AndyHollinger Posted 28 January , 2005 Share Posted 28 January , 2005 To those of us of a certain age, Robert Duval summed up what many of us felt ... "Charlie Don't Surf" it was certainly a racial/ethinic stereotype which differentiated the enemy from the "US" ... A few days ago, I was listening to NPR and they interviewed a truck driver in Iraq talking about his make-shift armor on his truck and he say ... **** (a somewhat slurring reference to Arabs) don't surf ... **** can't shoot." It took me back to the anti-arab jokes of my youth told about the 1967 Isreali war ... Here's the question: Did the English speaking soldiers from any nation say about the Germans or the French or anyone ... Fritz can't ....? Were there any racial or ethnic stereotypes used as stock phrases that found it's way into popular culture? Somewhere in Homage to Catalonia ... George Orwell talks about a fire-fight between Anarchist militia and Nationalist troops that took place between buildings across the street from each other lasting all day yet no one was hurt on either side ... I thought at the time I read it ... he was saying the equivalent to "Juan don't surf, Juan can't shoot" ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doogal Posted 28 January , 2005 Share Posted 28 January , 2005 Hi Andy, I can't give a direct answer to that, but I just can't help thinking of a phrase used by a TV character in the UK series "Dad's Army" which is in the same vein. He was Corporal Jones, butcher, and veteran of the 1899 Sudan Campaign Upon mention of Germans - or for that matter anyone we may have been at war with, his oft repeated mantra would be: "They don't like it up 'em, they don't like it up 'em" (imagine a pensioner in battledress brandishing a rifle and bayonet, and you have it). He had a few other similar phrases also. I can't think of any direct parallels with the Great War and the "...don't surf" concept, and most of the time it seemed related to what we were going to do to them - ie "give them hell", rather than what they didn't have, didn't do or couldn't do. This of course is deliberately ignoring the usual jibes about national food stuffs, and general nicknames and name calling. regards doogal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 28 January , 2005 Share Posted 28 January , 2005 Difficult to say when racial stereotypes first emerged but the Germans had square heads, & ate copious amounts of sausages while the French smelled of garlic and were the source of the "French disease". (I believe they called it "The English disease!) Phil B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie Posted 28 January , 2005 Share Posted 28 January , 2005 Difficult to say when racial stereotypes first emerged but the Germans had square heads, & ate copious amounts of sausages while the French smelled of garlic and were the source of the "French disease". (I believe they called it "The English disease!) Phil B I suspect that racial / religious stereotypes emerged way back when there was more than one race of humans/pre-humans. Langauge also enabled such stereotypes to proliferate. Wherever there are are atleast two races (or religions) there will be such conflicts. Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 28 January , 2005 Share Posted 28 January , 2005 I have come acrosss references to British troops calling out "Waiter" to attract the attention of the Germans. How long that survived 1914 I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbarchetta Posted 28 January , 2005 Share Posted 28 January , 2005 Does "Give 'em socks!" count ? (Reference to the "Got mittens" belt buckle) Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sapper6 Posted 30 January , 2005 Share Posted 30 January , 2005 A very well respected New Zealand writer, Jim Henderson, who lost a leg fighting in the desert, WW2, described how all the original passwords were made up with words starting with W as it was assumed the Germans would pronounce it as V. He said the first prisoner of war they took was an arrogant German Officer whoose first words to them, in immaculate english, were " we will win." So much for stereotyping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markinbelfast Posted 24 February , 2005 Share Posted 24 February , 2005 "Charlie Don't Surf" Surely this didn't originally refer to the V.cong but to Charles Manson and his time on the west coast, coined by the cool people to distance themselves (hippies from the slippies) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sapper6 Posted 24 February , 2005 Share Posted 24 February , 2005 Kitchener once said of all New Zealand troops that all they are good for is jumping in the air and poking their tounges out. He was refering to the Maori Haka. He drowned and the fernleaves earned an honest hard fought reputation as some of the best soldiers in the world. By the way is it not Charles W Manson . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markinbelfast Posted 24 February , 2005 Share Posted 24 February , 2005 By the way it isn't Charles W Manson....no his name was Charles Millis Manson....but he decided to turn the 'M' of Millis upside down so that it would be Charles Willis Manson...."Charles Will Is Mans Son" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sapper6 Posted 24 February , 2005 Share Posted 24 February , 2005 Charles W and George W. Scarey. And the question for today is " Spot the Sociopathic lunatic." Trick question, they both are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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