What Culture Would You Choose?

Anna Gregoline | November 8, 2004
If you could choose any culture or society, which one would you choose to live in?

This question is interesting for me, as someone with limited cultural traditions within my own family (My background is Italian and Czech).

Scott Horowitz | November 8, 2004
Martian

Anna Gregoline | November 8, 2004
Haha. I guess that means you'd have nothing then, as there is no Martian culture! (That we know of)

Scott Horowitz | November 8, 2004
That's what you think...

Lori Lancaster | November 8, 2004
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David Mitzman | November 9, 2004
I would love to be immersed in the Jewish culture. Being Latvian Orthodox, I've never experienced any culture outside my own.

Scott Horowitz | November 9, 2004
Mitz, you truly are one of the greatest idiots of our time.

David Mitzman | November 9, 2004
So's your face! oh snap.

Scott Horowitz | November 9, 2004
I hate it when you win!

David Mitzman | November 9, 2004
What can I say? I'm f'n metal.

Kris Weberg | November 9, 2004
*cough*

I considered converting to Judaism at one point, but I don't think I'll go down that road again.

I'd be interested in trying out Irish culture, I suppose. Assuming I wasn't doing so in Belfast, that is.

Anna Gregoline | November 9, 2004
Was that a joke, or are you really Latvian Orthodox? I'm curious because my boyfriend has a good friend who is from Latvia (a country I'd never heard of until I met him).

Kris Weberg | November 9, 2004
The starry nights over Riga are supposed to be breathtaking.

David Mitzman | November 9, 2004
Joke. I'm seriously 100% bonafide Jewish. Just ask The Horowitz, he'll confirm my jewishness.

Erik Bates | November 9, 2004
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Scott Horowitz | November 9, 2004
Mitzman is Jewish by birth (sadly giving my people a bad name). But, he reminds me of Tim Whatley from Seinfeld. He's the one that converted to Judaism just so he could tell Jewish jokes.

David Mitzman | November 9, 2004
Thanks Erik. That is one of the best strips they've done, so I had to give respect to Der Hornen. My other favorite strip is Red & Blue in: We Deliver. (link)

Scott Horowitz | November 9, 2004
I'd love to be an Italian mob boss... just looks like so much fun.

Anna Gregoline | November 9, 2004
If the Sopranos has taught me anything, it's that I don't want to be an Italian mob boss. Too many headaches.

Scott Horowitz | November 9, 2004
Have you seen all the hot women Tony has slept with? it's worth it in the end. :) jk

Anna Gregoline | November 9, 2004
Yeah, I guess you're right. =)

Melissa Erin | November 9, 2004
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Jackie Mason | November 10, 2004
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Lori Lancaster | November 10, 2004
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Jackie Mason | November 10, 2004
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Amy Austin | November 10, 2004
Jackie -- Aren't those just the same regional differences you'd find among English speakers in those places?

Anna Gregoline | November 10, 2004
I was thinking the same thing, Amy - that maybe it was the addition of a Southern drawl, so to speak?

Amy Austin | November 10, 2004
I would think... regional "accents" seem to occur no matter what language you speak -- I mean, just listen to Madonna since she started living in England! ;D ;P

Jackie Mason | November 10, 2004
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Lori Lancaster | November 10, 2004
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Amy Austin | November 10, 2004
I would generally agree with that explanation, Lori -- it's the same thing in French... the "liaison" effect, where three words sound like one. I can understand when someone is speaking French, but I almost *always* have to ask them to "slow down" so that I can make a mental picture of the words being said... especially when you throw an accent into the mix! Sometimes, for frustration's sake, you just have to infer the completion of things from a word or two. Nobody likes to repeat themselves, right? (And half the time I can't even hear English right on the first go! In part, the tendency toward hearing loss runs in my family, and I know that 4 years on aircraft carriers sure didn't help, either!)

Perhaps this is why English-speakers, when talking to foreigners they think can't understand them, are annoyingly LOUD and sloooooow...

Scott Horowitz | November 10, 2004
When talking about dialects, I go with the New York attitude. "I don't got a fucking accent. The rest of yous is hicks."

David Mitzman | November 10, 2004
"well, i'm off to my job. english professah at NY-YOUS"

Jackie Mason | November 11, 2004
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Scott Hardie | November 11, 2004
Are future societies valid answers? Besides I don't believe there are more free societies than the ones we have today in America and Europe, and yet they're still not free enough for me. I think they'll be a lot better in another few decades.

As for cultures, I'm partially immersed in late Victorian literary culture (especially popular) because of FIN, and I wouldn't mind being around when all those books hit the public to see the reaction. But I'm coming up blank otherwise. All other worldly cultures that interest me beyond what I can eat in a themed restaurant or watch in a foreign film — say, France, Norway, Japan, and India — are only interesting enough to me to visit, not live there. The only foreign country where I honestly want to live is England (that would be the first place my liberal ass would flee upon Bush's re-election), but if I lived there I'd probably still spend most of my times listening to American CDs, watching American movies, and reading American web sites. My homeland is an inseparable part of me.