Monday, June 15, 2009

Fun with stereotypes

I don't care much for rugby myself, and one of my hobbies is supporting whomever the All Blacks are playing, simply out of spite. From what I understand, there were few positives to take from Saturday's rugby result - few, but not none at all, because at least one came courtesy of Dunedin police, who confiscated a rooster from a drunk French supporter on Saturday night.

'What is this doing on page A4 of the Herald,' you might ask. 'Should there really be this story - about a confiscated rooster being kept in a police lockup overnight - right next to "Keep anti-smacking law [sigh], urges children's advocate"?' But there's a better question: when are national stereotypes OK? The answer is: when they're about the French.

Jill Hill, customer services officer "in charge of all roosters" [LOL], was less than thrilled to find the special guest when she arrived at work.

[...] I said to the senior (sergeant) 'well if nobody comes to pick it up we'll have to ring the SPCA. I can't stand it'."

Her wish was granted mid-morning, when a man walked in and announced "I come to pick up my rrrooster".

What the article leaves out is that the man (or homme in French) was carrying a baguette and wearing a beret, striped shirt and a string of garlic around his neck. I, for one, am impressed by the Herald's new, un-PC approach to reporting on foreigners (or 'overstayers', as I like to call them), and I can't wait to see it rolled out across all nationalities. Just think of the next time an Indian dairy is robbed, or when a Korean student wants to have a baby here. Because that's going to happen, right?

PS 27-22.
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5 comments:

  1. stephenJune 15, 2009 at 11:50 AM

    In the interests of accuracy in bilious outbursts, I must tell you that the CORRECT stereotype is a string of onions.

    Yes folks, the English stereotype of the stripey frog is based on itinerant Breton onion sellers. cite

    On the other hand, the Herald would probably screw this up, so perhaps you should leave the post as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JamesJune 15, 2009 at 12:20 PM

    No, no, no. I was thinking of itinerant Gascon garlic sellers. It's a fine distinction.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 15, 2009 at 2:58 PM

    Weirdly known as "Onion Johnnys" which is an unaccountably English name. (The onion sellers that is, not the garlic types)

    I'd have thought Onion Peirre would have been better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. vetJune 15, 2009 at 3:15 PM

    All foreigners are Johnny, by default.

    We can't have good Anglophone people forced to wrap their mouths around forrin abominations such as "Pierre".

    ReplyDelete
  5. mapsJune 15, 2009 at 4:38 PM

    I was under the assumption the Kiwi-logic dictates that foreigners with their funny accents are actually just asking for it.

    ReplyDelete

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