[General] Hog Liniment & Neutering Someboy

[emp0608]

Hi folks,

Again from The Golden Girls, Season 1, Episode 5.

Dorothy: You know something? We're really lucky that we found a doctor who makes house calls.
Rose: I know. When I was growing up in Minnesota, the doctor made house calls all the time for us and the livestock.
Dorothy: You and the animals had the same doctor?
Rose: Sure. Worked out fine until the doctor started drinking hog liniment and tried to neuter the Swensen brothers.

Could anybody tell me what drinking hog liniment has to do with trying to neuter the brothers?

Thanks as always.

 

[teechar]

Have you looked up "neuter" yet? That should be the first thing you do to work out at least part of that joke.
Post below.

 

[Rover_KE]

...then look up 'liniment'.

 

[emp0608]

Of course, I know what it usually means as a verb. BTW, someboy is a typo.

 

[emp0608]

Yes, I looked it up, too.

 

[teechar]

So what would you think of a doctor who drinks hog liniment and attempts to neuter humans?

 

[emp0608]

What I wanted to know is if there's any connection between drinking hog liniment and trying to neuter humans. Or are they just two separate signs of the doctor going crazy? If the latter, the joke is not very funny, is it?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

What I wanted to know is if there's any connection between drinking hog liniment and trying to neuter humans. Or are they just two separate signs of the doctor going crazy? If the latter, the joke is not very funny, is it?

Yes, there's a connection. He got so drunk on liniment that he mistook the Swensens for livestock.

The Swensens probably didn't think it was funny. I do.

 

[PeterCW]

The liniment would probably be about 80% alcohol compared with 40% for a good quality whisky.

I am afraid that trying to understand another culture's humour isn't easy. Its quite difficult enough at times between British and American humour and we, supposedly, speak the same language.

 

[emp0608]

The joke would be a bit too outrageous for a Japanese to appreciate.

 

[teechar]

The joke would be a bit too outrageous for a Japanese person to appreciate.

See discussion in the thread below.
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/281014-Japanese-the-Japanese

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The liniment would probably be about 80% alcohol compared with 40% for a good quality whisky.

I am afraid that trying to understand another culture's humour isn't easy. Its quite difficult enough at times between British and American humour and we, supposedly, speak the same language.

That's not funny!

 

[emp0608]

See discussion in the thread below.
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/281014-Japanese-the-Japanese

I find this use of “person” rather interesting. I was referring to myself, so I thought it was OK to use “a Japanese” instead of “a Japanese person.” I don’t have to sound polite to myself, do I? And the thread you referred me to doesn’t seem to deal with the singular form, i.e., “a Japanese” or “a Japanese person.”

 

[Rover_KE]

I find this use of “person” rather interesting. I was referring to myself, so I thought it was OK to use “a Japanese” instead of “a Japanese person.” I don’t have to sound polite to myself, do I?

No, and if you wanted to, you could call yourself a 'Jap', but that would be validating what we believe to be an offensive word for a Japanese person.

 

[GoesStation]

I find this use of “person” rather interesting. I was referring to myself, so I thought it was OK to use “a Japanese” instead of “a Japanese person.” I don’t have to sound polite to myself, do I?

It's a matter of usage, not etiquette. If you say "I'm a Japanese", your listener will momentarily wonder "a Japanese what? Box? Car?" We hear "Japanese" as an adjective that has to modify a following noun.

 

[emsr2d2]

The joke would be a bit too outrageous for a Japanese to appreciate.

I'm interested to know what part of the joke specifically would be deemed "outrageous" by a Japanese person.

 

[emp0608]

It's a matter of usage, not etiquette. If you say "I'm a Japanese", your listener will momentarily wonder "a Japanese what? Box? Car?" We hear "Japanese" as an adjective that has to modify a following noun.

I think I have to make it clear that I'm not talking about a sentence: "I'm a Japanese." I know it sounds a bit strange. What I'm talking about is when "a Japanese" is preceded by a preposition like "for" or "as". Let me give you some examples from the COCA.

… but on the other hand, he is a very wise, unusually modern man for a Japanese.
I hung back as much as possible to increase the space between us, watching his head bobbing as he moved down the street. He was tall for a Japanese and that helped, but …
My father once said, "If I got to choose, in my next life I'd come back as a Japanese."
They trust you as a foreigner. They don't trust you as a Japanese.

I'm curious to know how strange these examples sound to native English speakers.

 

[GoesStation]

Let me give you some examples from the COCA.

… but on the other hand, he is a very wise, unusually modern man for a Japanese.
I hung back as much as possible to increase the space between us, watching his head bobbing as he moved down the street. He was tall for a Japanese and that helped, but …
My father once said, "If I got to choose, in my next life I'd come back as a Japanese."
They trust you as a foreigner. They don't trust you as a Japanese.

I'm curious to know how strange these examples sound to native English speakers.

They all sound dated and odd to me.

 

[Tarheel]

So what would you think of a doctor who drinks hog liniment and attempts to neuter humans?

He's out of his mind.

 

[emp0608]

I'm interested to know what part of the joke specifically would be deemed "outrageous" by a Japanese person.

I think we tend to avoid jokes that involve sexual organs or something that alludes them on TV shows. The idea of a doctor getting drunk and trying to neuter his human patients is, I think, a bit too crass for most of the Japanese people.