Oh boy, ILX! That's where I'm a viking!..?

And nothing in Ralf's sentence suggests he can't distinguish between dreams and reality.

No, but everything in Ralph's character suggests that this is not implausible.

wouldn't burst out laughing but would def go "heheh that's pretty fucked up, dude". not "oh *yawn* a viking dream, heard that 1000000 times"

Maybe the joke is that Ralph is secretly Finnish.

I mean...

Ralph Wiggum: This is my swing set. This is my sandbox. I'm not allowed to go in the deep end.
[points to a large rock]
Ralph Wiggum: That's where I saw the leprechaun.
Bart Simpson: [sarcastically] Right, a leprechaun.
Ralph Wiggum: He told me to burn things.
Bart Simpson: [uneasily] Uh-huh.

Marge: Is that normal?
Chief Wiggum: No, he's just playing 'Wiggle Puppy'! That's a dog he made up who flies by wagging his tail. Heh, I tell you, that dog has had some amazing adventures.

tbh, when I watch tv, I just take the lols they give me unless I'm really stoned. I don't really go out of my way to hermeneutically produce new lolz that weren't intended. I mean, I agree with Derrida's assertion that texts are liberal producers of meaning, that they can't help but produce new meanings, but when I'm watching the Simpsons I'm generally not paying THAT much attention.

But it's not like we - or at least me - were actively and knowingly choosing the funnier interpretation. When I first heard that line, the "Viking of sleep" interpretation was the first and only thing that came to my head. Only years later, when I was reading some Simpsons fansite, did I find out that other people had interpreted the line differently.

I don't think you can produce any meaning whatsoever from any text, but here it would be best to observe the line in its proper context, i.e. something said by Ralph Wiggum in a 3rd season episode of The Simpsons. Now, by the 3rd season Simpsons was already well known for its offbeat, often surreal humor, and the character of Ralph was known for garbling the English language. This is why a viewer with some background knowledge on Simpsons in general and Ralph in particular may easily choose the more eccentric and less literal interpretation, because that's what he expects from the series and from the character based on his previous knowledge of them. On the other hand, in a more straightforward comedy show, said by a more straightforward character, the line "that's where I'm a Viking" could definitely be interpreted in a more literal way, because the context of that show would favour that interpretation. But in the context of The Simpsons, the "Viking of sleep" interpretation just makes more sense.

no it doesn't

stop posting

http://www.authorama.com/files/humpty-dumpty.gif

Tuomas, how is it possible that when hearing the line, "Sleep, that's where I'm a viking," you didn't think the meaning was that "I'm a viking in my sleep," which is the correct grammatical interpretation? Like, I understand making up a newer, funnier explanation, but brains process language in similar ways, and the natural way to read it the way the syntax has laid it out.

"Sleep, that's where I'm a viking," is syntactically synonymous with "I'm a viking in sleep." Now you could then say, viking is literal or viking is figurative language meaning an idiom (to be excellent at something) that doesn't exist outside the context of this sentence. But that's not the interpretation that makes more sense.

Ralph opened a can of worms
called

wait I'm missing somethign there

Also, "I don't think you can produce any meaning whatsoever from any text," what does this even mean?

Sure, Ralph is known for garbling the English language, but he's also known for having a rich fantasy life, which he is not always able to distinguish from reality.

I'll give you one more:

Ralph: "Um, Miss Hoover? There's a dog in the vent."
Miss Hoover: "Ralph, remember the time you said Snagglepuss was outside?"
Ralph: "He was going to the bathroom."

Marge: Is that normal?
Chief Wiggum: No, he's just playing 'Wiggle Puppy'! That's a dog he made up who flies by wagging his tail. Heh, I tell you, that dog has had some amazing adventures.

You forget that in The Simpsons, when someone dreams or imagines being something else, almost always we see them actually being that something - like in the above example. But after Ralph's line about being a Viking the episode doesn't cut into a dream sequence where he is a Viking, even though The Simpsons very often does exactly that when someone is imagining/dreaming of something. The fact that this doesn't happen would suggest that the Viking line should be interpreted differently, and that it isn't to do with Ralph imagining himself as an actual Viking.

You're a crazy person, Tuomas. That's insane.

Simpsons has rules, y'all

Ad hominems don't weaken my argument.

how about this hominem - you can not tell the simpsons and family guy apart

your pro-viking scandinavian bias does xp

Tuomas, how is it possible that when hearing the line, "Sleep, that's where I'm a viking," you didn't think the meaning was that "I'm a viking in my sleep," which is the correct grammatical interpretation? Like, I understand making up a newer, funnier explanation, but brains process language in similar ways, and the natural way to read it the way the syntax has laid it out.

― Mordy, Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:44 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

multiple people on this thread, including me, said they heard the A interpretation the first time they heard this line and hadn't even thought of the B interpretation until this thread came up. I don't have a good explanation for it, I was probably like 13-14 years old the first time this episode so I certainly wasn't stroking my wispy chin-beard and trying to come up with a deep analysis of the line, it's just how my brain processed it. so whatever the "natural" way to hear the line is (talk about a loaded phrasing), plenty of people heard it the other way.

anyway I'm tired of goin ham on dudes itt peace

― ⚡ You vike this. (dyao), Sunday, April 25, 2010 11:05 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah I kinda love how guys are all like "this is the last time I'm ever posting to this thread" and then 5 minutes later "it's option b you fuckwits"

― Oh boy, sleep! That's where I'm a ILXing! (dyao), Tuesday, April 27, 2010 11:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I love how this thread cycles in and out of passionately arguing about the topic at hand to meta-facepalming back to passionate arguing

― I Think Ur a Viking (dyao), Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:47 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I mean the way ralph just plumps his head on the desk & dozes off clearly shows he's really excellent at sleeping on command

― I Think Ur a Viking (dyao), Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:51 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

btw ralph is totally capable at understanding/using metaphors & puns cf. his valentine's day card exchange with lisa

― I Think Ur a Viking (dyao), Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:56 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this fucking guy

It's not an argument! Because dreams that are textually referenced often follow with an actual depiction of the dream doesn't preclude this from being an exception, and the fact this isn't followed with an actual dream sequence doesn't change the syntactical meaning of the sentence.

This reminds me of that time in the Simpsons when Peter organized the ipecac-drinking contest!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eYSpIz2FjU

I wish I could find the thread that talked about a pink T-shirt that had Ralph Wiggum in jazzercise gear that read "Drop It Like It's Hot."

Anyone finds that, I tell them I like them.

Simpsons has rules, y'all

Not strict rules, but it certainly has a lot of conventions that make up the context of watching a particular episode. You expect certain things from a Simpsons episode that you might not expect from some other show. The line "that's where I'm a Viking" is empty in itself - only the context where its said gives it a meaning. And in the context of Simpsons that meaning might be different than in some other context.

Ralph: "Um, Miss Hoover? There's a dog in the vent."
Miss Hoover: "Ralph, remember the time you said Snagglepuss was outside?"
Ralph: "He was going to the bathroom."

we could really have some laughs if we subjected this & a bunch of other jokes to "why is this funny?" "discussions." because it would turn out that a bunch of people are laughing because of the line's delivery, or because comedic context reflexively makes them laugh, and that they don't get about 3/4 of the jokes on this or any other show

I know this makes me like the King Of The Smug Answer B Dudes but what the hell, I yam who I yam i.e. a viking

hey abbott: Someone please explain this thing I saw at Target

Credit to Tuomas for keeping calm while multiple posters have implied that Finland is part of Scandinavia.

i am posting in this thread

Finland is often considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also included.

jjjusten, I like you!

lol what happened to this poster

I have never understood the "phom is shom jom" part either! After "I got the rollies on my arm," it makes about as much sense as what lyrics probably there.

― sgs (sgs), Thursday, June 23, 2005 4:29 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

bring back sgs imo & then ban him

Let's do it! I think the Snagglepuss thing is funny because a) the word Snagglepuss (with its vague gestures towards Snuffleupagus) is funny sounding, more over, drawing on that association, Snuffleupagus is a character that only Big Bird can see, but then b) That in the face of Miss Hoover challenging Ralph's ability to perceive reality, Ralph doesn't protest but simply states matter-of-factly that the Snagglepuss was urinating outside. He isn't offended by the suggestion that he hallucinates, if anything, the reference only evokes his memory of that moment. He's totally unable (LIKE MANY PEOPLE ON THIS THREAD) to derive the context of Miss Hoover raising that memory -- ie: to prove he's untrustworthy.

Credit to Tuomas for keeping calm while multiple posters have implied that Finland is part of Scandinavia.

To be honest, many Finns assume this too. But just to make it sure: we're not officially a part of Scandinavia, and we never had Vikings.

And yet for some reason you guys all dream about being vikings. double-Bizarre.

arent you all awfully tired then? xpost

a) the word Snagglepuss (with its vague gestures towards Snuffleupagus) is funny sounding,

this post with its non-vague ability to make me smack my head

so who's on the a-team:

dyao - team leader
tuomas - team mascot/genetically related to actual vikings
deej - naive peacemaker
doctor casino - team medic
n/a - n/a

who else

*Are* you stoned, Mordy? Snag & Snuffy v 2 difft peeps.

so who's on the a-team:

dyao - team leader
tuomas - team mascot/genetically related to actual vikings
deej - naive peacemaker
doctor casino - team medic
n/a - n/a

who else

saddam hussein

yeah uh mordy you do realize that snagglepuss is a thing right

xxposts

.... Mordy, you know that Snagglepuss is an actual cartoon character right

multiple xposts but still

Don't talk about my dad like that "underrated aerosmith libelist."

Oh yeah, Snagglepuss is the pink tiger guy, right? (Is really stoned atm actually.)

hahahahaha

Your search - snaslepuss snuffleuppaguis - did not match any documents.

I had major stomach pains this morning, so I self-medicated early on :'(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4qFxTTi8q0

Exit pursued by a bong