The James T. Callow Folklore Archive

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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