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Stephen Colbert vs The Hungarian Government
jefu writes "The Hungarian government is sponsoring an internet vote to name a new bridge. So far naming the bridge after acter Chuck Norris has been the most popular. However, last night Stephen Colbert (of Comedy Central's "Colbert Report") suggested that viewers vote to name the bridge after him. Remembering the effect that a Colbert segment had had on Wikipedia, I visited the voting page (in Hungarian when it works) soon after that and it was completely non-responsive. This morning (8:00 Thursday Pacific time) it is showing a "Horrible exception" and a Jetspeed/tomcat stack trace. " I believe Colbert's straight-talking sensibilities have earned him far more than just a bridge in whatever continent Hungaria is in.
Instead I think we should consider renaming one of our lesser used states as an honor more appropriate to his grippy contributions to America. We're not doing anything with Colorado these days anyway, but imagine the appeal of a new and improved state with a virile name like Colberado. Book your tickets today!
The very name of the country gives me an urge to go to Burger King. Why not take a vote on renaming Hungary itself?
Where were you when the voynix came?
I already named my falafel after Bill O'Reilly.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Ah, how I miss my public school education.
The country's name is not "Hungaria" it is "Hungary."
And the country is in Eastern Europe.
Though, given the average American these days, we should feel luck he didn't think it was in the US.
Besides, Chuck Norris doesn't need a bridge. Chuck Norris walks to the river and the water gets out of his way. Sorry.
So the site is already fried because of Colbert, and your brilliant idea is to put it on the front page of Slashdot?
There goes the Hungarian electric grid.
that the population of Hungarian bridges has tripled in the last 6 months.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
News for Nerds, Stuff that matters, and Steven Colbert news.
Then he could be the first state to outlaw abortion, have the fewest laws of any state, host a biker rally, and have drive through liquor and ammo stores everywhere.
.357 hollowpoints. My Ex is in town, and I wanted to get her ... er ... I mean get her something special...
Cobert to drivethrough speakerphone: Hi, I'd like a fifth of Tequilla and a box of
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
The bridge in Hungaria should be named:
-The Chuck Norris Bridge
-The Steven Colbert Bridge
-Geza Hofi's Bridge (an actual Hungarian)
-King Steve's Kickass Bridge
-The Bridge of Death
-CmdrTaco's Bridge
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
whoosh
Audio pronunciation of "whoosh" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hwsh, wsh, hwsh, wsh) also woosh (wsh, wsh)
n.
1. A sibilant sound: the whoosh of the high-speed elevator.
2. A swift movement or flow; a rush or spurt.
3. The sound of a joke going right over your head
It would be pointless to name a bridge after Chuck Norris. If they did no one would dare use it, because everyone knows that no one crosses Chuck Norris and lives.
As far as I can tell (my Hungarian is not that great, I'm a native English speaker) this is what we've got:
y for more in English)
Zenebutik-Zenehid -> Music boutique - Music bridge (I've never heard zenebutik stuck together like that, so it may mean something other than the literal translation)
Chuck Norris Hid -> Chuck Norris Bridge. Hid means bridge, I'm not going to keep translating that word.
Zrinyi Hid -> Zrinyi is a famous historical Hungarian family (http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/Z/Zrinyi.asp)
Vásárhelyi Boldizsár -> Not sure on this one. Vásárhelyi is an adjective that means "shopping place", so that's weird, and I don't know what Boldizsár means.
Bethlen Gábor -> Another hero of another failed rebellion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Bethlen) Hungarian history is very sad for the last couple of hundred years, if you haven't gathered that.
Batthyány Lajos -> Hero of the failed uprising of the Hungarians against the Austro-Hungarian empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lajos_Batthy%C3%A1n
Szent Korona -> Holy Crown
Bocskai István -> Transylvanian Prince (that was part of Hungary) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Bocskay
Hunyadi Mátyás -> Popular Hungarian king (http://www.iearn.hu/balkans/bpeople/matyas.htm)
Szent István -> Saint Steven (don't ask me how Istvan translates into Steven, let alone how the nickname for Istvan is Pisti, kind of richard and dick, but even more off). He was the first Christian king of Hungary, also known as "Istvan a Kiraly" (Stephen the King)
The Southern Baptist Convention has creationism. On Slashdot, we have porn.
To be fair, I can't find Deustchland on the map either nor Myanmar... But in reality the Hungarians don't refer to their nation as Hungary, but rather Magyarország.
So heck... We can keep calling Hungary or Germany or Burma anything we want because they call themselves something else.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
As someone authentic (I live less than one km/mile away from the now-under-construction bridge) I attempted an explanation:
Zenebutik-Zenehíd 260730 [13%] - Music shop - Music bridge (from some hungarian 20y old music programme)
Chuck Norris - híd 158656 [8%]
Zrínyi híd 156978 [8%] - named after Zrínyi, historical figure
Vásárhelyi Boldizsár - híd 155314 [8%] - historical figure
Bethlen Gábor - híd 152720 [8%] - historical figure
Batthyány Lajos híd 122877 [6%] - historical figure
Szent Korona - híd 122325 [6%] - Saint Crown bridge
Bocskai István - híd 121137 [6%] - historical figure
Hunyadi Mátyás - híd 120784 [6%] - historical figure
Szent István - híd 119985 [6%]- Saint Stephen, 1st king of Hungary
Híd = bridge
Btw, the bridge is part of the M0 beltway that goes 'round Budapest. It is supposed to be built "any year now" for the last twenty...
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
A lot more than in North Dakota, believe you me.
Listen, I knew Bocskai István, and you, Mr. Colbert, are no Bocskai István.
Tip of the hat to Lloyd Bentson for his single meaningful - and truly eternal - contribution to political discourse.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
To accomplish your task:
To vote, go here- http://www.m0hid.gov.hu/szavaz
UPDATE!!! Walk-through of the voting process:
The site is still only partially accessible due to the overload in traffic I imagine (lots of "Cannot Find Server" errors). But I did submit the nomination and at least one of the members of the Colbert Nation got through enough to get him on the ballot. On the form for justification for the nomination, I submitted "Lép Colbert van a áthidal között Magyarország és Amerika" Which means (according to Translation-guide.com): "Stephen Colbert is the bridge between Hungary and America". (Actually, what I'm pretty sure has happened is that the internet translation tool has mangled the translation and it says something like "Stephen Colbert has complete apple frog feet for the Mopping of Americans" or something.)
So vote early, and vote often.
The Top Nominees: (as of 8/10/2006 11:15 AM CST) http://www.m0hid.gov.hu/toplista
Toplista
Az indoklás megtekintéséhez kattintson a névre!
Zenebutik-Zenehíd 260730 [13%]
Chuck Norris - híd 156741 [8%]
Zrínyi híd 156415 [8%]
Vásárhelyi Boldizsár - híd 155314 [8%]
Bethlen Gábor - híd 152669 [8%]
Batthyány Lajos híd 122824 [6%]
Szent Korona - híd 122266 [6%]
Bocskai István - híd 121083 [6%]
Hunyadi Mátyás - híd 120734 [6%]
Szent István - híd 119933 [6%]
Some Other Nominees: (as of 8/10/2006 12:15 PM CST)
Stephen Colbert - 168
Jack Sparrow - 37
Monty Python - 25
Bruce Lee - 29
Skywalker - 21
Jackie Chan - 20
Steven Colbert - 12
Abe Vigoda - 3
Gene Simmons - 3
Sponge Bob- 1
JOn Stewart is, IMO, an excelletn interviewer. He does a great job with people he agrees with and people he doesn't. He asks for people to help him understand and in many cases his interviews with those who are politically conservative are more poignant than funny. He is not afraid to challenge them, but he does not attack.
Of course, the segment pieces are designed to take people's words out of context and make them look stupid - I am prety sure that Stewart himself has said he can't believe people still take interviews with them.
Colbert's most amazing piece of work is that he got Congressmen and women to do interviews and those are sometimes very ridiculous. I can't imagine he will get to finish his 'better know a distric' segment.
1) You mistake a joke for a real opinion.
2)You make a VERY prejudiced remark about ALL american citizens
3) You make an off-topic general insult about our TV (and I feel really sorry for you if you think that TV in anyway that matters?????)
4) You think that thoughtless attitude is a reason why people want to bomb us.
5) You think that americans actualy wonder why people want to bomb us.
Here, let me remove your head from that giant hole in your body:
1. Colbert is a sarcastic show, and the comments about him being straight-talking are supposed to be a joke.,
2. Americans are a varied lot, and any comment that starts off with "Americans think.." is almost certainly indicative of a foolish speaker, not americans.
3. Television, like most art forms, varies by culture, and by defition, deciding which is 'better' is pretty much impossible. At the very least one would need a nuetral third party to judge which is better (if you were moronic enough to care about such a thing), you CERTAINLY can not expect culture A to reasonably judge their own TV better than culture B in a fair manner
4. I am SURE that whatever reason people want to bomb the US, it is for far better reasons than the simple ones you put forth.
5. As an American, I can safely say that I have never wondered why people want to bomb us, I know people are varied and have different reasons, but frankly, I usually have better things to do than wonder about such foolish things. Many of them want revenge because an american soldier killed one of their friends/relatives (usually, but not all the time, in attempt to get them to stop killing innocent 3rd parties). Others are simply frustrated and angry that we don't do what they want us to do and are generally succesfull at what we do do. Finally, others are simply responding to religious and political leaders that need an enemey around which they can rally people to their cause.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
I don't think we should rename Colorado. After all, we DO use it for something - it's lumpy and cold, so at least you can ski there.
I suggest renaming one of the flat middle states that no one ever goes to.
Iowa (where I live) is out, because at least we grow corn and cows here, so it's good for something.
I would recommend Kansas, but at least they grow wheat, and we all like bread, right?
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska are all good candidates. In fact, why not just lump them all together into one big, flat, useless state and rename it 'Colbert'? I'll bet we could get elementary schoolkids to promote this idea because, hey, two less state capitols to learn, right? We could name the new capitol 'Steve' so it would be easy to remember.
And we could go back to that keen 48-star flag we used to have, too.
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
I try to explain this fact to people all the time that don't get the joke. Some folks are apparently unaware that Steven Colbert is a playing a character - which just says leaps and bounds about Colbert's ability to never break character. Most brilliant satire ever on mainstream cable.... The best way to make an ass out of someone who is already an ass is simply to act just like them...
"But this one goes to 11!"
Ja..and did you know that Hungary is a nation wealthy in foodstuff. Throughout history there has never been an extended period of hunger. There was always plenty of food, and the weather was kind too.
Well, there was that period in the 1200s after the Mongols tore through Hungary and killed off something like a third of the population. Starvation was pretty common because the peasants were either dead or hiding in the woods, so no food was being produced. That, however, is pretty much ancient history.
That said, Hungary is quite a productive agricultural country. I spent six weeks there one summer traveling around, seeing the sights (and practicing my rudimentary Hungarian), and I fondly remember the good food. The juicy, sweet peaches left a lasting impression on me, and I sure would like to go back to Eger for the great wine. Once on a train, a few elderly women shared their pogacsa (little bread roll type thingies) with me, and I absolutely loved them.
In my opinion, Hungarian wine is quite underrated.