hallo, i'm writing from italy and i need your help to translate some expressions:
-what are TRUE ROMANCE MAGAZINES?
-whate are BUNGALOW COLONIES?
-whate are LUNCH-COUNTER PROTESTANTS?
-what are CHITLINS?
thanks a lot
michela
chitlins is the shortened (probably Black, certainly southern) form of chitterlings, hog intestines prepared as food. Fried, in fact.
True Romance Magazines are goopy love stories, the print equivalent of soap operas, and they appeal to the same audience that likes gothic romance novels of the heaving bosom sort.
I don't know what bungalow colonies are without some context to go on--guessing, I'd say it was a term for a blue collar suburb.
I don't know what lunch-counter Protestants are without some context. Guessing again, I'd bet it had to do with people whose faith was more evident by their lunch-counter conversation than by their attendance at Sunday worship--in other words, people who are loudly sure what God thinks without checking out their presuppositions with a dose of exposure to what God thinks. But please don't overlook my "guessing" preface.
thank you very much for your kindness in replying so quickly
actually i'm translating a book about a song ('strange fruit')sung by billie holiday and those expressions come from there
thanks again
michela
> -what are TRUE ROMANCE MAGAZINES?
-whate are BUNGALOW COLONIES?
-whate are LUNCH-COUNTER PROTESTANTS?
True romance magazines: an oxymoron referring to (usually) cheap, (usually) trashy pulp mags that are the periodical equivalent of oh darn "bodice busters???"
Bungalow colonies are most likely suburbs or subdivisions. This is SWAG (simply wild-assed guess) but for some reason I think it might be from South Africa. No idea why.
Lunch counter protestants -- again a guess: In the US of A back in the 50s, blacks began to protest segragation by staging non-violent sitins at lunch counters which refused to serve members of that race. The one's I remember arose at Woolworth's stores someplace in the South. I'm wondering if this might not be what you're looking for.
chitlins: Bill Clinton's second favorite snack food. I won't tell you the moniker of his favorite.
The only guess I can give you is based upon the notion that bungalows have the distinction of being all on one level - of not having an upper floor. In the UK, at least, therefore, they are used primarily by people with mobility problems. Ergo, a bungalow colony may refer to a colony set up for older people. Equally, bungalows may have the connotation of cheap housing. (Then being code for 'low class'). Or, because you need to spread the house out more if you have only one floor to play with - they may be referring to expensive housing!
Isn't idiom wonderful? (Logic is rarely any help in decipherment.) I am reasonably certain that, if the context were the UK, a bungalow colony would be one packed with OAPs. (Look that one up!)
cheer
the sunshine warrior
I have never heard of LUNCH-COUNTER PROTESTANTS, but I vote with shanks on BUNGALOW COLONIES, Michela. They are very common around the South coast of England, to where many people retire at the age of sixty/sixty-five. (or earlier, these days.) The bungalows referred to tend to be small, often semi-detached, and packed as many to the acre (or 2.8 times as many to the hectare) as is inhumanly possible.
Hence the road sign to the ferry port of Harwich, which reads "HARWICH - for the Continent" has appended to it in spray-paint, (EASTBOURNE - for the incontinent."
In reply to:
HARWICH - for the Continent" has appended to it in spray-paint, EASTBOURNE - for the incontinent.
Cruel. But very funny, withal.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
Cruel. But very funny,
Indeed so - but isn't all humour at least a little bit cruel? We are making fun of the human condition (or, more often, prhaps, the out-of-condition) which must be cruel to those in that condition. What do you think?
In reply to:
We are making fun of the human condition (or, more often, prhaps, the out-of-condition) which must be cruel to those in that condition.
Hmmmmmm........
What about the old virtues of laughing at oneself, or laughing with, rather than at, someone?
I dunno. It still doesn't seem fair, somehow.
isn't all humour at least a little bit cruel?
I don't think so. What about when animals do something funny? Music can be funny. Drawings can be funny. When my daughter was an infant, she put her shoe on her hand, and
looked at me and grinned. I don't see how that's making fun of the human condition.
Jackie
I suppose we could continue this thread forever - discussing the rights and wrongs of humour. I muist admit, once again, though, that whilst I felt a twinge of guilt, I also had to laugh when I read the joke. Quite irresistible - perhaps the reason why dictators hate comedians.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
>rights and wrongs of humour
I think that one of the things that alternative comedy has tried to do is to shift the butt of a joke from something that one has no choice about (eg being a mother-in-law (tired humour), different religions or races (no choice)) to something which has involved a choice (being a politician (fair game), being a member of a particular profession (a lawyer - they can take it)). Hence the Irish joke in Britain and the Polish joke in America appear to been replaced, in many (but not all)circles, by jokes about lawyers, Tony Blair or Bill Clinton.
Jokes about religion, gender, or race tend to be told these days, more by people where they themselves are the but of the joke, not others. In the same way clowning, slapstick and visual humour tends to focus on the person appearing to be foolish.
I suppose humour is society's way of discussing difficult issues. We can tell a lot about whether people have similar views to ourselves by their reaction to different kinds of humour.
I suspect that the people of Eastbourne would be amused by the play in words in the joke mentioned earlier and would tell the story about themselves.
>dictators hate comedians
I'm sure they do!
>So how's the tan?
Gorgeous!
I suspect that the people of Eastbourne would be amused by the play in words..and would tell the story about themselves.
Well, it's a brilliant joke, and the younger residents definitely would (as I live in Sussex myself I've actually passed this joke on to a few locals) !
But possibly, Jo, that's a bit of an argument against your viewpoint of people rarely being cruel to others in their humour these days. Much as I admire the principle, and try to endorse the practice.
For one thing, humour is hardly ever solely directed at oneself, any more than it is solely directed at others.
I think you hit the nail on the head with humour is society's way of discussing difficult issues. Among those difficult issues are matters such as being unable to call a spade a spade, and having to politely ignore the unpleasant attributes of, say, old people and sick people whilst in their presence. Hence a lot of nurses and carers tend to have what could be seen as a "sick" sense of humour. This doesn't mean that they are at all uncaring, unprofessional and/or not suited to their work - it's just a much-needed occasional outlet, and maybe the flip-side of the coin to some of the horror they willingly take on in their working lives.
I think it's very true that laughter is the best medicine. It's also true that sometimes, in an otherwise unbearable situation, "you've just got to laugh".
After the recent floods where the centre of Lewes (England) was pretty much wiped out, I noticed a sign up outside the remains of a pub:
Opening soon - Lewes' first Scuba Bar!
Todays' Specials
Adam's Ale
Noah's Tipple
OUR BEERS AREN'T WATERED DOWN
Tears and laughter; instant enantiodroma.
Feeling very smug now about the famous (?) British sense of humour (and the Dunkirk spirit?).
Thanks for that.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
the famous (?) British sense of humour (and the Dunkirk spirit?)
Something like that!
Likewise smug.
And my pleasure.