Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Furkan Derya gag an elegant jab at political correctness

As Mark Twain noted, explaining humour is like dissecting a frog. "You learn a lot in the process, but in the end you kill it." So, if you don't want a slimy trail of figurative amphibian entrails sliding down your computer screens, then leave this page immediately. Because explain -- or at least analyze -- a gag is what I'm gonna do here.

And the gag in question was written by Tim Blair in a recent column about another kind of lethal dissection: suicide bombing -- namely that involving a sad, lost young Aussie bloke called Jake Bilardi. In it he quoted a source named Furkan Derya. As a throwaway, he added: "I furkan derya to find a better name than Furkan Derya."

When I read this, I laughed out loud, as I'm sure pretty much everyone else did too. (Well, at least those who got it. Amazingly, plenty didn't!) Even many of those now spluttering with indignation would have guffawed too -- or at least struggled to stop themselves from doing so.

Predictably, the line has caused outrage and consternation on Twitter and similar sites and ultimately in the mainstream media

As well as neatly revealing the literal minded stupidity and po-faced pomposity of the PC Left the gag has other things going for it. For example, it has a symmetrical elegance to it on a par with the classic "How do you titillate an Ocelot? Oscillate its titalot."

The other thing I like about the line is that it tells you exactly what it's doing as it does it. It knows there are overblown sensitivities around the context and content that will make people try to stifle a laugh when they read or hear it. It's daring you not to laugh. And that makes it all the funnier. 

Then there's the fact that it's uniquely Orstrayan ...

Hell, it's not just comedy gold. It's bloody satirical platinum! Which is why I think it will be garnering wuckas for years to come. It might even become part of the local lingo like that other offering of Blair's, "frightbat". 

Well, whatever the future has in store for the plucky, pinko-prodding little pun, it's confirmation that too many on the Left have lost their sense of humour. That's sad because they used to be a hoot.

Take the video below, surely the ne plus ultra of silly name jokes. Be great if they could see the funny side again, wouldn't it? If they could do that, they might just see sense as well.

UPDATE: More thoughts on this subject here.

7 comments:

  1. If he never does anything else Blair has added two wonderful weapons against pomposity with Frightbat and ferken derya.

    But you are right he has exposed the weakness of the left - no humour

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  2. It also goes to show the shallowness of the left. It's tightend-spring like ability to fire off the microsecond something gives them an iota of perceived offence. Grasshoppers would be jealous wishing they too could leap at near lightspeed

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  3. Hear! Hear! What has happened to a decent, nothing's scared sense of humour? I thought we had seen off PC humourlessness with missives like 'PC Correct Bedtime Stories' in the late 1990s, but - no - it persisted beneath the ground in the decaying humus of the Left, only to pop up like a bleeding fairy ring of outrage.
    I have decided to join those who take offence - but taking offence at anyone who takes offence.

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    1. 'I have decided to join those who take offence - but taking offence at anyone who takes offence.' should read
      'I have decided to join those who take offence - by taking offence at anyone who takes offence.' Damned autocorrect!!
      Afterthought: Humour is probably the best weapon against the jihadis. Ridicule them. They have no sense of humour, and they can't kill us all if we are all laughing at them.

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  4. This is the best item you've posted since retiring the Bunyip. Three cheers!

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  5. A voice of reason - and a delicious anti-PC-ism - in a crap-filled world. Thank you Matt!

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  6. Ah yes, it's one of Blair's many, many witty lines and after Tim Blair once bought me dinner, I'd never disagree and risk missing out on a second free meal. But hey, I wrote a few witty names n' things myself once, but then what do I know...I died at seven years of age. http://colonelrobertneville.blogspot.com.au/2008/07/wuz-inna-name-bub.html

    http://colonelrobertneville.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/colonel-neville-dead-at-age-seven.html

    And PS. Finally I find a rare fellow conservative blogger [well, I'm very ex-blogger] who occasionally does stand up things - yet too late she cried. Sempre Fi, patriots.

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