Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2012 February 25

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February 25

Why are many American celebrities Jewish?

So I noticed that there are a fairly large number of American celebrities who are Jewish, which seems to be a little strange since Jews only around 1.9% of the country's population. Why is this the case? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 01:46, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Because something about the sense of humor of Jews aligns with the American sense of humor in general? Just a guess but it seems as good as any theory that I expect to read about in the following responses. Dismas|^(talk) 01:59, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Didn't someone ask that same question about 2 days ago? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:29, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

That question was about if Jews are notable anyway. My question is why does it seem that many American celebrities are Jewish anyway. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 02:34, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

I'd like to see some stats supporting your premise. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:19, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

I suspect at least one factor is that education is particularly prized among Jews, leading to many Jews seeking places in the learned professions.--Wehwalt (talk) 10:21, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Is being a celebrity really counted a learned profession? CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 12:07, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

The education bit doesn't hurt there. After all, there are few celebrity ditch diggers.--Wehwalt (talk) 12:11, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

There were a few but I'm not sure if they were Jewish or not and they seem to have given it up for other things. Rod Stewart was a grave digger. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 13:08, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

How about a reference? This article actually discusses Jewish dominance (or not) in media, and specifically states that Hollywood does have a large proportion of high-influence Jewish folks relative to the general population. It doesn't explain why, but it does fill Bugs' request for stats supporting the premise. 70.79.51.196 (talk) 19:13, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

I think the first paragraph in this article is also related to the OP's topic. 87.68.248.245 (talk) 21:37, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

deke boko friends video

I used to have this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M60dWPWVJKY video in my favs.. loved this song. But they copyrighted and blocked it to mee. I'm in iceland.. and I don't understand japanese so I can't find another place to watch this ? anyone that is japanese speaking or something that knows where i can watch this. Thanks. 85.220.34.177 (talk) 11:42, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

?????????????? CAN'T SOMEONE ATLEAST "TRY" ???!??!!?!?!? 85.220.34.177 (talk) 19:21, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

I try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33yiCkRFpgU Lhcii (talk) 20:54, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

Brazilian music of the 70s.

A very well-known Brazilian singer (of the 70s) - whose name I don't remember, has a song, that includes a couple of words, which I can't identify well (since I don't speak the language), but which sound (to my non-Brazilian ears) very similar to: "Oh oh oh rah-mah-yah, oh oh oh rah-mah-yah", or something like that. Can anybody tell me the full name of the song? 87.68.248.245 (talk) 17:31, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Is this the song? I first heard it by a local group in Sri Lanka many years ago. Can't help you with the lyrics, but if we identify the song, someone else will surely come along with more info. We have the stub Ramaya, which states that that song is from 1975. I heard it at about that time, maybe a couple of years earlier. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 18:04, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh, yes, that's it! Thank you very much! BTH, the stub Ramaya states that this is an african song, but I remember that it's a Brazilian one. The singer, though, was born in Brazil - being a Portuguese speaking country, but at the age of 9 - moved to another Portuguese speaking country: Mozambique, so the song could have been in Portuguese; However, the Italian Wiki claims that it's in Swahili, and that the word "Ramaya" is a woman's name. 87.68.248.245 (talk) 19:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

I think we'll have better luck in identifying the language at the language desk! I just posted a follow-up question there. See here: Identifying the language and translating the lyrics of the song Ramaya. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 20:21, 25 February 2012 (UTC)