Granddad telling kids Irish jokes

[SulisMum]

DS (aged 9) told me an Irish joke last night which he had got from his granddad. I gave him a little talk about how it wasn't nice to make jokes about different nationalities and suggested he didn't repeat it - but only after I'd laughed about it with him. (I actually laughed involuntarily as it was a reasonably funny joke).

DS's response was that his granddad had also told him a joke in which the Englishman was made to look silly.

Questions for the MN jury?

How would you deal with your DC telling jokes based on national stereotypes?
Should I tell my dad not to furnish DS with more similar Englishman/Scotsman/Irishman jokes?
Should I be flamed for laughing?

I read about a study where they were investigating what is "funny", and a lot of the time it is the unexpected. For e.g., this is a joke I heard on Friday, which I found hilarious (may not translate so well on t'internet, but worth a try).

Bob was sitting in a bar, next to Frank. bob turned to Frank and said "where are you from? From your accent it sounds like you're from London" "that's correct" said Frank "I'm from Wandsworth" "what?! Me too. Where in Wandsworth?" "Smugglers Way" What?! Me too! What school did you go to?"
Simon then walked into the bar, and the barman turned to him and said "it's going to be a long night. The Smith twins are drunk again".

Erm, InMyPrime I think I've said that I loathe Frankie Boyle. I like edgy humour, yes. Cruel humour, no.

InMyPrime - Ireland has recently been devastated by recession - and that is honestly not putting it too strongly. There is a new wave of emmigration. So perhaps some feel that the power dynamic is sliding backwards.

"but he shouldn't be surprised if most of the country think he's an ignorant moron and a bully as a result. "

And in fairness to Frankie Boyle, and I'm no fan of his, I don't think he would ever have a problem with it or be suprised if he was thought of as an ignorant twat (chances are he's used to it.).
But what he has rallied against in the past are attempts to villify him for offending people at his live shows when they know what his brand of comedy is all about (I remember one woman who got a lot of press complaining over his jokes about disabled people yet she admits she sat there laughing up until that point when other groups were being targetted) and calls for censorship on his comedy.

He bullies everyone, to be fair. He's obviously got some issues. I even felt sorry for Vorderman on NMTB because he picked on her relentlessly and had this sneery, hateful expression on his spiteful little face the whole time.

"I even felt sorry for Vorderman on NMTB because he picked on her relentlessly"

In fairness I'd be tempted to do the same after her appearance on QT, couldn't believe she was such an unintelligent tabloid reactionist.
to quote peep show, she is literally a moron.

You felt sorry for Vorderman? You must never have seen those exploitative adverts.

I said I even felt sorry for Vorderman I can't stand her.

Her stint on QT made me chuckle. Didn't you know that peering sternly over your spectacles (since when has Vorderman worn spectacles?) makes you an authoritive voice on all things political? Yep, a moron.

but she was on countdown! With Richard Whiteley! Surely she's a genius, no?

A bit of a savant with numbers is all.

Twat in all other areas.

Is it possible to be offended on someone elses behalf? As a child of the 70s, I grew up on these sorts of jokes and would not consider myself the racist.

what is offending you - that such jokes are racist, or that they are still being told?

Actually, I'm now very offended that you've used a term for a vagina as a means of insulting another woman CupCakes

In fact, I've reported you to MNHQ for (well, I haven't quite decided what category to report you under, but I shall be reporting you regardless)

I was offended by Frankie Boyle's oh-so-amusing take on people with Down's Syndrome and I don't have it myself, or have any relatives with it. Was just nasty. Men can object to sexism, white people to racism against Black people and so on.

Although you have to be intelligent about it and listen to what members of marginalised or vulnerable groups say about themselves. I object to ill-informed do-gooders who say no-one should use 'brainstorm' for fear of offending people with epilepsy - I have epilepsy and not only am not offended, I know the derivation of the word and the do-gooders are wrong. They think it's something one of the big charities said but actually it's not true.

Report me under the category of "I don't give a fuck"

How do you feel about black comedians using the n word, or (as in the case of one black comedian on TV recently) making a joke about how being one of the few black faces in the room made him feel like he was at a market.

They make me feel very uncomfortable - but judging by the laughs it must be OK... If a minority/marginalised/vulnerable group makes fun of themselves, and sometimes it can be in quite a cruel way - does that then make it OK for everyone else to do the same?

This comedy lark is quite a serious, complex business, isn't it...

You wash your mouth out, you skanky mare

Don't you call me skanky! Unless you fancy stepping al fresco...

It is funny Nancy, but for the content i.e "I look after my kids"..."You're supposed to look after your kids, asshole!" rather than the n-word.

the N word is what gives it impact though.

he's trying to convey the point that, contrary to some stereotyping, not all black men abandon their children and mug people.

Ach, outside anytime - bring it on

Is the n word culturally equivalent to chav or ned? It seems so much more offensive, imo, and yet I know there are plenty of people on here who find chav/ned deeply offensive - so perhaps it's not such a huge leap to make.

I know why he uses it, I'm just not sure if I, a cracker , am supposed to find it funny or not.

I don't know about the n-word being equal to chav or ned in offensiveness (IMO it isn't) but in the context that Chris Rock was using it then, I'd say it was equivalent. He was using it to describe what some of us would term as chav behaviour.