Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Bureucracy is a golmine of unintended humor...

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Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

[Whups! That title's supposed to read "goldmine of unintended humor. That's what I get for being in a hurry!]

With all the best intentions (but apparently no judgement whatsoever), HUD published a brochure in "Creole" containing a parody of Black speech.

I found this at The Straight Dope.

--Baloo

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[This message has been edited by Baloo (edited November 01, 1999).]

Posted by RW (Member # 27) on :

I read it. It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Um...as far as I can tell, Uncle Cecil finds that it was an intentional prank on the behalf of some employee or group of employees.

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"Stirs a large iron pot. Casting a spell on Vermont."
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John Linnell

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Uh... I must have missed something. From the term "Creole", and, I suppose, from the actual writing there, I was imagining the sort of Louisiana (or some such) accent, most often associated w/ the phrase "I guarantee" pronouced something on the order of "ah gare-oN-tee" ('oN' = nasalized 'o'). I'm trying to think of a good example of this... Anyone remember Gambit from the X-Men TV cartoon? Like him...

Anyway, when they started talking about blacks and the Caribbean, and Jamaica, I was completely thrown off. As far as I could tell, the excerpts from the pamphlet didn't seem anything like the Jamaican reggae "ya, mon" accent.

Then again, I also never understood the accusations that Jar Jar Binks had a racist accent, so maybe it's just me...

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"Agh! Save me from the wee turtles!"
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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

IIRC, "Creole" is just a term for a dialect that derives from one or more languages, or something general like that. Or maybe not.

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Frank: Well, yes, it says that right in the article... :-)

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"Agh! Save me from the wee turtles!"
-Groundskeeper Willy, The Simpsons

Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

Well, then, I guess I'm right!

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Frank's Home Page
"Okay, what's an MSD?" - Rick Sternbach

Posted by Xentrick (Member # 64) on :

Funny bureauracy? Is that redundant.

This story was told as true on a local radio station: lady goes to the local DMV and asks for the 1999 Driver's Handbook. Noting that the office has handbooks written in English, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, Togalog, Vietnamese and Japanese, she asks the clerk behind the counter if they have any written in Braile.

The clerk goes to look for one.

Posted by Baloo (Member # 5) on :

Hoo-AH!

An update on the Creole Brocure Brouhaha: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991119.html

Hud sounds less and less intelligent as we go along. Let's hope they got better after this.

--Baloo

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