Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 March 11

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March 11

Tiananmen Square Protests (1989)

I am doing a little bit of research into the Tiananmen Square massacre and the state media's reaction to the internal crisis. I watched a Xinwen Lianbo broadcast made on the night of the massacre, and I would like a screenshot translating.

I think it says something about counter-revolutionary actions, but my Chinese is not so great.

Thank you so much! --Mart Waterizz (talk) 00:48, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

You might try wikt:WT:Translation requests. —Tamfang (talk) 00:53, 13 March 2018 (UTC)

Joke explanation

A picture of a white and a black boy, the latter if angry.

White boy: every time I come over your dad is never home Tyrone

Tyrone: I said he at the store

Where's the joke? Is it a reference to some stereotype? --Hofhof (talk) 13:39, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

I've seen this. Supposedly a joke, but I don't get it either. I think it has something to do with memes, but I don't understand what a meme is. I have a theory that it's not funny at all, but that most people laugh and insist that they understand the humor even though they don't. So it's funny in a way because millions of people pretend to understand and laugh, when there is truly nothing to understand. —Stephen (talk) 00:22, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

Linking to appropriate article. 93.136.57.218 (talk) 01:25, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

• It's a reference to a fairly well-known stereotype of the deadbeat dad - one day they say they're going to the shops (typically to buy cigarettes), then leave and never come back. In this case, it has an extra racist layer. Smurrayinchester 09:48, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

But to spoil the gag, see It’s a Myth That Black Fathers Are Absent. Alansplodge (talk) 16:14, 13 March 2018 (UTC)

Extremists never let facts get in the way. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:16, 13 March 2018 (UTC)

• This "meme" was making the rounds on Twitter more than two years ago. Where did you just run into it? One Twitter user apparently found it so funny: "I'm dying" she wrote. But I suspect what's mostly funny about this "meme" (and possibly many others) is the thought of all those thousands (millions?) of people scratching their head and going: "Hunh?". Basemetal 07:09, 14 March 2018 (UTC)