Posted by Dinah on February 3, 2003, at 3:07:41
In reply to Re: Light bulb jokes » Dinah, posted by shar on February 2, 2003, at 22:54:24
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> .......Italians are STILL genuinely looked down on, people STILL really think the stereotypes are true, and a lot of them ARE true (if, perhaps, exaggerated). The old 'grain of truth' or 'where there's smoke' deal.Hmmm. Not here they aren't. I guess I'm lucky in where I live.
> .........Even within my Italian family, there is eye-rolling at some of the hot-blooded displays, and you gotta watch out for the hands flying while people talk. Moreover, we're part Sicilian, and even the Italians look down on Sicilians! Family reunions are always quite an experience. I always feel sorry, at family reunions, for the Anglos who marry these women who look like Sophia Loren, and a few years later look like Pavoratti (sp).
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Hmmm. Stereotypes are odd, aren't they. My aunt was also Sicilian. She was the coldest woman I've ever met. I never heard her raise her voice. Her house was always perfectly arranged and you didn't dare touch anything. Thin as a rail, although she could eat anything. Her mother was also tiny and did love to kiss greetings, but certainly wasn't hot blooded or argumentative, nor did her hands fly when she talked. She was a first generation immigrant too. My aunt looked down on my very Anglo (straight English in fact, can't get more Anglo than that) mother for her emotional displays. Vulgar and common was how she saw her. Such a shame my father married such a woman. My aunt's mother was a great cook, though. My aunt wasn't, I don't even think she cooked at all, but her mother was. Does that count sufficiently towards the stereotype?> .......Having and aunt and cousin within the same family who react so differently to 'wop' jokes is very characteristic of people--that within-group differences are at least as significant as between-group differences. It is the same in my family, I'm sure; I guess I just spent more time with the ones who weren't offended.
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Hmmmmmm..... Perhaps so.>
> .........As far as being sensitive, I think it's fine to be sensitive (and I am sensitive, some people say overly so, about a lot of issues). I'm also really serious about a lot of things many people do not think are serious issues. If people think I'm overly serious or overly sensitive, that's their problem, not mine.
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> SharThank you, Shar.
Oh, by the way, quite a few people in my entirely suburban middle class family have a working TV sitting on top of a non-working console. My parents used to keep a "record player" on top of a non working console stereo. They just liked the furniture. And I have a printer sitting atop some old CPU's. Guess it runs in the family.
poster:Dinah
thread:36066
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030201/msgs/36227.html