Scandis

[tongodeon]

Al Franken appears to have won the Minnesota Senate race in a recount challenge, with crucial support coming from the powerful lizard people bloc.

Right-wing blogs are going nutso again, but this post especially has me confused. Several comments have been posted about "the retarded fucking Scandis" or the "dirty scandi bastards" who are

Comments

[shirtlifterbear]

It's the cooking:

Hot Dish would drive anyone to racial epithets.

And lutefisk?

Banned by the Geneva Convention.

[rwx]

It should be noted that the McCain campaign already indulged in a lot of Scandinavian bashing in the form of criticizing Sweden et al. as socialist (google search) for their progressive social policies. Tarring Obama as seeking to take the US down the road towards Scandinavian socialism may have led to some residual antagonism towards scandinavians on the part of non-clever right wing bloggers.

In some ways, I think the republican party is self-consciously Scots-Irish these days, with English and German ancestry thrown in for good measure.

[mmcirvin]

And if you're Scots-Irish/English/German/Norwegian...

[rwx]

Then you should have a firm talk with your forebears about sleeping with the enemy, I guess.

[mmcirvin]

There's nothing new about this. Aren't there a million old ethnic jokes about Sven and Ole?

[flwyd]

The only people I've heard tell jokes about Scandanavians are Scandanavians making fun of a different subgroup. (Norwegians vs. Swedes, for instance. Or Minnesotans vs. North Dakotans.) I think Sven and Ole are presumed to be from whichever country the joker is not from.

[epileptikitty]

Svedish accents are part of the ethnic accent joke bag.

"What does a haircut cost in Minnesota?"
"$4. $1 a side."

Cuz they're blockheads.

[mmcirvin]

...The really dumb thing about this, though, is that Minnesota is one of the very few places in the US that seems to be trending more conservative over the long term. It used to be a liberal stronghold, the only state that voted for (native son, admittedly) Mondale in '84, and now it's practically a swing state.

[matrygg]

Maybe that's the root of the stupidity...a combination of Minnesota traditionally being Scandinavian in background, its traditional liberalism, and the notion of Scandinavian Socialism (gasp!) played against the newcomers, whoever they may be?

[erikred]

Scandis? I thought everyone knew the proper epithet for our people was Scandihoovians.

[arian1]

What's that? Scientologists?

[erikred]

You're a strange duck, but I'm sure you make a fine Master of Your Domain.

[arian1]

It's the impending fatherhood. It has me all askew.