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"
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Maybe the joke is that Ralph is secretly Finnish.
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:32 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:33 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:34 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:40 (fourteen years ago) link
no it doesn't
stop posting
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:42 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.authorama.com/files/humpty-dumpty.gif
― Obama, Wellstone and Darwinfish, Attorneys (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:42 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Ralph opened a can of wormscalled
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
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?
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
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."
― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:46 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
You're a crazy person, Tuomas. That's insane.
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Simpsons has rules, y'all
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Ad hominems don't weaken my argument.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:50 (fourteen years ago) link
how about this hominem - you can not tell the simpsons and family guy apart
― Crazed semantic nattering! That's where I'm a viking! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:51 (fourteen years ago) link
your pro-viking scandinavian bias does xp
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:51 (fourteen years ago) link
― 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.
― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:51 (fourteen years ago) link
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 ain't hard to tell, I'm a viking, then prevail (some dude), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:52 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:52 (fourteen years ago) link
This reminds me of that time in the Simpsons when Peter organized the ipecac-drinking contest!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eYSpIz2FjU
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
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."
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyone finds that, I tell them I like them.
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:55 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:55 (fourteen years ago) link
hey abbott: Someone please explain this thing I saw at Target
― Crazed semantic nattering! That's where I'm a viking! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Credit to Tuomas for keeping calm while multiple posters have implied that Finland is part of Scandinavia.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:56 (fourteen years ago) link
i am posting in this thread
― iiiijjjj, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Finland is often considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands are sometimes also included.
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:57 (fourteen years ago) link
jjjusten, I like you!
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:58 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:58 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 18:58 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
And yet for some reason you guys all dream about being vikings. double-Bizarre.
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
arent you all awfully tired then? xpost
― Crazed semantic nattering! That's where I'm a viking! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
so who's on the a-team:
dyao - team leadertuomas - team mascot/genetically related to actual vikingsdeej - naive peacemaker doctor casino - team medicn/a - n/a
who else
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
*Are* you stoned, Mordy? Snag & Snuffy v 2 difft peeps.
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
dyao - team leadertuomas - team mascot/genetically related to actual vikingsdeej - naive peacemakerdoctor casino - team medicn/a - n/a
saddam hussein
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:02 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah uh mordy you do realize that snagglepuss is a thing right
xxposts
― Crazed semantic nattering! That's where I'm a viking! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:02 (fourteen years ago) link
.... Mordy, you know that Snagglepuss is an actual cartoon character right
multiple xposts but still
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Don't talk about my dad like that "underrated aerosmith libelist."
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh yeah, Snagglepuss is the pink tiger guy, right? (Is really stoned atm actually.)
― Mordy, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:03 (fourteen years ago) link
hahahahaha
― Marriage, that's where I'm a Viking! (HI DERE), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Your search - snaslepuss snuffleuppaguis - did not match any documents.
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:03 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:03 (fourteen years ago) link
ILX SNAGGLEPUSS HISTORICAL PRESERVATION SOCIETY OUT IN FULL EFFECT
― Crazed semantic nattering! That's where I'm a viking! (jjjusten), Wednesday, 28 April 2010 19:04 (fourteen years ago) link