March 26, 2011

"Defecating dog sparks US shootout."

Why did BBC publish this story? It's not exactly big international news!
Two neighbours in the US state of Mississippi drew weapons and fired at each other as an argument over a defecating dog ran out of control.... injuries are not life-threatening... "Just meet me at the levee and I'll shoot you down."...
I think the BBC is into stoking anti-hillbilly bigotry. Bob Wright was doing that yesterday:

101 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Things overheard at Meadhouse: "I think Trooper will like this."

rhhardin said...

Dogs can poop where they want where I live.

In the spring you just make a pass over the yard with a snow shovel and trowel and toss any newly unfrozen findings over the back fence.

At other times of year the lawn mower takes care of the debris in an environmentally friendly way, if you have a lawn mower.

A scythe does a bit of scattering each time, but keeps things in play longer.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Althouse is all into anti-hillbilly bigotry now? Did she watch Winter's Bone?

Sal said...

It is bizarre so I'm not surprised to see it widely reported.

However, they (Brits) just HATE that we have guns and a story like this makes them satisfied about that.

Why do they hate our guns? Who knows. But they really really do.

Unknown said...

It's all about a loss of civility, isn't it?

But I don't like the idea that the Brits are snearing at us.

BTW, have you heard the news of the massive (300,000+) demonstration in London?

Now that's news.

Moose said...

White Trash. The last PC frontier.

Sal said...

It's all about a loss of civility, isn't it?

This never would've happened back in the Before Time. Back when we still had civility. How I miss the olden days...

Cedarford said...

Moose said...
White Trash. The last PC frontier.

===============
Indeed.
Won't see any humorous stories in the BBC snarking on Muslims that accidentally kill their daughters in an honor killing over dating an Indian-Brit they thought was Hindu but actually turned out to be a "good Muslim" Indian.
Or the BBC rushing in to report on two American South fat black women who stabbed each other multiple times over a bucket of fried chicken at a Popeyes as their chilluns tried to break up the stabbings. (Fortunately the layers of fat protected both of them - [Augusta Georgia 2006]) Not even the punchline - "Why didn't their husbands stop it?? Husbands!!!! Hahahaah!!"

Paddy O said...

Just think... not only does the BBC provide info on a good American shootout, there's no doubt going to be great continuing news coverage, cuz them hillbillies likely as not are going to get themselves to feudin'.

We don't cater to that civilization crap like them Europeans do.

Crimso said...

As a native Kentuckian, I should be offended by his obvious slur. But I'm afraid to say anything, since he's such a smart scientist and author.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Well, this is just stupid.

He should have just shot the dog and removed it to an unknown location.

Problem solved.

lemondog said...

1. Brits love dogs
2. Reinforces perceptions that Americans are uncouth, violent with a Hatfield/McCoy mentality.
3. Opens the door for posting a guilty dog link.

Sal said...

"Meet me at the levee"

I think they might be Cajuns, not hillbillies. One of them has a French-looking name.

The Drill SGT said...

BBC?
NPR?
same same Public financed bigotry

Moose said...

Heh, hehehe - Jason said Winter's Bonnnnneee...

YoungHegelian said...

If it had been two Brits, they would have just resolved the issue by getting rip-roaring drunk and having a puke-off.

See how easy it can be to see the world in derogatory stereotypes!

ricpic said...

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Saturday night in Liverpool or Birmingham or a dozen other second tier Brit burgs you have to pick your way between the yobs passed out and sleeping it off on the strand. With many a head cracked open when "Me an' me mates tau' them blokes ta respec' Manchester United."

The Crack Emcee said...

It's not just the BBC but Europe itself. We've got to get it through our heads Europe doesn't understand us - not the real us - and don't worry about it:

It's their loss.

Bob needs a glass of water thrown in his face. I would say his butt kicked, but that's not necessary.

Beth said...

How much stoking does one have to do? If you act like a redneck, it's not bigotry when people recoil and point in disgust. I always thank God for Mississippi, and they thank God for Louisiana. We regularly give one another an excuse to say at least someone's dumber than us.

Crimso said...

Beth: to paraphrase Lincoln, both of you may be, but one of you must be, wrong.

YoungHegelian said...

@Beth,

What are the last words out of a redneck man's mouth?

"Hey y'all watch this!"

And I say that with love as an ex-Alabamian, born in the Heart of Dixie.

ooonaughtykitty said...

It's the BBC! Who pays attention to them anymore?
The BBC caters their news to the 'Hooray Henrys', who really hate Americans.

Fritz said...

"What are the last words out of a redneck man's mouth?"

"Hey y'all watch this!"


That's supposed to be:

"Ya'll hold my beer, and watch this"

Marilee said...

Fritz, Beth and the rest of ya'll. It's perfectly fine for us to point and laugh at ourselves. (See "You Know You're a Redneck If..." Jeff Foxworthy, side splitting funny.) We just don't like it when the snobby Brits do it.

Automatic_Wing said...

I spent 3 years stationed in England in the early 90s and their papers only had 3 types of stories about the US:

1. Racism
2. Violence
3. Racist violence

Scattered amongst these tales of Yank barabarism were adverts for cheap trips to Disney World.

redneck hillbilly said...

There are a lot of things worse than being a Hillbilly. Heck we just proud to be here.
Come on down and see for yourself next month.
Hillbilly Days

Anonymous said...

"I think the BBC is into stoking anti-hillbilly bigotry."

You obviously don't pay much attention to the BBC. You're not even close to why they run this story.

Reflect: The BBC is not a private business. It is the government of England. The "British Broadcasting Corporation." It is nothing more than a government propaganda organization. Just like NPR and PBS are in the United States.

They run this exact same story as often as they can (different day, different people, different facts ... but the same storyline.) They've run this story thousands of times.

Why?

Because they want Britians to believe that their anti-gun ownership laws are for the protection of the people ... and not so that the government is the only institution with guns.

It is the height of government propaganda designed to placate a flock of pathetic sheep.

It's offensive to any person with any intelligence at all.

Trooper York said...

Now you're talking.

The funniest part of Jersey Shore was when J-Lo's dogs took a shit on the carpet and the Situation said "Hey that looks like Ronnie and Sammie's relationship."

traditionalguy said...

That is an interesting shaming trend. Could it come from wounded feelings over the attack on NPR? Like Polish jokes, it presumes "Known Stupidity" of certain less than intelligent ethnic groups among us. It probably applies here to the feared listeners of Country Music. They are the descendants of the Scots-Irish immigrants originally called Hillbillies for their loyalty to a commander William III (of Orange) in a long siege ending in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne River where they defeated James II. After that victory the English suddenly did not need them any more and drove 500,000 of these uncivilized warriors to leave Northern Ireland. They immigrated to western Pennsylvania and then down the Mountain valleys as far as Georgia. Next they established settlements in Missouri hill country and many followed Kit Carson into California. But a few ended going north to Alaska...and now you know the origin of the sudden resurgence of Hillbilly hatred. The are afraid of imminent conquest by a certain Alaskan they call the Chillbilly.

Fen said...

2. Reinforces perceptions that Americans are uncouth, violent with a Hatfield/McCoy mentality.

I hail from Dallas, TX. When I visited London, the brits couldn't understand why I wasn't in boots and a cowboy hat. They thought everyone from Texas was J.R. Ewing.

Those sophisticated Brits.

Fen said...

Beth: How much stoking does one have to do? If you act like a n*gger, it's not bigotry when people recoil and point in disgust.

One thing I love about liberals is their huge blind spots.

Unknown said...

Somehow, I think Ann just said shiloh/PB&J/some phony folksy, Alpha/Freder/Montaigne, and J/Jeremy were a bigger bunch of hillbillies for their attitude, abuse, and invective than the Althouse Hillbilies have ever been.

Anonymous said...

From Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island":

If there is a political crisis in Italy or a nuclear spill in Karlsruhe, it gets maybe eight inches on an inside page. But if some woman from Shitkicker, West Virginia, cuts off her husband's dick and flings it out the window in a fit of pique, it's second lead on the Nine O'Clock News and The Sunday Times is mobilizing its investigative unit. You figure it. (p.4)

Bryson worked for newspapers in England for a long time.

*

Anonymous said...

These two live in a county that's about 70% black, which doesn't sound like traditional hillbilly territory.

Peter

chickelit said...

Jason (the commenter) said...
Althouse is all into anti-hillbilly bigotry now? Did she watch Winter's Bone?

The snubbing of that film this year by the Oscars was just another example of Holly getting wood for only the struggles it deems worthy. You'd have thought that the thought police would have been all over the story of a young woman overcoming what she did, where she did, how she did. But that would have somehow legitimized fly-over country and that cannot be countenanced. Besides, in their eyes, flyover country people don't go to movies anyways.

Fen said...

Hey Beth, do you prefer to call rural latinos "spics" or "wetbacks"?

Michael said...

You whitebread midwesterners!! There are no hillbillies in Mississippi. Rednecks, yes. Hillbillies, no. Hillbillies live in the east in a long narrow band from the top of the catskills to North Ga, possibly North Alabama but there the redneck attributes probably trump. Down here are rednecks, low life white trash, trailer trash, yaps, swamp rats, coon asses, red dirts,turpentines, dumb asses and bad asses. All white, all poorly and publicly educated, all breeding like rats and crossing over and breeding with their lifelong black competitors for the bottom rung. But they are not hillbillies. So, when you want to have a little fun with people you feel vastly superior to, you would do well not to make a fool of yourself (that being the opposite of the point) by calling a redneck a hillbilly.

george said...

Whoever said the Brits use this sort of thing as propaganda to keep their populace satisfied with their sh!tty health care, sh!tty BBC and sh!tty lack of liberty was dead on. Cuba does exactly the same sort of thing for exactly the same reasons.

For a government entity like the BBC nothing can strike fear into their hearts more than the thought of their side no longer having a monopoly on force.

You know you have a worthless entertainment product when the government has to confiscate people's money with a tax per TV to pay for it. Such organizations should be ignored by decent people everywhere just based on the general principle that one person shouldn't be robbed for another's entertainment.

As soon as we stop pretending the BBC, or NPR for that matter, are legitimate entities and stop referring to them or quoting them the better.

YoungHegelian said...

@Michael,

You want to see a perfect example of not knowing the difference between a hillbilly and a redneck?

"Oh Brother, Where art Thou"

Set in the Delta, but scored to Appalachian mountain music.

"Same, Same" as my Thai grocer says when I ask him the difference between various brands of fish sauce.

Ya know, like Boston and NYC.

chickelit said...

As soon as we stop pretending the BBC, or NPR for that matter, are legitimate entities and stop referring to them or quoting them the better.

That's why I cheer the NYT firewall thing, especially as it relates to Althouse. Althouse's use of the NYT tag had become a code for me to "skip this blog post" anyways. The BBC (and the NYT) don't cover California or Wisconsin (the two places I care about) so good riddance I say.

coketown said...

I've noticed the British are obsessed with low-brow news stories: 800 pound woman determined to become world's fattest woman; Man marries porpoise; hillbillies fighting over defecating dog. Their mainstream papers are no better than National Enquirer. Really, an odd culture.

Deb said...

We all look the same to the British.

Redneck: your Hillbilly Festival looks suspicously like the Ellijay Apple Festival.

Ann Althouse said...

There are always 2 idiot guys getting into a fight over something stupid. When does it make the newspaper in some other country?

Palladian said...

The UK, especially England, is still a thoroughly class stratified society. The British upper castes have always belittled America for the simple reason that we're a nation of "the lower sorts". The BBC is an organization run exclusively by upper-class Britons and thus reflects their prejudices. They ridicule the "hillbillies" in their own country as well.

Palladian said...

"There are always 2 idiot guys getting into a fight over something stupid. When does it make the newspaper in some other country?"

See almost every war, ever.

coketown said...

The saddest thing is that it's the #2 most-read story on BBC News--beating out Ferraro's death and Japan's nuclear crises. The story was also picked up by the Times of India and New Zealand Herald.

So the question shouldn't be "why did the BBC publish this?" It should be, "why the hell is everyone so interested?"

Trooper York said...

"Ann Althouse said...
There are always 2 idiot guys getting into a fight over something stupid."


Didn't you already post about this?

vbspurs said...

I think the BBC is into stoking anti-hillbilly bigotry

There's that, but as a Brit, when I hear these kinds of things about Americans, I know other Brits are thinking first and foremost: Americans really do over react, don't they? They're not sensible.

What they're implying is that a people with such itchy trigger fingers, and lack of self-restraint, of course will come a cropper in these ways.

Anonymous said...

I thought we kicked the limeys out?

We'll take your common law, Locke, Hume, a bit of Hobbes, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Newton, and various and sundry other influences. Feel free to visit.

Keep the Crown, Tina Brown, Piers Morgan, gun law condescension, deep classism, Marxism, truly trashy tabloids,Marmite and please, please take Andrew Sullivan back.

We'll talk about Hitchens next season.

P.S.-If you don't like go visit Australia or Canada and feel more at home.

P.P.S. How do you like that f**kin' I-pod Obama got you?

vbspurs said...

Really, an odd culture.

Odd, yes, but quaint odd. We take enjoyment from funny little things, from deviations of the norm, and infuse them with all kinds of conclusions from which we derive silent enjoyment.

The polar opposites of Americans whose taste for the wonderful and the weird is often a hot dog shaped restaurant.

The Dude said...

Get back to us when Londonistan returns to western civilization.

Chennaul said...

vbspurs

And you do bring more racism to the discussion than most...it's weird but that might explain it.

I think Fen could have bitch slapped you just as well as he did Beth here when you were discussing the "differences" of being better than one nationality and heaven forbid being mistaken for thatnationality in another thread.

Welcome to the Melting Pot-sistah!

******

As to Brits overreacting well the stampede in London hell if we paid the kind of taxes that they've had to for all the bureaucratic government run bad "services" I think we'd be in the streets too.

Chennaul said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

We may be in for an influx of English snobbery. Their disdain for an ignorant Scots Man is not going to change as they all come over here to escape the invasion of England by Sharia Law. But I still think that Bob Wright got this disdain for American hillbillies from a helpless anger at the power of Sarah Palin and the Tea Partyettes.

Beth said...

YoungHegelian and Fritz - that's pretty much the ending of most of the family get-togethers in my youth.

Beth said...

Crimso, it's an any given moment situation. One minute there's Mississippi morons pulling out guns over dog poop, and the next there's a Louisiana lawmaker declaring nothings wrong with incest since that's how we get good race horses! I'd say we the balance of idiocy stays well calibrated but I completely forgot about Texas throwing off the curve till Fen reminded me.

Alex said...

Beth: How much stoking does one have to do? If you act like a n*gger, it's not bigotry when people recoil and point in disgust.

One thing I love about liberals is their huge blind spots.


I noticed Beth wouldn't answer that, but that's her huge blind spot at work. She hates white people and all minorities get a free pass.

Palladian said...

"I noticed Beth wouldn't answer that"

And we've noticed that you're an irritating troll who, inexplicably, seems to derive great enjoyment out of being extraordinarily tiresome.

Beth said...

Alex, you've uncovered my deep dark secret. Well done.

But I didn't see any photos of the poop shooters. Why are you assuming they're white?

Trooper York said...

Hey Alex leave my friend Beth alone.

She is still recovering from a bad romance.

With the New Orleans Saints.

Beth said...

Hi, Palladian!

Beth said...

And Hi, Trooper! (that's Seven Machos' cousin in the picture - yes?)

somefeller said...

Edutcher says: Somehow, I think Ann just said shiloh/PB&J/some phony folksy, Alpha/Freder/Montaigne, and J/Jeremy were a bigger bunch of hillbillies for their attitude, abuse, and invective than the Althouse Hillbilies have ever been.

I hadn't even commented on this post, nor was I planning to, and yet I'm (lamely) name-dropped by Edutcher. High-larious! Here's one for you, superman, since apparently I'm under your skin.

somefeller said...

In any case, since I am commenting on this post now, while it's possible there is some greater social significance to this story, maybe there's another reason why the BBC published it. It's just kind of funny. It involves dog poop after all, which is an inherently funny topic.

Paddy O said...

"a hot dog shaped restaurant."

Really!? Where?! Oh, it's nearby! Amazing!

Don't forget we also like donut shaped drive thrus too! (I refuse to submit toyour imperialistic "ough"!)

coketown said...

Odd, yes, but quaint odd.

A little too quaint. The British should let their hair down once in a while. Rather than taking vicarious enjoyment from American antics, practice those antics! Give us something to read about over our morning oatmeal. "Did you hear about those two Brits who set each other on fire over whether T.S. Eliot was a national treasure?! What are they thinking over there?"

And hotdog shaped restaurants are wonderful, not weird. There's too many of them to be weird. Hell, we even have the weiner-mobile--a hotdog on wheels.

The Crack Emcee said...

There are always 2 idiot guys getting into a fight over something stupid. When does it make the newspaper in some other country?

That's the lead of every newscast I've ever seen overseas. And our entire system of justice consists of "Sheriff Joe" throwing guys into cell blocks painted pink.

When I said, "I wish", they were done with me.

Lucius said...

Thanks to Bob&Mickey diavlogs, Bob Wright will always have a place in my heart.

But as a solo public intellectual, to me Bob is what George Harrison was to Liam Gallagher: "a nipple."

And speaking of the Gallaghers: the British seem to know all too well how to let their hair down. The problem is they're still giving themselves the thrill of a class transvestism wedgie every time they do it.

As long as the monarchy persists, they'll never transcend this hang-up. Abolishing it isn't a sufficient condition, but it's altogether necessary.

As long as there's a Prince Harry to continue the epic quest to find a club drug that doesn't agree with him, that's their collective fate. A nation of trashy people, pretending to be respectable, pretending to be trashy.

wv: "cating" Cat bless the Queen, she ain't no human being.

Fen said...

Beth: But I didn't see any photos of the poop shooters. Why are you assuming they're white?

Redneck is reserved exclusively for whites. Beth calling people n*ggers and then backpeddling with "its only racist if you assume I was talking about blacks"

Doesn't fly Beth. Especially from a member of the "tolerant enlightened left".

vbspurs said...

Madawaskan wrote:

Welcome to the Melting Pot-sistah!

Wait, what, I missed the racism BETH (of all people) supposedly was slapped for by another commenter. And me too?! I am guessing I have to read the comments upstream. Be right back.

vbspurs said...

MarkG wrote:

Why do they hate our guns? Who knows. But they really really do.

Not just Brits, Mark. Most Europeans, and some Canadians. Growing up in Britain having a father owning a handgun, as I did, was cause for neighbourhood gossip. "Did you hear they have a service revolver at number 37?".

It's a free country, Britain, but one whose freedoms were not won or maintained by a gun-wielding populace, like America was. I think this difference allows Brits to think, if we could, why can't they?

They literally do not understand what it means to carve up a wild, undeveloped nation with just some conestoga wagons, a rifle and guts.

vbspurs said...

Ut wrote:

Britians

Heh.

Beth said...

Fen, feel free to call me a redneck. It doesn't bother me a bit. I'm not ashamed to be from and of redneckia.

vbspurs said...

Palladian wrote:

The British upper castes have always belittled America for the simple reason that we're a nation of "the lower sorts".

And like inherently class-conscious people, the middle and lower-classes followed suit.

You wonder why I don't come rushing to the defense of Brits, whenever Americans start complaining that they're snobby and love making fun of Americans? BECAUSE THEY ARE AND THEY DO.

Plus, I've spent my entire life suffering in silence (yes, me, imagine that) due to the innumerable jokes and insults flung at Americans by Brits of all classes. I realised that making fun of Americans is a British birthright, and if I didn't like it, I had to leave.

So, I did.

P.S.: Simon and I both love America in much the same way, even if we arrived here for different reasons.

HT said...

Oh quit trolling! My grandparents are from Kentucky, and I love me a good hillbilly joke. Did you know the toothbrush was invented in Kentucky? If it had been invented anywhere else, it would've been called a teeth brush. Har har.

Look, the majority leader is originally from 'bama yet he never sees fit to mention that.

Is that 'cause he thinks the gentle horse country is better than ole bama?

Who cares? LET IT GO. Southerners don't care as much as you profess to.

vbspurs said...

Fen, feel free to call me a redneck. It doesn't bother me a bit. I'm not ashamed to be from and of redneckia.

I read it a couple of times, and unless you are a self-hater and Fen is pointing that out, I didn't get how you could be accused of bigotry or racism.

Beth said...

VB, I don't think he has any actual concerns about bigotry, or rednecks. He just likes to foam at the mouth at me occasionally. Generally, I ignore him, but sometimes I get hooked.

HT said...

Beth, *WE* always say thank God for Ms.

The wonderful thing is, the best places to live are:
'bama, La. and Ms. (can't really say I know about miss. though). But seriously, are there better people in the world than those from ALABAMA? (Must say the people in New Orleans are incredibly sociable and refined. I really really really dig New Orleanians. GREAT PEOPLE.

vbspurs said...

He just likes to foam at the mouth at me occasionally.

Even happy families quarrel, Beth.

BTW, Brits don't do funny-shaped building well, whether hot dogs or gherkins.

Alex said...

For a mood piece:

Still by Geto Boys

chickelit said...

the lovely vbspurs said: BTW, Brits don't do funny-shaped building well, whether hot dogs or gherkins.

Wisconsin loves odd-shaped buildings: link. Note the people standing inside the mouth.

I just had sushi for dinner!

Chennaul said...

vbspurs said...
Speaking of la calle ocho: cafe con leche at Versailles made with evaporated milk.

Every single Cuban tells me to have it this way, cafe con leche condensada/evaporada. But I have it with whole milk. Also, I'm a Bustelo girl, despite most CAs favouring Pilon.

Cubanbob, other than it being Rondônia and Minas is not really considered South -- spot on.

(I suspect you meant Paraná)

Every Althousian should read your comment. Hey, the better your average American can understand that Brazilians are a people apart in South America, and not some copy of Venezuela, Peru or Argentina, ...or God forbid, Mexico...the better.

3/25/11 12:52 PM

**********

That vbspurs . I know you are going to have lots of support for that sentiment but I don't cotton to it.


One race that is supposedly automatically inferior.....I don't get it.

Maybe you can explain what you meant.

Chennaul said...

Maybe you mean to say the average American is racist?

I could have it wrong.

Fen said...

Beth: Fen, feel free to call me a redneck. It doesn't bother me a bit. I'm not ashamed to be from and of redneckia.

No. How about I just call you Dyke or Faggot. And if it offends, please feel free to call me the same... because that makes it all okay, yes?

At least you didn't cover with the "some of my best friends are n*ggers". Got to give you credit there.

Scott said...

Alan Lomax spent most of his adult life unearthing the roots of British folk music by studying and documenting American hillbilly music.

Maybe the British are a bit snobbish about American hillbillies because, on a visceral level, they identify with them.

Beth said...

No need to give me credit, Fen. That's your fixation, not mine.

Beth said...

HT, I always have a great time in Mobile, and along the coast. And we have good friends in B'ham but don't get up there too often. Oysters in Mobile are second only to Louisiana oysters, in my opinion, and the people are always real nice. (Really, the only negative experience I ever have in Alabama is that I can't buy beer on Sunday. What's up with that?)

Beth said...

Scott, go back before Lomax, before the 1600s immigrants to Pangaea. The Appalachians were part of a range that included Scotland.

Michael said...

My mother in law believes the skies bluer and the roads smoother in Alabama.

YoungHegelian said...

@Beth,

"Really, the only negative experience I ever have in Alabama is that I can't buy beer on Sunday. What's up with that?"

I'd say Catholic Louisiana vs Protestant Alabama is what's up with that.

Q: You know why the Church of Christ is against sex standing up?

A: It might lead to dancing!

YoungHegelian said...

@michael,

"My mother in law believes the skies bluer and the roads smoother in Alabama."

I guess she didn't grow up there, like some of us did.

As the locals say: Oy veh!

888 said...

"The Appalachians were part of a range that included Scotland."

So it is just nature calling after all: British humour is so subtle.

Beth said...

YH,

I grew up Protestant, and I'm a Southerner not originally from New Orleans. I've come to appreciate the more sensual lifestyle the Catholic roots allow for but occasionally I feel guilty. Still Baptist at heart.

vbspurs said...

Madawaskan wrote:

One race that is supposedly automatically inferior.....I don't get it.

Maybe you can explain what you meant.


Race? Inferior? Madawaskan, you're reading WAY TOO MUCH into what I wrote.

I meant that Americans have in the past, and sadly sometimes today, lumped Brazil (the only Portuguese-culture country in the Americas) with Hispanic countries. If you remember your Carmen Miranda films, you might recall that when she was singing that Brazilian standard, "Mamãe eu quero", the studio decided she should be backed by a mariachi band, complete with mules and sombreros.

That is what I meant.

Christ, man.

vbspurs said...

Chickelit wrote:

Wisconsin loves odd-shaped buildings: link. Note the people standing inside the mouth.

YOU ARE KIDDING ME. That is hilarious!

Incidentally, Americans may prefer their whimsy in buildings, but I once saw an episode on the Travel Channel, showing odd-shaped buildings around the US.

They interviewed an authoress who was busy scoping out the places -- research for an upcoming book.

Yep, that's right. She was British!

vbspurs said...

Beth wrote:

I grew up Protestant, and I'm a Southerner not originally from New Orleans.

Do you speak with a generally recognised "Southern" accent? :)

...I find being able to mimic Southern accents very easy. Small wonder Scarlett O'Hara was played by Vivien Leigh.

Beth said...

VB, yes, but just how much will vary with circumstances. You don't find really broad Southern accents in New Orleans, and I've lived here 36 years, but oddly, I find mine is a little more pronounced as I get older. My mom was from Georgia and my dad from Arkansas; I'd say my accent draws a little from both.

Beth said...

Brits do Southern very well - but it can go wrong. I saw Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman in a movie set in NOLA (Judas Kiss), and they both had these big Scarlett O'Hara accents that just aren't found here. The dialect coach should be smacked on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.

shiloh said...

somefeller said...

Edutcher says: Somehow, I think Ann just said shiloh/PB&J/some phony folksy, Alpha/Freder/Montaigne, and J/Jeremy were a bigger bunch of hillbillies for their attitude, abuse, and invective than the Althouse Hillbilies have ever been.

I hadn't even commented on this post, nor was I planning to, and yet I'm (lamely) name-dropped by Edutcher. High-larious! Here's one for you, superman, since apparently I'm under your skin.
~~~~~


Indeed!

And coincidentally just like one of my groupies, edutcher, is totally fixated/obsessed w/liberals, conservatives in this thread are totally fixated/obsessed w/race/racism.

Go figure!

shana said...

It's not only the hillbilly thing.
Brits love stories about dog poop. Nothing gets their dander up more than people who won't clean up after their dogs.
I think it's a symptom of anxiety about living on a small, overcrowded island. But it's a talk radio cliche here: to get the phones going, talk about people refusing to clean up dog poop.
Add guns and the story's a total winner for a BBC audience.

Marica said...

I don't know if this point has been made yet or not, but these folks cannot possibly be "hillbillies."

Washington County is in the DELTA. There are no hills in the delta, thus there cannot be resident hillbillies. Indeed, as a Mississippian, I don't think I've ever heard Mississippians ever referred to as "hillbillies."

Rednecks. Country folk. Poor white trash. Cajuns.