The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #1027   Message #3918589
Posted By: Paul Burke
19-Apr-18 - 09:41 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Hang Me From a Gooseberry Tree
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hang me from a gooseberry tree
The racist stereotype joke in which the stereotypical butt has the last laugh. There are quite a few of these: one that springs to mind is the Indian doctors in deep discussion: "It is whump I say!" "No, it is whomp, I tell you!" (use a Peter Sellers travesty of an Indian accent). A passing colleage hears them, and interjects, "I think the word you are looking for is "womb". The two doctors look at each other, and finally one of them says (slowly for effect), "Madam, did you ever hear an elephant fart?"

That the Gooseberry tree song arose out of racist sterotypes is undeniable. Whether the song itself is racist I leave to those debating the current political situation. Though I'll perhaps venture to remind them that racism is indivisible- there's only one racism and you can't have one without all the others.