Full disclosure: I never finished the kvetch book. A bang-up opening, to be sure.
Here’s a bang-up bicultural joke: It so happened that Myron Liebowitz and Vinnie D’Onofrio came of age at the same time. From his father, Vinnie received a brand new handgun, while at Myron’s Bar Mitzvah on the other side of town, his father strapped a beautiful gold watch on his wrist. The next day after school Vinnie was full of admiration for the watch, while Myron was consumed with envy after one glance at the pistol. So the two friends decided to trade. That night when Vinnie checked to see whether it was dinnertime, his father asked, “Where’d you get thatta watch?” And on hearing the story, he exploded. “Whatsa matter wid’ yous? Here I am t’inkin’ you gotta some brains in your head.” Vinnie looked frankly confused, so his father explained that some day Vinnie would probably fall in love and then he’d probably get married and then married life would probably get kind of dull. “An’ somma day,” he went on, “yous gonna find her in bed wit’ anudda guy. An’ whatta you gonna do then—look atta you watch and say, ‘How long you gonna be?’”
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timeasmymeasure
how america “gets” italians
Date: 2007-06-27 06:29 am (UTC)Here’s a bang-up bicultural joke:
It so happened that Myron Liebowitz and Vinnie D’Onofrio came of age at the same time. From his father, Vinnie received a brand new handgun, while at Myron’s Bar Mitzvah on the other side of town, his father strapped a beautiful gold watch on his wrist. The next day after school Vinnie was full of admiration for the watch, while Myron was consumed with envy after one glance at the pistol. So the two friends decided to trade.
That night when Vinnie checked to see whether it was dinnertime, his father asked, “Where’d you get thatta watch?” And on hearing the story, he exploded. “Whatsa matter wid’ yous? Here I am t’inkin’ you gotta some brains in your head.”
Vinnie looked frankly confused, so his father explained that some day Vinnie would probably fall in love and then he’d probably get married and then married life would probably get kind of dull. “An’ somma day,” he went on, “yous gonna find her in bed wit’ anudda guy. An’ whatta you gonna do then—look atta you watch and say, ‘How long you gonna be?’”