Posted on 05/02/2002 3:49:42 PM PDT by pgobrien
Prince Philip jokes about the blind and the anorexic Thu May 2, 2:36 PM ET By JANE WARDELL, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Gaffe-prone Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II (news - web sites), told a joke about people with eating disorders and the blind on Thursday that seemed to surprise a crowd at a public appearance.
Philip was visiting Exeter Cathedral with his wife as part of her Golden Jubilee tour of Britain when he spotted blind woman Susan Edwards and her guide dog in the crowd waiting for the royal visitors.
"Do you know they have eating dogs for the anorexic now?" he asked Edwards. Although she didn't seem to react, people standing nearby raised their eyebrows without saying anything.
Philip is renowned for his quips and forthright opinions. He has generated newspaper headlines several times by making unguarded comments while accompanying the queen on official royal tours around the world.
Earlier this year, he asked Australian aborigines if they still threw spears at each other.
Again in Australia, in 1998, he suggested that tribes in Papua New Guinea were still cannibals. "You managed not to get eaten, then?" he asked a student who had just returned from walking the Kokoda trail.
In the Cayman Islands, in 1994, he asked a wealthy islander: "Aren't most of you descended from pirates?"
And in China, during the 1986 state visit, he described Peking as "ghastly" and told British students: "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed."
Back home, Philip sparked controversy on a 1999 trip to a factory near Edinburgh, Scotland. Pointing to an old-fashioned fusebox, he said it looked as if it had been "put in by an Indian."
More eyebrows were raised after he compared a cricket bat to a gun amid calls to ban firearms after the 1996 shooting of 16 children at an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland.
"If a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, which he could do very easily, I mean, are you going to ban cricket bats?" Philip asked.
On Thursday, the royal couple were on the second day of the queen's 15-week nationwide Jubilee tour, marking her 50 years on the British throne.
Throughout the tour of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset in southwest England, tens of thousands of people lined the streets to welcome the queen with cheers, flowers and flags.
She thanked the public for helping to ease her sadness after the deaths of the Queen Mother Elizabeth and Princess Margaret earlier this year.
"Your celebration of my reign has brought home to me with renewed force how much I owe to you all for your loyalty and support over the last half century," she said.
Tactful, eh?
Cripes...I'll bet some of my ancestors were kings and poets of Ireland but we don't suck off the public teat.
In the final analysis.....our essences are eternal and we will continue to re-emerge in an existence until we learn that we create our own reality.
He!
Pack of lies from the republican press, more likely.
Do you think it's time for a "Euro Hate" topic on the forum, PG? That way those who enjoy threads like these could find them easily.
Thanks to FR poster Apollo for providing the true-to-life italic quotes in his December 2001 post (see Top 10 Clinton/Gore/Clinton Quotes).
10. “The era of big government is over.” —Bill Clinton.
i.e., "Wait'll you see freakin' IMMENSE government, har har."9. “I have never questioned the experience of my opponent.” —Al Gore.
i.e., "I never thought about my opponent because Bill told me that I might have to eat his shorts if I lose this election."8. “I don’t recall.” —Hillary Clinton.
i.e., "I don't have to answer you little people. Eat horse cakes."7. “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” —Bill Clinton.
i.e., "The National Education Association has decreed that there is no verb 'to be'."6. “One of our greatest Presidents.” —Al Gore on Bill Clinton.
i.e., "one of my greatest heroes if you don't count Al Sharpton."5. “There has never been a time when I’ve said something I know to be untrue; there has never been a time when I’ve said something untrue.” —Al Gore.
i.e., "Tipper said I should just keep my mouth shut, smile and wave."4. “I didn’t inhale.” —Bill Clinton.
i.e., "Inhale? That's an understatement. I bogied the whole joint myself and got such a buzz I couldn't remember where the nuclear button machine thingy was."3. “…there is no controlling legal authority that says that is any violation of any law.” —Al Gore.
i.e., "We've lost all control over the courts. Judges now make the laws as well as enforce them, so you may as well give us your guns now, and all your money while you're at it."2. “…this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for President.” —Hillary Clinton.
i.e., "The vast Rosie conspiracy has given me more courage to dissimulate with a straight face to my constituents."1. “I - did - not - have - sexual - relations - with that woman.” —Bill Clinton.
i.e., "She was, you know, a sucker for a good time. So I shot it to her just like JFK did in that same office."
Mid-sixties? There are rumors that in the backwoods they still do chow down on occasion.
a.cricket
Don't get all twisted in your panties, Aussie. Even Prince William knows he's an ananchronism. If, as a government, you don't let people let off some steam through humor, they will just let it off in other more damaging ways. Is it time for a "Euro Hate" forum? If it deflects personal attacks, it might serve its purpose.
Makes perfect sense to me.
And according to American Wisdom, the English doing that is equivalant to the Rodney King riots.
Gotta be a lurker. Variations of that question appear here 100 times daily.
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