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Title text:
Borat came out twenty years ago this year--closer to the breakup of the Soviet Union than to today--but it honestly feels like it's been even longer, somehow.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3237/
MAH WAIFE
I have an announcement to make.
Shadow the hedgehog is a bitch!
He pissed on my fucking wife. It's true, he took out his hedgehog dick and pissed on her. And then he said it was "this big" and I said "that's disgusting!"
The title text is necessary on this one.
Why?
It explains the "my wife" reference, which isn't immediately clear from the statement about "my husband". At least to my pop culture illiterate brain.
Just say partner. It's a better description of what a marriage should be AND it's gender neutral
AND you get to say 'howdy' when you see them
Is there an American first person plural for "y'all"?..."We's"?
Yes! And you've nailed one of the most common.
Mind you, none of the ones I've run into reach the degree of usage y'all does.
But, there's we's, we'ns, and us'ns
This is all in my local area, or in areas close enough to have visited frequently.
No idea what yankees use for dialect first person plural, but we'ns down hyuh have it figgered out right nice.
However, if you want the dialect mind fuck of all mind fucks, wait until someone needs to address a large group of mixed sub groups and breaks out "all'a y'all'ns" which is said as a single unit all'a'y'all'ns. All of you all ones. It's like a black hole of linguistics that sucks you in, and the closer you get, the more spaghettified your brain becomes.
They ain't nuthin much more sigogglin than suthren talkin, an if'n it's in the hills (aka mountains), y'all gonna have ta step quick ta keep up. Shit far (fire) and save matches, y'all damn feriners done missed out on some got dayum good talkin!
To the north (still solidly east coast) I would occasionally hear all'a'you's and allyouse for a similar purpose.
Weesa acutally’bin’ talking like JarJar okieday!
"Us" and "we" exist in the language already.
y'all or you'ns or yinz or whatever evolved to fill a niche. English has an official second person singular, thee/thou/thy and the funny thing is thou canst still perfectly understand it, it makes perfect sense to thy ears, even my spell checker isn't flagging any of this. But we don't use it anymore because it sounds pompous and biblical, plus for some reason it comes with a bunch of fucky conjugations. Like "canst."
French does still use theirs, tu vs vous, tu is singular but also informal, you speak that way to individual friends and loved ones, vous is used for plural as well as in formal speak, even if singular you say vous to your boss. English deprecatedest thou entirely and went entirely "you" which leaves too big of a gap. So Americans took "you" to be the new singular and invented "you all" and "you ones" in parallel for plural, slanged to y'all and you'ns the latter has no consistent spelling.
Always sounded weird and corporate to me. Easiest to just ask what your SO would prefer to be called and not worry about what people might think when you say it
For me it'll always be Kimura-sensei from Azumanga Daioh: "MAI WAIFU"
Ah just when I had forgotten he exists. I don't like thinking about this guy lmao, his existence is cursed.
"High school is high school!"
And for centuries after the bombs were dropped and all human life extinguished xkcdbot kept plugging along, posting the ancient texts. Its karma points have dropped a bit since human extinction, but it is undeterred.
I don't even remember borat saying my wife as a significant part of the stick.
The movies plot revolved around making Pamela Anderson his wife. The first scene he introduces his wife, then there's the scene in the middle when the guy brings a telegram saying she died. And he fed Congressman Bob Barr some cheese that he said his wife made with milk from her tit. He probably says the phrase a dozen times in the same inflection.
There's also a scene in the show where he introduces his wife, his other wife, his mistress, his sister, and the one he has to pay.
Shtick
shtick /ʃtɪk/ A shtick is a comic theme, gimmick, or characteristic routine that a performer or person habitually uses to get attention or laughs.
NAAHT
Wawaweewa!
I guess it's this?
You’re probably right, but I can’t get this one out of my head.
Papa Lazarou was where I went, glad I'm not alone..
It has been far too long since I’ve watched this beauty.
Rewatch time! You’re welcome.
This was my original introduction, which left me incredibly confused as I’d not seen 2001 at the time either. In retrospect, it’s hilarious.
HELLO DAVE?!
IS THAT DAVE?
Dave's not here.
Ohhhhh youre my wife nowwwww
For me its the track from the " who's next" album 1971
I thought this was referencing Will Smith at the Oscars until I read the alt text.
The comic says "After two decades"...
Was Borat before the Will Smith thing? I don't know. The past is such a long and windy place.
VERY NICE!
Randall Munroe loves to do these "x was closer to y than today" comparisons and while they're interesting they dont help with the existential thinking
Huh. Never saw it.
Another win.
Thought he meant Adam Buxton
Unfortunately I'm not sure Buckles is quite the cultural phenomenon that Borat was. I am sure he's okay with that though.
"Lady of the manor" if you really want to take the piss
I would not have thought of Borat without the alt text. My mind went to Henry Youngman "Take my wife... please"
A solution is "my partner". Although I don't use it myself, I think it's a better term, if the relationship is a good one.
That's good when you're not married. "My spouse" is a good neutral term when you're married