rather than being honored for their bravery, people began shifting all the old "dumb" joke from the old nationalities they had originally been targeted at to the Polish.
So, think of that the next time you feel like making a Polish joke, ok?
(BTW, Polish is about the ONLY nationality I am not...I am a mutt, but not Polish at all )
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I think a LOT of it depends on context. I know some people who can kid with me about personal things or say stuff that I would take completely differently coming from an acquaintance.
Example: My ex-roommate and I used to trade back and forth stereotypical female insults at each other which I won't name in this family friendly forum. "You...!" "Yeah, you....!" We'd keep going back and forth until we ran out of those names and then we'd start calling each other names of convservative politicians or pundits we didn't like. It was very funny. *remembers fondly.*
But it would be COMPLETELY different coming from someone who was A) male and/or B) someone I didn't know well. We didn't start doing this until a year or so after we started living together, either.
Another thing is that she and a friend of hers would call each other "fag" (she was lesbian, he was gay) but I would never have insulted her, even playfully about that, because it would've been different coming from me (being that I was straight). We had conversations about this exact topic a couple of times. Different words have different meanings coming from different people.
Personally, I don't tell racial/ethnic jokes, and neither do the majority of my friends. (Although, if I were to tell those jokes, it would almost certainly be done only in the company of the friends I know well, because I don't think they'll misread me.)
We do make personal comments/jokes/insults to one another, but seldom done in a manner that's anything other than obviously playful/affectionate. E.G., my friends are allowed to tease me about my breast size. It's a running joke. I don't mind, and I generally find it funny. But ONLY if we're at a certain point in our relationship. It's a matter of comfort with others, of knowing how sensitive they are to certain topics, and of being confident that they'll understand your intent.
Another example: I could tease my ex-roommate (not the lesbian, a different ex-roommate) and she could tease me about body size/image issues (with limits). However, current roommate and I can't do that with one another. She has major, major, major body-image issues, and i'm more sensitve about my weight when I'm around her, so it's just not something we do, and we know each other well enough to be aware of that. However, we CAN (and do) joke around with each other on a variety of other topics.
posted
There is nothing sacred between my friends and I. We will make fun of eachother's religion, race, nationality, everything. Not only that, but when making fun of eachother we use all the "no-no" words in the book.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Me and my old high-school buddies used to toss around racial insults and jokes at each other all the time, and we all got a good laugh out of it. It works for 3 reasons: 1) we're a very diverse group. Of the five of us who are closest, there's one black male (me), one Indian male, one white male, one white female, and one Chinese female. I imagine that it wouldn't seem as playful if the group was comprised of say, 4 white guys and one black guy. 2) We're all very good friends who understand and share each other's sense of humour. 3) (Most important of all) None of us is actually racist! Racist jokes are just a way of laughing at society's stereotypes.
*Edit* We also used to joke that none of us could ever run for public office without being blackmailed, because we're all heard each other say some pretty offensive things which the press would have a field day with
posted
Ethnic jokes are funny when used to make fun of people who hold the racist beliefs you're portraying.
But you can't state that that's why you're using them, otherwise it becomes corny again. So it all depends on tone and whether you know the person or not.
They're also used for shock humour.
I hate this attitude that it depends who's saying what that makes it funny. If an Irish person makes fun of the Irish it's just as funny to me as if a non-Irish person did. Especially among friends, there should be no limit to what friends can say to each other as you know who your friends really are behind the jokes. You know they aren't racists or whatever.
That's why this place always seems so cold. It caters to the people who are frightningly uptight about humour and everyone is held to their standards.
Posts: 3564 | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
You'll find groups of people like that all over I have a feeling. My friends and I do it though we stick more closely to the legendary dead baby/helen keller line of jokes these days. Racist jokes don't get to me or my friends if we tell it in private, and we all understand its a joke. My friends are fairly diverse (Indian Male, White Male(me), Korean Male, Irish Female, and a Columbian Female, Gay Male, Lesbian Female) so when jokes go, we understand they are meant just as that, jokes, more amused at the stereotypes and the timing of the punchline, rather then at the offensiveness of the actual comments. But I have a feeling everyone aroudn the age of 20ish has a group of friends or knows someone with a group of friends that do this on occassion.
Posts: 84 | Registered: Apr 2005
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