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After complaints, editor of The New Yorker denies cartoon in magazine was a 'Polish joke'
SignOnSanDiego.com ^ | February 22, 2007 | Verena Dobnik

Posted on 02/23/2007 3:45:06 PM PST by lizol

After complaints, editor of The New Yorker denies cartoon in magazine was a 'Polish joke'

By Verena Dobnik ASSOCIATED PRESS

11:40 p.m. February 22, 2007

NEW YORK – The editor of The New Yorker said Thursday his magazine never intended to offend anyone when it published a cartoon that joked about a Polish name and drunkenness.

David Remnick was responding to the reaction of some New Yorkers of Polish origin, angered by what they consider a “Polish joke” published in the Feb. 19 issue of the magazine.

Veteran cartoonist Robert Weber had sketched two children chatting at a bus stop with the caption, “My parents named me Zbigniew because they were drunk.”

Zbigniew is a traditional Polish name.

The magazine received 28 complaints, including two phone calls. The New Yorker sent a form response to readers who complained via e-mail, apologizing and saying the intended joke was that Zbigniew is an unusual name.

“Neither the cartoonist nor the editors of The New Yorker thought this was anything other than a joke about the difficulty of pronouncing a name,” Remnick told The Associated Press. “It's two American kids talking to each other. There was never any intention or thought of this being a particularized ethnic joke, much less an ethnic insult.

“We just don't publish that kind of thing,” he added.

Staff members at the magazine said they couldn't remember ever having dealt with similar controversies surrounding their cartoons.

The magazine's weekly cartoons have become a staple of American culture, poking fun at everything from popular culture to politics. Many consider New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno the father of the modern gag cartoon.

The single-panel cartoons are sprinkled throughout each issue, between non-fiction articles, short stories and poetry.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: newyorker; poland; polish; polishjoke
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To: alloysteel

Insensitivity for the sake of laughs alone is the basis of humour


61 posted on 02/23/2007 5:15:22 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (History is not Geology)
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To: jslade; All

From one of Pookie18's FR "Today's Toons" threads!!


62 posted on 02/23/2007 5:21:03 PM PST by musicman
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To: lizol

I assumed this was some reference to Zbigniew Brzezinski, but why? Has he been in the news lately?


63 posted on 02/23/2007 5:52:28 PM PST by nosofar
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To: nosofar

It's a commentary on people trying to give their kids distinctive names.


64 posted on 02/23/2007 5:55:16 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: Chi-townChief

"The real crime is that it's not funny."

Nor are most of the jokes in the magazine.


65 posted on 02/23/2007 5:58:51 PM PST by toddlintown (Six bullets and Lennon goes down. Yet not one hit Yoko. Discuss.)
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To: Larry Lucido; Cagey; Mr. Brightside; Rb ver. 2.0; Dmitry Vukicevich
Elaine: She does a full hour about how you're the devil .I got to go see this thing.

Jerry: Good luck , It's sold out for the next three weeks.

Elaine: Well I bet I can get in once I mention I'm from ...The New Yorker.

Jerry: The New Yorker?

Elaine: Yes , The New Yorker , I've met with their cartoon editor and I got him to admit that that cartoon

...MADE NO SENSE....

Jerry: Wow! Good work, Nancy Drew

Elaine: Then we ended up going out to lunch and he had some great gossip about James Thurber.

Jerry: Nodding off...

Elaine: ....And he said I could submit some of my own cartoons.

Jerry: Wow! that's incredible......But you don't draw.

Elaine: I do to.

Jerry: What , your sad little horsies , the house with the little curl of smoke , the sunflower with the smiley

face. the transparent cube... ( as she leaves)

Elaine: It's better than your drawings of naked Lois Lane.

Jerry: Where did you see that? Those are private!!!

66 posted on 02/23/2007 6:08:31 PM PST by MotleyGirl70 (Hunter '08! FReepmail Antoninus to be added to the Duncan Hunter pinglist.)
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To: lizol
It does perhaps explain why Polish mathemeticians were such pioneers in encryption/decryption.

< };B^)

67 posted on 02/23/2007 6:09:24 PM PST by Erasmus (Tautology: A circular argument with a radius of zero.)
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To: MotleyGirl70; Cagey; Mr. Brightside; Rb ver. 2.0; Dmitry Vukicevich

"Look, Ziggy is back at the complaint desk. He's saying, 'The New Yorker is stealing my ideas.' Now, that's funny!"


68 posted on 02/23/2007 6:15:27 PM PST by Larry Lucido (Duncan Hunter 2008)
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To: southernnorthcarolina

You're gonna burn for that, but, LOL!!!!


69 posted on 02/23/2007 6:16:49 PM PST by Larry Lucido (Duncan Hunter 2008)
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To: lizol

Liberal bigots don't even understand they are bigots.


70 posted on 02/23/2007 6:17:34 PM PST by Doctor Raoul (What's the difference between the CIA and the Free Clinic? The Free Clinic knows how to stop leaks.)
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Comment #71 Removed by Moderator

To: lizol

What a stupid cartoon.


72 posted on 02/23/2007 6:18:47 PM PST by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: CaptRon
A long time ago The New Yorker had cartoons that were funny. That era is long past.

This might be funny if it was supposed to make people think of Jimmy Carter's dimestore version of Henry Kissinger, as providing the only explanation for someone naming a kid after Zbigniew Brzezinski, but present-day readers can't be assumed to remember that far back. "My parents named me Hillary because they were drunk" would work better.

The "Barney Miller Show" a long time ago had a running joke involving a regular member of the cast with a long Polish name who always insisted "It's spelled just like it's pronounced" (Wojohowicz or whatever).

73 posted on 02/23/2007 6:46:00 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: lizol

At least the kids aren't changing a light bulb in the dumb cartoon.


74 posted on 02/23/2007 7:16:56 PM PST by Ciexyz (Amazing Grace the film, in theaters Feb 23rd, about abolishing slave trade in Britain.)
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To: Larry Lucido
You're gonna burn for that, but, LOL!!!!

My one-way ticket to the Nether Regions was punched a long time ago. I find it rather liberating.

75 posted on 02/23/2007 7:18:10 PM PST by southernnorthcarolina (Some people are like Slinkies: totally useless, but fun to throw down a stair.)
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To: Grzegorz 246

I cannot believe the language they allow here these days.

Wash your mouth!


76 posted on 02/23/2007 8:55:18 PM PST by Eurotwit (WI - CSC)
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To: Cicero
It would have been funnier if it read: "My parents named me Tiffany because they were drunk."

But not very funny. The whole scene looks depressing, right down to the mud puddle in the foreground.

Let be the girly-looking kid on the right saying, "My parent named me Falopia Semaj because she was cracked out," and see how well it would have worked with the editor.

Still not very funny.

Some things just can't be fixed.

77 posted on 02/23/2007 10:17:32 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: Chi-townChief

....agreed....!!!

"

“My parents named me Zbigniew because they were drunk.” (Two boys in winter coats talk at the bus stop.)"

Har de Har....poorly DRAWN as well.


78 posted on 02/24/2007 4:53:04 AM PST by JB in Whitefish
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To: Chi-townChief
"The real crime is that it's not funny"

Absolutely true, but then liberals have a terrible sense of humor.

79 posted on 02/24/2007 5:01:43 AM PST by Pietro
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To: ApplegateRanch

Now you've got me going.

"My parents named me Vagina Monologues."

No, still not funny.


80 posted on 02/24/2007 7:31:50 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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