Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

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Erik
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Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by Erik »

I found this on reddit, seems to be from the latest episode.
I suspect that whoever wrote that joke has to be Scandinavian! :mrgreen:
I have no idea if it's as funny to an american as it is in Scandinavia. (I know it's not just me from the comments in Reddit.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13MMj03U8CA
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toad
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by toad »

It was probably written by someone with a knowledge of Scandinavia, but it will appeal to almost everybody. Canadians vs. the US and they supposedly speak the same language.....sorta. Spanish Speakers vs. English. New England vs. Everybody. New York City vs. the World.
For real fun take a Norwegian to a Thai Restaurant that has Mexican wait staff. "Si, this particular dish es very mild, (If you eat Jalapeño's for breakfast everyday).
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Erik
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by Erik »

There's actually several jokes in there from a Scandinavian point of view, not just the last line.

First it's the stiff and slightly condescending appearance of the cops, and the casual bragging about their language skills. That's a pretty close portrayal of how Swedes are described by Danes and Norwegians when they want to be insulting.
Then it's the list of languages that starts out plausible before including Russian and Finnish, which is mentioned as if it's no different from the others.
And while Danish is probably the hardest of the Scandinavian languages to understand (Finnish excluded) it's still close enough to be able to communicate without any special language skills. Specifically excluding it is something Swedes would do just to yank the chain of Danes. And while I havent heard the "garbage" insult, it is pretty close to other similar putdowns used on both sides of the Straits.

Scandinavians are "brother folks", happy to put the other two countries down at every chance, but they're still family. It's sort of an inside joke to insult the other countries when opportunity presents itself.
For real fun take a Norwegian to a Thai Restaurant that has Mexican wait staff. "Si, this particular dish es very mild, (If you eat Jalapeño's for breakfast everyday).
There's a thai place like that in a town not far from me, they dont make it milder just to suit the locals. So you need to like spicy or at least be prepared. Whenever I go there with someone from out of town I always tell them that "if they say it's strong, they mean it!"
"Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid."
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HTRN
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by HTRN »

Erik, in case you don't read it, check out Scandinavia and the world..
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First Shirt
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by First Shirt »

In Hong Kong, on R&R, and got into a sorta conversation with an elderly gentleman, who didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak any Cantonese, but it turns out that Vietnamese is very close (both are derived from the same southern Chinese dialect) if you allow for a few quirks (Vietnamese is 6-toned, and Cantonese is 7-toned, so keep it really simple).

At some point, he allowed as how I spoke the language well, but had a strange accent. So I explained that I hadn't studied Cantonese, but had learned Vietnamese.

He frowned, and said "No, a nice young man like yourself wouldn't learn Vietnamese. The Vietnamese are, after all, simply duck droppings."

Racism is alive and well, in the Far East.
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blackeagle603
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by blackeagle603 »

That right there, that's funny. I don't care who you are, but especially if you've done much business in Asia.
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SoupOrMan
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by SoupOrMan »

Don't Swedes always say that Danes speak like they have potatoes in their mouths?
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SoupOrMan
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by SoupOrMan »

First Shirt wrote:In Hong Kong, on R&R, and got into a sorta conversation with an elderly gentleman, who didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak any Cantonese, but it turns out that Vietnamese is very close (both are derived from the same southern Chinese dialect) if you allow for a few quirks (Vietnamese is 6-toned, and Cantonese is 7-toned, so keep it really simple).

At some point, he allowed as how I spoke the language well, but had a strange accent. So I explained that I hadn't studied Cantonese, but had learned Vietnamese.

He frowned, and said "No, a nice young man like yourself wouldn't learn Vietnamese. The Vietnamese are, after all, simply duck droppings."

Racism is alive and well, in the Far East.
When did you learn Vietnamese? My dad was a Non-Morse Signal Interceptor & Vietnamese linguist when he was in the Air Force.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."

“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
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George guy
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by George guy »

The problem with Vietnamese is that they learned how to use the Latin alphabet from the French.
'Regulate' used to mean the opposite of 'constipate.'
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First Shirt
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Re: Swedish cops on Brooklyn Nine Nine

Post by First Shirt »

SoupOrMan wrote: When did you learn Vietnamese? My dad was a Non-Morse Signal Interceptor & Vietnamese linguist when he was in the Air Force.
Got to Okinawa in 1973, my class at Ft. Bliss was one of the last ones before they moved the Vietnamese language course back to Monterey. IIRC, your dad was about 6-8 years ahead of me at Offutt, and I was about 8 years ahead of Randy.
Last edited by First Shirt on Sat Dec 12, 2015 3:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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