Drat! I've been foiled by a superior female mind... again!! :damn:

I never met a tater dumpling that couldn't be buried under a heap of sauerkraut. :DL

*nom* :yeah:

I think it was actually a superior female appetite. This time. :D

Sailor Steve,

I get your point.
And with this one type of humor, the question remains: where is the border between "having fun" and "making fun of" (mocking).

It's at a different level for each person. It varies with the mood of the day. It depends on the perception of "balance", on personal experiences, on the context, on the "quality" of the joke. It's easy to take this type of joke as a joke one time, two times, three times, but the higher it goes in frequency, the higher the chances are that the target gets tired about the joke. Especially when people who really mean to insult happen to come along (and since the 2nd war in Irak, I came across a certain amount of such people), which was hopefully not the case in this topic.

I think it's nothing new for any of us. It's a debate many others had before.


Jimbuna,
other comments included, for example, that the Roman empire didn't have its border stop to Italy and France but that they included England as well, that the USA also took its troops back from Vietnam and things like that. There is no point, since you meant to joke.
But thus, it's not about me having a personal difficulty in understanding or about an inability to embrace the meaning of a joke, it's rather about the context and the other above mentioned reasons.
And yes, like MikiBzh said, having different cultures and languages can also cause misunderstanding.

Out of curiosity, do many jokes of that type make it to the Subsim news, out of April's fool day (or even during)?

Excellent points, and the rest of your post too. The Vietnam point is well taken, especially by me. And of course the British have had their fair share of failures, as have everyone else. We try to keep it in good fun here, and Jim is one of the best when you get to know him.

I've always said that anyone who can't laugh at himself has no business laughing at anyone else.

As for joking about national stereotypes, here's one Jim made about America:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...&postcount=165

And my reply:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...&postcount=170

Well let's give the cons a turn:

An Australian ends up next to a British soldier in the trenches during World War II.

The British soldier turns to him and says, "Good to see you, mate. Have you come here to die?"

To which the Australian replies, "No, mate, I came here yesterday!"

How about the yanks:

A young British soldier lost his head during a fire fight and ran for cover some distance from the action.
He had not only lost his prized beret but had also lost his webbing and weapon.
He was crouched down behind a wall when he felt a hand grip his shoulder and heard a calming American voice behind him say, "What the **** do you think you're doing here, soldier? Think of your regiment...get back there and do what you're paid to do."
The young soldier got himself back under control and said, "Sorry, mate, you're right."
The voice behind him bellowed, "MATE? I am an American Officer!"
The young soldier replied, "Sorry, Sir, I didn't realise I'd run back that far."

The Brits even:

A squad of british soldiers were patrolling the Iraqi border, when they came across a badly mangled dead body. As they got closer, they found it was an Iraqi soldier.
A short distance up the road, they found a badly mangled British soldier in a ditch on the other side of the road, struggling to breathe. They ran to him, cradled his bruised head and asked him what had happened.
"Well," he whispered, "I was walking down this road, armed to the teeth when I came across this heavily armed Iraqi border guard. I looked him right in the eye and shouted, 'Saddam Hussein is a moronic, deceitful, lying piece of trash!'"
"He looked me right in the eye and shouted back, 'Gordon Brown is a moronic, deceitful, lying piece of trash too!'"

"We were standing there shaking hands when a truck hit us."



I'd be lying though if I didn't admit this one has always been my favourite:

An elderly British gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane.

At the French immigration desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag.

"You have been to France before, Monsieur?" the immigration officer asked, sarcastically.

The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously.

"Then you should know well enough to have your passport ready."

The British gentleman says, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. The British always have to show their passports on arrival in France!"

The elderly gentleman gave the French immigration Officer a long hard look.

Then he quietly explained;

"Well, the last time I was here, I came ashore on Juno Beach on D-Day in June 1944, and I couldn't find any *******ing Frenchmen to show it to."

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2772/thumbsupgv0.gif

You're so right.

We'll soon have enough material here to issue a joke book :woot:

I haven't been around here long, but that article is the first one of that vein I've read since joining.

Dear Santa,

Thank you for my super soaker 5000, I am now the best armed British soldier in Afghanistan!

Here's one I read in a book on WW2 air combat, and it claimed it was true.

Swirling dogfight over the Pacific, with a mixed bag of American and British planes trying to escape a superior Japanese group. Over the radio come a yank screaming "Oh God, they're all over me! Somebody help me!"

The reply is from a Brit: "I say, old Chap. There are more than a few of us in the same pickle. Do shut up and take it like a man!"

:har:

I believe in equal opportunity swiping, and I do so love British stereotypes, so Steves one hit the mark there :har:

Here's some towards our Germanic colleagues:

:O::03:

For those of us who are fortunate enough to be Geordies :DL

General Custer is standing on a hill overlooking the Little Big Horn. In the distance he can hear Sitting Bull's braves pounding on their drums.

He turns to a little Geordie soldier in his ranks, "Listen" he says, "they have war drums."

The Geordie replies, "Why, man! The effin', thievin' ba*tards..."

Heheheh,

Good one Jimbuna. That particular history line was found by us [as well as 100,000,000 others in the world ;)] at my place of work. We laughed quite a bit and then posted it on the notice board.

For those of you that want to give it a go ... go to www.google.com then type in the search box French Military Victories. After you do that make sure to click the box I'm feeling lucky. Takes you to a fake page with a link. Pretty funny stuff we thought.

[However, I can also understand how it might upset some.]

Here is one that you all might enjoy:

My father was out one day driving for enjoyment [don't ask it is just one of those things he does]. He pulled into a Mom and Pop type diner, sat down at the bar counter and ordered his lunch. Shortly thereafter, a State Police Officer enters the diner and my father asks the officer to join him.

The officer sits down and they start talking. During the course of the conversation, the officer relates the following:

You know, yesterday I was sitting out on the highway running radar on this back-highway all day long. Now, I know people speed like mad down that particular stretch of road but I was unable to clock anyone speeding at all. I was bored and a little frustrated because I just knew people were letting each other know I was out there. In any event, right near the end of my shift I clock this car traveling 110 mph in a 55 mph zone. Triumphant, I turned on my lights activated my siren and pulled the offender over. I was feeling rather cocky that I finally had caught someone and I sauntered up to the driver side door. Inside I saw a young man of about 20 and I said,

"Sir, I've been waiting for you allllllllll day."

To which the kid replied,

"I'm sorry officer .... I got here as fast as I could."

The officer informed my father he started laughing and just couldn't bring himself to ticket the kid. Let him go with a warning.

*Disclaimer*

My father told me this story. I dunno if it's true or not it could be just another one of his jokes.

This is where #9 originated from :DL