also massive uncontrollable lols at Cattle Grind's link
― LITERALLY FLATTEN HER WITH THE POWER OF YOUR MARRIAGE (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link
if the internet never happened option b absolutely never ever would have entered my mind
― A B C, Monday, 26 April 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=that%27s%20where%20I%27m%20a%20viking
hahahahaha
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:35 (fourteen years ago) link
has Ralph ever said anything that wasn't meant 100% literally in the history of The Simpson, btw
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:40 (fourteen years ago) link
more like have any characters ever acted 100% consistently in the history of The Simpsons
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:42 (fourteen years ago) link
dyao is totally trolling itt
― iatee, Monday, 26 April 2010 17:43 (fourteen years ago) link
you must love this thread HI DERE, the "viking equals badass!" brigade will be quite happy to demonstrate for you many, many examples of ralph's sophisticated abstract thinking & cutting-edge use of figurative language
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:43 (fourteen years ago) link
dyao is goofin, n/a appears to be ~trolling~
― GREAT JOB Mushroom head (gbx), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:44 (fourteen years ago) link
the "viking equals badass" subtext is implied, but really if that is actually what the writers intended the character Ralph Wiggum to mean, rather than it being a randomly weird remark to show how excited Ralph was to get to sleep after accidentally eating his worm again* I will eat a hat
* itt: a phrase that sounds dirty but isn't
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:48 (fourteen years ago) link
You don't strike me as a hat kind of guy, tbh.
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:49 (fourteen years ago) link
btw anyone who didn't vote for "I am a hermeneutic anarchist and am going to convince you of the validity of my own interpretation itt" is straight-up lying
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 17:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Scandinavia! that's where I'm a viking!
― cajunsunday, Monday, 26 April 2010 17:56 (fourteen years ago) link
he is excited because IN SLEEP, HE IS A (METAPHORICAL) VIKING
also are you arguing that there is an unintended subtext that is obvious enough that apparently thousands of viewers have thought that it was the primary interpretation but this somehow "slipped by" the writers, editors, proofreaders, etc.?
I am not trolling, I am VIKING
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:03 (fourteen years ago) link
h8 whiney so much for casually dropping that this "debate" exists and then sitting back and laughing
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 18:04 (fourteen years ago) link
In dreams I am a metaphor.
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:05 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm just not clear what's so obviously correct about the literalist interpretation that dudes feel like they can sit around being huffy and superior about it.
Although the literalist interpretation never occurred to me before all this, I don't necessarily think it's a "wrong" interpretation, it's just so much of a less funny interpretation that it makes me sad that that's what people have been going around thinking for years and years. Like their world must feel dreary and sepiatoned while mine is technicolor + dolby.
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:06 (fourteen years ago) link
actually I'm arguing that someone noticed it and laughed at the ambiguity
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:07 (fourteen years ago) link
so you're arguing it was intended
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:08 (fourteen years ago) link
omg
― A B C, Monday, 26 April 2010 18:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm considering ending this argument by telling you to "go fly a kite," forcing you to literally go out, buy a kite, and fly it.
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:10 (fourteen years ago) link
The idea that Ralph is so amped up about his sleeping ability that he considers himself a viking of sleep is so much funnier than the idea that he wants to go to sleep so he can dream about being a viking.
No, you see, what's funny about it is the fact that he interprets his dream-state not as the biological process of "dreaming" but as a literal place where he takes on alternate personae.
― jaymc, Monday, 26 April 2010 18:13 (fourteen years ago) link
(But I'm with you: it's never occurred to me that there are multiple ways to interpret this line.)
― jaymc, Monday, 26 April 2010 18:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Jaymc OTM re interpretation. (That does sound much more in keeping with Ralph's character, don't you think?)
I'll also note that translators often will substitute something that works in the 'new' language rather than translating directly.
― Sundar, Monday, 26 April 2010 18:22 (fourteen years ago) link
omg n/a this is srsly threatening our relationship
― GREAT JOB Mushroom head (gbx), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:24 (fourteen years ago) link
tho I guess now I can write a boner jamz tune about bein a sleep viking so
― GREAT JOB Mushroom head (gbx), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:25 (fourteen years ago) link
we just got to work through it bro
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:26 (fourteen years ago) link
http://i43.tinypic.com/1zlx4b6.jpg
― kind of loam but mostly sand (los blue jeans), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:32 (fourteen years ago) link
ILX, that's where I'm a bottle opener!
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Monday, 26 April 2010 18:34 (fourteen years ago) link
lolling so hard at that bottle opener
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:35 (fourteen years ago) link
racist
― GREAT JOB Mushroom head (gbx), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I know ;_;
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:39 (fourteen years ago) link
to express myself in a way which those this message pertains to will understand: this thread is where i'm a viking of sbing.
― Jolyon Swagg (jim in glasgow), Monday, 26 April 2010 18:48 (fourteen years ago) link
how is this debatable? dreaming about being a viking isn't funny. sleep being the area in which one excels the most is, and it's particularly fitting for ralh. the context of the line is that Ralph just ate a worm he was supposed to dissect, the teacher tells him to sleep while the other students are learning. what he is saying is "ah, now this is something i'm good at".
― musically, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Dreaming about being a viking isn't funny. Your dreams being a separate place where you are a Viking is.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:32 (fourteen years ago) link
ok i swore i wasn't going to get into this but lol @ the idea that ralph could come up with a fanciful and original metaphor such as "viking" being "something you are good at"
― call all destroyer, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
also ralph dreaming about being a viking IS funny because look at him for chrissakes
as noted above, the simpsons is not exactly consistent in portraying characters' abilities and personalities, especially when they can just make a funny joke instead
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:37 (fourteen years ago) link
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Monday, April 26, 2010 2:32 PM (3 minutes ago)
this.
xxpost -- THAT TOO.
― Nom Nom Nom Chomsky (WmC), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:37 (fourteen years ago) link
did I miss the part where people give other instances in our culture, pre-dating the Simpsons episode, where the term "viking" is used to mean "excels at"?
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:38 (fourteen years ago) link
the best part about this argument is "explain how that's funny!"/"ok, here's how"/"I'm not laughing" as if "explain how that's funny" will ever, anywhere, in the history of the universe, result in somebody laughing after the explanation is given
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I think we are approaching the critical "show them the lesbian orgy" portion of the argument.
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:39 (fourteen years ago) link
call all destroyer otm
― mdskltr (blueski), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:39 (fourteen years ago) link
i still don't understand what the Tom Green reference in the title has to do with anything.
xpost ummm
― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
curse and bless you HI DERE for the gis at which I am presently agog
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
just a hunch but I'm saying some of these women aren't actually lesbians
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Monday, April 26, 2010 2:38 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
THERE ARE NONETHIS IS WHAT IS CALLED AN "ORIGINAL JOKE"
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
(sorry for the all-caps, guys, MIA is guest-writing my posts today)
"Yo! Hey what's happening dude?I'm a guy with a rep for bein' a Viking when it comes to being rude."
― mdskltr (blueski), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Sleep? You've got another think coming!
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Monday, 26 April 2010 19:43 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm so sorry for bringing this cancer here
― eyes without afaik (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 26 April 2010 19:44 (fourteen years ago) link