Ethnic comments - do you make funnies about your heritage
By Debs_place
@Debs_place (10520)
United States
June 21, 2008 9:40pm CST
Last Sunday I woke up to find that my previously working computer was non-functional
. We were driving along the interstate to get it fixed when my husband and myself saw a truck towing a row boat, the name on it was Polish Yacht. We laughed hysterically at this.
Now both my husband and myself are Polish and we did not find it offensive but I know my father would have found it offensive.
So my question is -- do you tell jokes involving your own ethnic background? Do you find it funny if someone of another ethnic background tells them?
Can you laugh at yourself? Do you think people are just too sensitive about these types of things?
BTW - The computer was affected by a power surge, it is fine now, as you can see - but get surge protectors if you don't have them and replace the old ones....they wear out!
. We were driving along the interstate to get it fixed when my husband and myself saw a truck towing a row boat, the name on it was Polish Yacht. We laughed hysterically at this.Now both my husband and myself are Polish and we did not find it offensive but I know my father would have found it offensive.
So my question is -- do you tell jokes involving your own ethnic background? Do you find it funny if someone of another ethnic background tells them?
Can you laugh at yourself? Do you think people are just too sensitive about these types of things?
BTW - The computer was affected by a power surge, it is fine now, as you can see - but get surge protectors if you don't have them and replace the old ones....they wear out!1 person likes this
5 responses
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
22 Jun 08
Why did you have to mention surge protectors going bad?? Mine is six years old and I do not want to replace it ever. So far, it is doing fine. If my computer went out, I would probably snap long before I figured out that it was the surge protector.
As for the ethnic jokes, I use to be the type that felt that a joke was a joke and if it made me laugh, I was all for it. I am very careful about such things now. I live in Santa Monica,California now. I live around quite a few who still have hatred for my people. When they make jokes about any ethnic groups, it's just not funny to me. They are attempting to be hurtful and insulting.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
22 Jun 08
Surge protectors wear out - you won't know it is bad until you find your computer gone south one day after a lightning storm. The guys at the Apple store enlightened me. Said to get a new one, keep track of the age and warranty and always replace it before the warranty expires.
I don't know what you are ethnically, but I find it hard to believe that anybody in California would still harbor that kind of prejudice, California always seemed to me to be so free and easy, a place that would not get hung up on such stupid things as race or ethnic background. I guess I was wrong.
1 person likes this
@gberlin (3836)
•
23 Jun 08
Mott ethnic jokes are based on stereotypes that we have about others. I myself can laugh at jokes about my ethnicity. My father was born in Italy and come to the US when he was 13 1/2. My mother's parents were from Sweden. I have never heard any jokes about Swedes but I have heard many about Italians.
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
22 Jun 08
I'm more Dutch than anything. An old favorite is, "Why do Dutchmen carry feces in their pocket?". The answer is, "Spare parts.". I know many more, but that's enough for now.
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
22 Jun 08
You know that is the first Dutch joke I have ever heard. You have expanded my horizons. Thank you
1 person likes this
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
22 Jun 08
Obviously, you were not raised in an area rich in Dutch heritage. Where I was raised that's mostly what we heard. The non-Dutch among us spread them far and wide.
@fwidman (11514)
• United States
22 Jun 08
Glad to see the computer is fixed :)
I am Irish, German and Polish and I never make jokes about any of those peoples. But, I have been told lots of them through the years and, if they are not hateful jokes, I laugh at them. If I had seen that boat, I know I would have laughed a lot at that name!
1 person likes this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
22 Jun 08
I think that people people are just too sensitive but I am never sure just who is. My son as a freshman in high school spent a week at a lacrosse camp with his best friend from school. He came back with a ton of Jewish jokes, I felt some of them were inappropriate (some of them involved ovens) and said did you realize your friend is Jewish - he said yep, who do you think told me them? The child heard them from his father.
