The James T. Callow Folklore Archive

There was a Italian fellow who went to court. They had a
trial. The jury came out and found the Italian guy "not guilty".
So the judge said to the Italian fellow, "May God bless and peace
be with you." And the Italian guy looked up at him and said: "And
a peace on a you too."

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT

James Callow Keyword(s): piss

Date learned: 00001970S

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WHY IS AN ITALIAN LIKE A HELICOPTER?
ANS. BECAUSE THE BIG PROPELLER GOES WHAP, WHAP,
WHAP, AND THE LITTLE ONE GOES DEGO, DEGO, DEGO...

Where learned: APARTMENT

James Callow Keyword(s): ONOMATOPOEIA

Date learned: 09-22-1969

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Ethnic Joke: The Italian Who Came to Detroit

Ima don lak Detroit worth a sheet. I check inna hotel and go down for breakfast an I tella da girl I wanna ham and eggs and two piece a toast. I tella her I wanna two peese. She say if you wanna to peese go to da toilet. I say you no unnerstand, I wanna two peese on my plate. She say you don peese on your plate, you sonna ma beech. I no eat, I go to my room.

At lunch time I go donna da street for my lunch inna Drake Hotel. The waitress brings me a knife an a napkin but no foke. I tella her I wanna foke. She say whatta you talk, everybody wanna foke. I say you no unnerstand, I wanna foke on the table. She say you don care where you foke, you sonna ma bech. So when she call me sonna ma beech, I go back to hotel.

When I get inna da room I got no sheet on my bed, so I calla da manager and tell him I wanna sheet on my bed. He says don sheet on your bed, go to the bathroom. You no unnerstand, I say, I wanna sheet on the bed. He say you better not sheet on your bed, you sonna ma beech. So when he call me a sonna ma beech, I go check out. I go to da desk to check out to New York, and when I leave the manacer say Peace on You. I say peese on you too, you sonna ma beech cause I go back to Italy.

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs and BN added by TRD

James Callow comment:

The word Italian is written in the upper left hand corner of the submission.

Submission card was located in a pile marked To Be Classified.

Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; SAINT CLAIR SHORES

Keyword(s): AMERICAN ; Cultural Divide ; EUPHEMISM ; HUMOR ; Italian ; Language ; Language Barrier ; NEW YORK ; OBSCENE IMPLICATION ; SPEECH ; Stereotype

James Callow Keyword(s): Italian

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