The Lone Ranger, no? Or at least a joke about it.
Also from the article: "Clearing the backlog of SUVs built on 30-year-old technology is going to pump up GDP?"
I'll have him know my SUV has all sorts of technology never heard of 30 years ago. Like a CD player and little sensors in the back so I don't crush a Mini when I reverse.
Google reminds me that the joke was used in a Weetabix ad once, which may or may not help explain its popularity.
That joke and the one that ends with the Lone Ranger shouting "I said 'posse'" to Silver are the only Lone Ranger jokes I know.
But, to your main point, yes that article was an awful mash-up of cliche and ill-defined pointlessness. Just like most of the rest of the business press.
The punch line in the version of the Lone Ranger joke I know is "Whaddya mean, 'we,' white man?"
I'll have him know my SUV has all sorts of technology never heard of 30 years ago.
True enough. Still lipstick on a pig, though.
to be fair, 8 is true of most, but not all things marketed under that classification.
That man must be from Silicon Valley.
all sorts of technology never heard of 30 years ago. Like a CD player
CDs came out in 1982, so they're coming up on 30 quick. To nitpick.
So the Lone Ranger and Tonto are riding out on the plains when they see 200 angry Apache warriors riding towards them clearly looking for a fight. The Lone Ranger says to Tonto "Looks like we're in trouble" and Tonto says "What do you men 'we' White Man?"
nosflow: this suggests the lone ranger radio show (1930's - 50's) as source of your quote...
He misunderstood the GDP thing, too. Taking things out of inventory has no effect on GDP. The implication of car companies running down their SUV inventories is that they might start making new cars, which _is_ in GDP.
no charge for the extra apostrophes
nosflow: this suggests the lone ranger radio show (1930's - 50's) as source of your quote...
It doesn't, actually.
16: True. However, if they melted down SUV inventory to make new cars, you could generate GDP at both ends.
It doesn't, actually.
Hey, you're right. That'll learn me to do too many things at once.
19: And put particulate SUV matter into the air? What, do you hate the environment?
And put particulate SUV matter into the air? What, do you hate the environment?
Could be better than driving them around, though...
Although the page linked in 14 doesn't provide an origin for the joke, it does have a lot of very interesting information.
Huh. Having mostly skimmed that article, the absurdity of it is that the writer's generation -- presumably 30-somethings and under -- doesn't show signs of repudiating automation/digitization, of wanting to slow down.
But, like, probably seven of that guy's friends like to say that's what they want!
I'd always heard the joke as "What's this 'we' shit, white man?" Which I like better.
25: It is most frustrating. a. He or she sounds like the 60s generation. b. What the fuck do you think is funding, e.g. TPM's new expansion? c. When s/he and friends order shit on the internet, this is "small, responsive, micro-scale commerce"?
d. The Twitter crew?
Presumably he sells his insight into Gen M to businesses looking to exploit it.
Let me amend: looking to exploit it after having learned, from him, that it exists.
Ah, he has a future in marketing. Of course.
I"m curious to know whether anyone here finds any resonance in what the guy is saying. It's a narrative we've heard before to an extent, so it's not exactly startling.
What's maddening is that some of what the guy is saying is right, almost trivially so (broken institutions? policies that helps banks instead of citizens? no duh)... and yet he's still fundamentally talking in Nineties Dotcom-Bubble-BullshitSpeak, which suggests that he thinks he gets it but really doesn't. Twitter is "meaningful"? What?
d00d, Twitter is part of Tehran 2.0. Maybe you hadn't heard.
"What's this 'we' shit, white man paleface?"
The version I grew up with.
32: Maybe they would've fared better with more than a 140 characters to work with...
13: That and variations on it have been going around since I was in high school and no doubt before. So, figure at least 50+ years for that joke.
The mention of Twitter is really ... sad. So! I actually don't know what to say. He didn't mention MySpace, anyway. That's, like, 20th century.
This guy will have a hernia if the internets ever go down.
Myspace is associated with the wrong SES.
37: I heard about that.
Twitter, though, is authentic, deep democracy.
33: Similarly, the version I heard was "What you mean we, paleface?". Of course, it must be said in that deep, monotone, serious voice that all the TV and movie Indians use.
For some reason, in Dark Angel they decided that Joshua, the man-dog hybrid, should use that exact same speech style.
Of course, it must be said in that deep, monotone, serious voice that all the TV and movie Indians use.
How?
12: I did not know they were that old. In 1982, I knew plenty of people with 8-track players in their cars. I doubt I saw a CD before '88 and didn't own one until a few years later.
In 1982, I knew plenty of people with 8-track players in their cars
In 1982, I had a portable cassette player which ran on batteries between the front seats of my car (good times!), which was admittedly a '65 Mustang, so it couldn't have been expected to have a tape player. I never did have 8-tracks -- skipped directly from radio and albums to cassette tapes, it seems.
43: I wasn't quite old enough to drive in '82. I did have a friend with a '64 (?) Ford Fairlane, which is nearly as cool as a Mustang in the sense that an 8-track is nearly as cool as an iPod. I remember how he'd have to open the hood and use a screwdriver to start it.
44, 45: I was listening to King Crimson when you were born, you two.
March 1st, around ten in the morning?
I remember how he'd have to open the hood and use a screwdriver to start it.
Ahem. I never had to open the hood of the Mustang and pull the fan belt around manually in order to start it. Nor did passengers have to crawl in through the driver's side door. I also never had a problem with the hood latch, such that I couldn't drive very fast sometimes, else the hood would pop up in front of my face. Also the defrost always worked.
49: And then the Japanese came and ruined it all for everybody.
At least it was much easier to hide smoking from the teachers back when nobody would notice the smell of a cigarette over their own nostril-ash.
At least it was much easier to hide smoking from the teachers back when nobody would notice the smell of a cigarette over their own nostril-ash.
Wow, by the time I was born people smoked with their mouths.
47: I had sex before they born. Which, for nosflow, would be necessarily true.
I'm not sure 52 really says what you want it to say, apo.
Actually, now that I've done the math properly, that wouldn't have happened until 1983.
I don't think I'd realized that I'm only a fortnight older than neb, give or take a day.
52: how on earth did you masturbating at c. age 14 engender nosflow?
Which makes me a fortnight and a half older than Stanley, give or take a day.
I just got done driving six+ hours with small children, nosflow. Better than even chance I might not make any sense at all.
51: Run a q-tip up the nose of a heavy-smoker and give me a better name.
What's really going on here is that there was some righteous fucking going on in the Summer of '81.
Step right up, step right up, don't be caught with your drawers down…
I'm just going to assume that nosflow is Apo's son and leave it at that.
59: I don't think I'll be able to think of a better name for you whilst running away from some poor cigarette-addled bastard with a q-tip halfway to his brain.
What's really going on here is that there was some righteous fucking going on in the Summer of '81.
More like spring, if my arithmetic is right....
62: Said with a thick southern drawl, of course.
64: Correct. If of course by "son" you mean "butt baby".
More like spring, if my arithmetic is right....
You are correct. I forgot that I was almost a month late. Sorry, Mom!
51: Run a q-tip up the nose of a heavy-smoker and give me a better name.
That hyphen is confusing me.
70: I got carried away after q-tip.
I was trying to remember whether Cosby used the joke in his Lone Ranger routine from I Started Out as a Child from 1964. Can't find a transcript, that routine had "Tonto don't go to town", "Tonto's horse" and them being drunk in a bar, but I can't recall if it finishes with that joke (and even if it did, does not mean it was original to Cosby). I thought we had "Child" on cassette, but all I found was "The Best of Cosby" which turns out (after a stupidly long search for a working cassette player) to only contain the very first part of the routine. Crapping crapperation.
Also here is the middle one of three posts on Language Log from a few years back ruminating on "Kemosabe".
61: And several people here got conceived as well.
My first car, dating from 1969, had a radio and a tape player - that must have been installed after market. I hooked up my portable CD player to it so I could drive around and play Tori Amos loudly (something I was discouraged from doing in our tiny apartment).
And, I'm older than neb, essear and Stanley by nearly half a year.
I had a funny thing from Sony that let you hook a portable CD player to a fake cassette and it would then play using your speakers. I bought my first car with a real CD player in 2006 (the very nice SUV mentioned above).
Driving around inside a tiny apartment is usually a bad idea, whether playing Tori Amos loudly or not.
FWIW (since none of you seem to be of my generation), I *heard* the Lone Ranger joke in the 1950s. Have no idea who started it, but it wasn't Cosby, who came along later.
77: those are still useful, man. I use one in my '65 Mustang, as a lasso.
Well, no. But I do use one to play an iPod through the tape-hole.
I've used devices like that mentioned in 77 in living memory.
Such a clever device! I hope its inventor made a bundle.
As for myself, with a history of bronchitis, pneumonia, etc.; this bit of Ignatius Reilly self-deprecation seems appropriate:
My respiratory system, unfortunately, is below par. I suspect that I am the product of particularly weak conception on the part of my father. His sperm was probably emitted in a rather offhand manner.
I intend to use a device such as the one mentioned in 77 as soon as Tuesday.
80, 81: Yes, we still have one in our old minivan, however during my quest to listen to Bill Cosby I discovered that cassette player no longer works.
80: I had no idea they were still in use. For the iPod, we have a little transmitter that you stick on the iPod and it goes to your FM radio.
minivan, however
You mean "minivan; however,".
87: those are extremely-useful, unless you're in Los-Angeles or an equivalently-sized metropolitan-area, in which case they're completely-useless.
While I was at the beach, my nieces were very, very insistent that I let them straighten my hair.
Who's your skeezy uncle? Me, that's who.
91: you look like some kind of fucked-up surfer santa.
88,89: Conjunctive adverbs have feelings too.
I can't believe how good your reunited band is, Mr. Mascis.
90: I sort of live in a metropolis, but not really.
I use a tape deck adapter with my Ipod too. The FM-tuning devices were not reliable enough.
91: Wow, you look kind of tired there, maybe.
OT Bleg: I've let several of my pans get into a dreadful state, and I'm trying to figure out how best to clean them.
One of them is a Calphalon non-stick crepe pan, which has lovely deep black stains on it. (My instinct is that, given that it is non-stick and is at least 7 years old, perhaps I should get a new one that won't poison me).
The other is a black satin finish Le Creuset frying pan. This, too, has deep black stains. This one I am not keen on replacing though perhaps I should just go straight to a few more cast-iron pans (I've been meaning to do more strength training).
I've tried a few of my normal tricks but I assume that someone out there knows better than I on what to do to them.
M/lls will advise you to scrub them with salt.
99.2 I'd pitch that one if it had scrapes in the coating.
Hm, thanks. I'll try that. Pretty soon, my hands are going to smell exactly like salt and vinegar chips.
Roberta uses a tape deck iPod adapter in her car. Mine has an aux jack that you can just plug in directly.
Wow, you look kind of tired there, maybe.
Drunk, more likely. But with seven kids in the house (and my two youngest *do not* sleep past the crack of dawn), it was indeed tiring.
And pretty fat!
Thanks, Sweety.
As for the Le Creuset pan, you need to mix one part baking soda, one part salt, two parts white vinegar and two parts water. Heat the mixture to boiling and stir well. Then put your finger in the mixture and scream "I have me some expensive pans. I should be careful with them."
Hit the La Creuset with a sledgehammer until it cracks, and then take it to the store for a free replacement.
108: Ooh, good idea.
107: The Le Creuset set that I have is in an "ugly" color so I got it super discounted because apparently no one else wanted it.
As for not taking care of them, I have a bad habit of putting things in the dishwasher that don't go there.
Uh, 109 was me. Don't know how that happened.
109: In that case, just heat the mixture to 150.
As for not taking care of them, I have a bad habit of putting things in the dishwasher that don't go there.
What a cute kitten, too. Oh well!
Wait. Does the LeCreuset have to crack to get the free replacement? Or say hypothetically one had burned off chunks of enamel, would tha do? And what store does one bring it to?
I did have a friend with a '64 (?) Ford Fairlane, which is nearly as cool as a Mustang..
I had a '69 fairlane for a while, which famously snapped a motor mount while heading into a cul-de-sac, in such a way as to jam the throttle full open. To this day I have no idea how I managed to not hit any of the cars parked around it, but there wasn't much left of the (rear) tires by the time I shut it down....
113: any Le Creuset retail store will do it, as far as I know. My mom brought them one that was a good 40 years old, burned, chipped and (finally) cracked with (obviously) no receipt or anything, and they cheerfully swapped it out for a brand new one.
For le crueset, and for calaphon that is the anodized aluminum (not not stick coating), barkeeps friend works really well.
Or say hypothetically one had burned off chunks of enamel
How did you manage that?
If the damage is remotely plausible for actual use, they'll just give you another one ime.
And I am ~.75 years older than Parenthetical. Who's next?
115: Now I feel stupid for now buying the stock pot that was on sale at William Sonoma yesterday. On the other hand, it was still pretty close to $200 for a pot and I feel too much like a yuppie for my own good.
I have a bad habit of putting things in the dishwasher that don't go there.
Yeah, not a good idea for eameled cast iron. any cast iron, for that matter.
116: is (obviously?) only recommended for extreme cases. Usually you don't need anything for these....
This is fishy—why doesn't everyone who buys a slightly damaged secondhand LC just immediately return them?
The other is a black satin finish Le Creuset frying pan.
by the way, Paren. ... I have no idea what this means. My barkeeps friend advice is only for the enamel coating of cast type le creuset --- so ignore if that isn't the case.
Everyone near an LC retail store, at least.
123: LC also makes a lot of non-enameled cast iron stuff, eg.
This is fishy--why doesn't everyone who buys a slightly damaged secondhand LC just immediately return them?
The lifetime guarantee is like the better hand tool providers, they'll replace it if the damage is plausibly their fault, not yours.
On the other hand, I've had snap on replace a couple of wrenches I had obviously used and extension on, and le creuset replaced a pot lid I dropped while hot.... so who knows.
127: right. I know that, but I'm not sure what "satin finish" specifies, so I didn't want to mislead.
hell, they make butter dishes now. ffs.
This is fishy--why doesn't everyone who buys a slightly damaged secondhand LC just immediately return them?
My grandad's thirty-year-old LC dutch oven, which I inherited some four years ago, looks set to last another forty or fifty years. That fucker is seriously indestructible. If it were to suddenly break, somehow, I'd be really curious to understand what had happened.
130: It's their weird lining for some of the frying pans. The advice of vinegar + baking soda worked (I had been doing that while I was asking for advice). My dutch oven could use a cleaning (and I'm a little worried about what looks like possible pot holes in the surface) so I'll try the Barkeep's friend for that.
The version of the joke ending in "paleface" is, of course, more internally consistent than the one with "Kemosabe". It's code-switching, if you will.
I've seen it in joke books, maybe Milton Berle's -- I think it might be one of those unattributable jokes that's everyone's been passing around since the Lone Ranger radio show, if not before in a different form.
Oddly I found no version of it in Google Books before 1970; an oral tradition?
My dutch oven could use a cleaning (and I'm a little worried about what looks like possible pot holes in the surface) so I'll try the Barkeep's friend for that.
It's a recommended by Calaphon for the anodized aluminum for difficult stains, and iirc it used to be recommended by LC also until they started selling their own brand cleaner. I can't swear to that though.
It works wonders on the Calaphon anodize, and I use a little with especially stubborn things on the LC. I haven't had any trouble with it, but I'm pretty easy on it too. I suspect more abrasive ones like Ajax would be a bad idea.
Minivet's 134 prompted me to try some variant Google book searches and through a roundabout path (starting with a seemingly spurious attribution to a piece in Mad #8 (1953-54) called "The Lone Stranger Rides Again" ) came up with this from alt.usage.english:
Issue 38, March 1958, Page 42. _TV Scenes We'd Like to See_
It was a two panel cartoon strip, drawn by Joe Orlando.
1st panel. LR is saying "Indians! Indians all around us! Well Tonto, ol' kimosavee, it looks like we're finished!
2nd Panel. Tonto says "What you mean... WE?"
Of course there is a reasonable chance that it was not original in that cartoon.
Everyone who does not know what 100 is should click on the link. VERY IMPORTANT
My fm ipod adapter works quite well across Los Angeles. I have three presets and I can always get half-decent sound through one of them. It's not great sound quality, but it doesn't improve that much in the boonies.
136: Of course there is a reasonable chance that it was not original in that cartoon.
My mother has been using it seemingly forever. I'd bet it goes back to 5 minutes after the intrepid duo's first confrontation with Indians was broadcast.
137 Re: FM iPod adapters, the problem isn't sound quality. The problem is finding a frequency that won't conflict with a Top 40 pop station as you drive across eight states, and/or tuning to a new frequency while you're in traffic. Although I guess if my adapter could have easily switched from one preset to another, it would have worked out better.
The problem is finding a frequency that won't conflict with a Top 40 pop station as you drive across eight states
That shouldn't be a problem; part of the band is reserved for noncommercial use.
Many wireless modulators operate in the 87.X, 88.X, and 88.X frequency bands. The best one I've had was, I think, removed from the market by the FCC because it was too powerful and ended up transmitting into other people's cars.
141: I thought it went without saying that interference from public radio is roughly equally bad. My mistake.
And I thought it went without saying that those noncommercial broadcasters are often less powerful and less plentiful than the commercial ones.
I dunno, ben. Terry Gross is pretty powerful.
146: I thought you were a Totenberg man, Stanley.
148: To court her would be supreme.
Geez, M/tch, I'm not trying to habeas her corpus out here in public. Perv.
151: So in camera then? That's hardly less pervy.
There's a much better habeas corpus joke here, but it's been ruined by 151.
I confess I got lazy. What's your joke, nosflow? Everyone can just pretend not to see 151.
154: Actually, Stanley, to make it believable, I think you have to stick your fingers in your eyes while chanting "la la la, I can't seeee you!" in a mocking tone.
Well, it's just that "habeas" is second person, right, so someone could have said to you "habeas suum corpus" or something.
153: Is there no justice in the world?