Entry tags:

food, godwin's, jokes that don't go over well, racism

You got your racism in my coffee! You got your coffee in my racism!
evilgrins delivered a list of bogus food terms to the food_porn community which was kind of amusing but the last definition...

arab coffee: Thick, black, bitter coffee, traditionally served in tiny cups at gunpoint.

...really inspired some, uh, debate.

likeawoman is accused of being likeatroll for staying determinedly offended by everyone but obfuscate brings up Godwins first. "If you replace "arab coffee" with "matzo" is it an insult to Jews? "Haggis" (I hear it's good, but what the hell.. who came up with that?), and it's a comment on how violent those damn Scots are? Put "borscht" in there and you're pissing on the Slavs? "Liverwurst" would then, I suppose, mean that all Germans are violent Nazis."

Nobody likes a laugh more than me. Except for my wife. And Mrs. Johnson.

Define 'Offensive.'

Am I the only one that likes Turkish Coffee?

Why the random-ass definitions anyway?

As a White Canadian Female, let me clarify things for ya'll.

See, this is why I drink tea.

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ecchaniz0r
2007-09-22 07:33 pm UTC (link)

My first thought was 'wait - what - oh, it's supposed to be a clever note about the badness of bad coffee...bad choice of expression of coffee badness, o newby one.'

Sometimes things take on unpleasant connotations as times change. This is one of those times. If she'd gone something like, 'traditionally drunk under extreme duress to take one's mind off the consistency of porridge (see above)' it would've been funnier abd she'd have avoided the spanking. Or 'traditionally drunk out of a desire not to offend your host, or because there is no other source of caffeine at hand'.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rennyn_alerothi 2007-09-22 07:57 pm UTC (link)
	That's what think...that Evilgrins/Dopple meant it in a "you'd have to be held at gunpoint to drink this coffee" kind of way, and it came out all wrong. To be fair, I don't think that's the first time something like this has happened with him, but I've never known him to be racist. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rennyn_alerothi 2007-09-22 07:59 pm UTC (link)
	Still, I read the description of the coffee and was like, "OMG HOOK ME UP!!!!!!" (Reply to this)(Parent)

	puipui 2007-09-22 08:03 pm UTC (link)
	Either of those would've been much funnier, yes, and also much less reminiscent of those times I've heard nearly the same exact joke told nearly the same exact way and being very clearly meant to convey "Arabs = threating you at gunpoint". (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2007-09-22 08:08 pm UTC (link)
	Not to mention, in English the drink in question is "Turkish coffee," or very rarely, "Greek coffee." Not "Arab coffee." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	puipui 2007-09-22 08:17 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, dear. That doesn't improve the situation at all, does it? On the plus side, though, at least the other jokes were funny enough to distract from... oh, wait, sorry, they weren't. Damn! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2007-09-22 08:21 pm UTC (link)
	Didn't you know? Brown-skinned folks from the general area of the Mediterranean are all Arabs. (Except the Greeks, who get to be second-class white people 'cause of Aristotle.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tree 2007-09-22 09:28 pm UTC (link)
	Brown-skinned folks from the general area of the Mediterranean are all Arabs. Around here, anyone Middle-Eastern is 'a Turk'. Comes from centuries of bordering the Ottoman Empire. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2007-09-22 09:29 pm UTC (link)
	The World = The United States. C'mon, how many times to we have to tell you commie terrorists that!? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tree 2007-09-22 10:11 pm UTC (link)
	YAY then I too will be in ur elections, messin up ur scores! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2007-09-23 04:51 am UTC (link)
	I'm picturing 'Turk' in the Final Fantasy VII sense and it made me sporfle. --Banah (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	talec 2007-09-23 05:30 am UTC (link)
	Haha, me too. Everyone in the middle-east works for Shinra Corp! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mistressrenet 2007-09-23 01:12 pm UTC (link)
	Plus the 'bitter' line, which...yeah. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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