Re: s-stems in Slavic and Germanic

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
>
> > > This is what the cartoon episode really meant here. People were
> > > becoming divided over whether those immigrants could take a joke, so
> > > someone decided to take it to the test. Apparently they couldn't. So
> > > if humor was the safety valve, it's now been clogged.
> > >
> >
> > I don't understand what you're referring to with "the cartoon
> > episode", or who "those immigrants" are, or what "the test" was. Is
> > there something I've missed?
>
> The Muhammad cartoon episode?
>
>
> Torsten
>

Oh. I forget the crux of the joke, but it's always dangerous to
ridicule something people hold very dear and venerate. I think it was
equivalent to them to mocking one's mother, a joke in poor taste. For
them Islam was not in decline like the British empire was in the case
of Monty Python, it was their strength (and of course still is). I
also forget their reaction, but know it was severe and remember
thinking they greatly overreacted, however offended they were. Yup,
they can't take a joke, but the humorists might have chosen something
more innocuous to mock, so that it would have been obvious that it was
meant to be friendly.

Andrew