It's always difficult to blog an ethnic joke. TYWKIWDBI has had readers in 212 countries, so no matter what nationality or ethnic group I choose, some reader might take offense. I guess that's why movies use zombies and aliens for the bad guys.
My mother's family was Norwegian, and it was considered acceptable in my childhood to make jokes about Swedes. We also told Ole and Lena jokes about Norwegians when my grandpa wasn't around. But I'll target the Swedes for this one.
How do you keep a Swede busy all day? (Answer at the link).
(Reposted by request from 2010).
Oh, you got me. You got me GOOD. And as a half-blood Norwegian, it shouldn't have taken me so long!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, you got me good there...
ReplyDeleteAw man... Substitute "Internet junkie" as the ethnicity and I fit.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Swedish...but you got me good. ha!
ReplyDeleteHaha Im swedish, i totally fell for that :D
ReplyDeleteWe joke about Norwegians all the time so it's totally okey! The funny thing is that most of the jokes from Norway are the same jokes as we tell about Norwegians :D or the other way around depending on where you're from :)
That would be an interesting post- what ethnic groups are made fun of by others. For example, here in France, 'Polish jokes' (as we'd call them in the US) have BELGIANS as their victims. Wonder who gets the short end of the comedy stick in other cultures...?
ReplyDeleteAlso regional differences, for example both the extreme north of France AND the south get made fun of equally- the north for being alcoholics living in a climate so cold all you can do is drink, and the south for many of the same reasons Southerners are mocked in the states- the accent, being slow, etc... They even have their own set of 'rednecks' who come from a fairly rural and isolated region in the center of the country called L'Auvergne. Fascinating, I think...
Very funny. But it's alright, we can take it!
ReplyDeleteGot me, and yes my heritage is mostly Norwegian.
ReplyDeleteThe high-tech version of writing on both sides of a piece of paper, "PLEASE TURN OVER."
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many links you'd have to loop together in a chain before someone would follow it indefinitely.
A colleague of mine asked me "how do you know if a Norwegian is an extrovert?" Answer "he's looking at Y O U R shoes!". The colleague was actually Norwegian.
ReplyDeleteLet me suggest you get some akvavit -
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akvavit
- to share with your colleague and while doing so read him some Ole and Lena jokes:
http://loveforlife.com.au/content/08/03/06/ole-and-lena-jokes-jokes
My grandparents lived in Stoughton, WI for many years. Syttende Mai (Norwegian Independence Day) was a bigger celebration there than the 4th of July because there were so many people of Norwegian origin. I heard so many Ole jokes and Swede jokes I couldn't count them all. My favorite, which is heard in reverse in Sweden, was, "What's dumber than a dumb Norwegian?" Answer: A smart Swede.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Stoughton for Syttende Mai. It's a great town and festival.
DeleteNot being a Swede or from the US, I don't get it. A Swede will keep on clicking to get the answer? But someone has blogged the whole thing on their own blog
ReplyDeletehttp://news-blog4u.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/how-to-keep-swede-busy-all-day.html
Word for word with the apology to people from California and Oregon but without a single word of acknowlegement for the source. That's' rude, in my view.
Anon, that other "blog" is a carbon copy of my blog - word for word, post for post, with my name deleted and "Tony" inserted. I don't know who did it or why, or how to have it erased.
DeleteYou can report it to the Hosting site- http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=contact_policy&blog_ID=3707633674645505153&blog_URL=http://news-blog4u.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-keep-swede-busy-all-day.html
DeleteThis is the page that came up when I clicked on report abuse from that website. Most servers take copying very seriously, they even have as one of their options to report impersonations. Hope this helps :)
Kiterea
Thank you, Kiterea. It's worth a try...
DeleteYes, I am part Swedish, and yes, you got me! I was going to leave a Norwegian joke, but never mind!
ReplyDeleteBeing a "full bleed" Iowegian, I have always been proud of the fact that when we tell jokes about how stupid someone is (AKA Polack jokes) they are Norwegian jokes. For some reason Norwegians think it is clever to say we are dumb. It agrees with our sensibilities.
ReplyDelete