When we encourage the feckless and the feral to breed, the torture and killing of their offspring should be easily predicted.
If you knew nothing about Britain and went by what you read in the current headlines over here, you might very well conclude that the neglect, beating, torture and even killing of young children was as much a British tradition as high tea.…
Article comments
26 - Dr Dreadful
zing2, I'm afraid your turn of phrase confused me. You described a character, said it was 'classic' stuff, started a new paragraph and then started slagging off Little Britain. I took that to mean you were talking about two different shows, as in, 'classic stuff [p], unlike this show, which is crap'.
Frank Spencer is indeed classic stuff - and visual/slapstick enough that a lot of the humour translates well for an American audience. Try looking him up on YouTube and see what you think.
27 - zingzing
bah--as much as i love a good bit of slapstick, i'm going to have to take umbrage to your little swipe at american humor. sure, some of it is horrible--so is a lot of english humor--but some american stuff is really quite good.
but i'll check him out.
28 - Dr Dreadful
I didn't take any swipe at American humor that I'm aware of, zing. I merely observed that visual/slapstick is the humor medium which translates best between cultures.
That's why the movies of Jacques Tati are hilarious, whereas you probably wouldn't raise a titter at the comedy of Raymond Devos.
29 - zingzing
well, maybe that's true. but raymond devos mostly trades in language games... and he speaks french. if you're talking about "translation," that surely does present a problem.
i prefer my comedy as either rapid-fire witticisms (good for chuckles) or so totally black that the most you can get out of it is a groan. if i could find a movie that combines "duck soup" and "happiness," or maybe "visitor q," i would be in laughs heaven.
occasionally, i prefer some good slapstick. also, pain can be good for a laugh now and again. that's why "jackass" remains a guilty pleasure (but only for one viewing).
and sorry if i misread your cultural translation bit as a cultural criticism, but i do think that at least some americans can appreciate british humor even without the slapstick. and given enough viewings, we can even pick up on some of the cultural references to some degree.
30 - Dr Dreadful
And you're a better society for it, say I!
31 - Dr Dreadful
Although perhaps you should tell that to the TV execs who think that making their own version is somehow better. I'm thinking of the abomination that is the US version of Kath and Kim (all right, that one's Australian, but it's the same principle), and the surely disastrous upcoming American adaptation of Gavin and Stacey.
The one exception in recent memory has been The Office, and only because to its credit, the US version didn't even try to mimic the original.
32 - Mark Edward Manning
Dr. D: "I have one client with five children who are ineligible in this way."
Man, why didn't you tell me before now that you were a social worker?! All your objections to my observations about welfare layabouts suddenly makes perfect sense!
At least now I can understand -- if not agree with -- where you're coming from.
33 - Mark Edward Manning
Oh yeah, Dr. D, I didn't label this piece as satire because it isn't. Yes, I'm hacked off about current events (you could obviously tell) and this was all my honest-to-God opinion (which is, ahem, why it's labelled "opinion"). But, trust me, the sterilization comment was tongue-in-cheek. All somebody needed to do was ask what I meant with regard to it. People did, and I replied with my answer.
End of.
34 - Dr Dreadful
Not a social worker exactly, Mark, but I work in Section 8 housing - hence my intimate knowledge of welfare programs.
As for the sterilization comment and being hacked off - aren't you a bit young to inherit the Victor Meldrew mantle? ;-)
35 - Mark Edward Manning
Oh, Dr. D., I don't deny for one nanosecond that I'm an angry young man -- of course, "young" is relative here. At 39, I really don't know what to consider myself. You're as young as you feel, I suppose. And as I still have a full head of hair, run five miles every day, don't smoke, am a pescetarian, and watch my alcohol intake (I can already hear the sniggering in the peanut gallery -- stop that!), then I suppose I'm still quite young.
I'll make you a deal, Dr. D. You provide me with a top-ten list of concrete reasons why I should be more happy-go-lucky in my approach to life and society in general, and I'll be happy to consider it. Ain't making you any promises, however.