[Yesterday’s Globe & Mail had a cartoon by Graham Harrop. Subtitled “Jock Layton“, it showed a character yelling across the legislature floor: “Ye’ll No Talk To Me Like That, Mon! Yer A Wee Haggis An’ Ye’ve Got Yer Troosers On Backwards If Ye Think We’re Passin’ That Load O’ Tripe!“]
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 11:35:14 -0500
To: Arts /at/ GlobeAndMail.ca
Subject: yesterday’s Backbench cartoon
I am offended by Graham Harrop’s cartoon in the 30th December Review section.
I am Scottish, and to me, ‘jock’ is a racial epithet. No-one in Scotland would use any of the expressions used in the cartoon.
Consider the situation if the cartoon had made fun of any other minority speech pattern. The whole ‘Comedy Scotsman’ thing went out with the 1970s, and I’m disappointed to see such a thing in the Globe & Mail.
Stewart Russell
Scarborough, ON.
You sure you’re scottish? That thick skin of your’s has thinned a little methinks since you de-patriated
from your motherland??
Maybe you’re socialising in the wrong circles too, real scots don’t go to coffee mornings, eat crumpets, or bemoan others
for *sniff sniff* calling us down.
From one scot to another – Get over it you loon!
I’ve worked on construction sites all over the UK for the past 20years, “jock” is as commonly used nowadays as it was
in ww2 films to stereotype a scotsman. It neither offends nor crumples my fragile sense of scottishness to be addressed
as such.
Disappeared in the 70’s huh? Russ Abbot’s “see you jimmy” comedy scotsman was still around in 1994, I’m not sure how much more recent it
got.
And ….. you’ve never seen “groundskeeper Willie” on The Simpsons? He’s hilarious!
I’m not taking a prod at you directly fella, but consider getting a sense of humour BEFORE you go all “P – C”, don’t expect the
rest of your countrymen to take offence at a little harmless fun!
Mr Craw, if you wish to see how offensive the above remarks are, substitute “Paddy” or “Mohammed”, “Moses” or “Sambo” for “Jock” and substitute the faux-Scotticisms with appropriate Irish, Muslim, Jewish or African stereotypical forms of what is correctly called ‘racial abuse’ and tell us if it still sounds funny.