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Jun. 24th, 2003
Egyptian humour
Jun. 24th, 2003 11:30 pmGrowing up first generation, you hear either a lot or a little about the old country. In my case, it was little. Hell, I never even heard the Napalm story until I was almost 30 (Fuck you, Moses! My old man walked across the Sinai in Three Fucking Days! Bizatch!).
But I did hear a lot of jokes about Egypt and the state of being Egyptian growing up. I actually heard a lot of Arabic humour, but not speaking Arabic it was wasted on me. It sounded a bit like Buddy Hacket rim shot stuff, anyway. The crowd was eating it up.
Anyway, Egyptian humour. Not terribly cheerful stuff. Primarily jokes that involve "American President du jour", and punchlines that tend to go "well, dude, hell's a local call here". There was one story that ended up with two guys in a prison camp for 20 years in a case of mistaken identity.
Overall, the impression gotten is that, well, Egypt sucks to live in. Not a huge revelation, but one I felt needed to be shared.
I wonder if all third world humour is like that? It was very black, very fatalistic. The culture can be fun (it's a lot like Texas, BBQ & beer, but with ululating instead of yelling. And fewer excecutions), but you don't get that from the jokes.
Feh. Tired. Have I ever posted abou tthis before? I have an odd sensation of deja vue.
But I did hear a lot of jokes about Egypt and the state of being Egyptian growing up. I actually heard a lot of Arabic humour, but not speaking Arabic it was wasted on me. It sounded a bit like Buddy Hacket rim shot stuff, anyway. The crowd was eating it up.
Anyway, Egyptian humour. Not terribly cheerful stuff. Primarily jokes that involve "American President du jour", and punchlines that tend to go "well, dude, hell's a local call here". There was one story that ended up with two guys in a prison camp for 20 years in a case of mistaken identity.
Overall, the impression gotten is that, well, Egypt sucks to live in. Not a huge revelation, but one I felt needed to be shared.
I wonder if all third world humour is like that? It was very black, very fatalistic. The culture can be fun (it's a lot like Texas, BBQ & beer, but with ululating instead of yelling. And fewer excecutions), but you don't get that from the jokes.
Feh. Tired. Have I ever posted abou tthis before? I have an odd sensation of deja vue.