Re: [TANGO-L] What is tango?

[Farkyu Uptabut <farkyu_uptabut @HOTMAIL.COM>]

Hi,

What is the reason for Rick's rudeness and his nasty joke about
my name?.  Mr. McGarry makes some fun about my being a simple peasant
and so forth, but I think his remarks are tongue-in-mouth and in good
nature, so I don't take offense.   I am not insulting of Rick, I just want
to see what was funny in what he wrote about.

Rick described a situation where people were dancing steps that obviously
weren't tango to music that wastn tango, and then responded with "gales
of laughter" to his remarks of "hey, that isn't tango".  To me I guess they
were just being silly, but not enough to laugh at Rick's remark of the
obvious, and certainly not repeatedly.

I think something is funny when you suddenly see that something is
not as it is supposed to be (in a certain way that is hard to describe)
and I'm trying to understand what is amiss in this situation that makes
it funny.  It the dancing that isn't real,  or Rick's remark, or the
laughter?
I don't mean to be insulting, but I just can't picture it at all.

Back to the dicussion of what is tango - Rick says, apparently referring
to the dancing of non-tango steps to non-tango music - "why NOT call
is tango?".  And I have to say - then why not call it square dancing, or
call it eating a pineapple, or call it a donkey's pizzle?  The answer is the
same - we communicate by having a general agreement on the
meaning of what we say.  There aren't usually strict rules or definitions -
if we use a word too differently than most people, nobody is going
to arrest us - its just that if we do that, it doesn't make any sense.

As one who learned about American culture mostly from reading and
not direct experience, it's hard for me to tell what is real and what
isn't.  When I read the posts of Mr. Rick, I just can't picture in my
mind a guy like this - always playing in fountains with children, always
having so much fun, dancing tango that isn't tango to Cuban hip-hop,
smelling the coffee and hearing the birds sing.      I don't mean to
be insulting, but he makes himself to sound like what we call a happy
imbecile.

Well, I have to wonder if Mr. Rick is pulling our feet by describing
himself in this way - exaggerating the foolishness of what he is
saying to make some fun of someone.  But what is the point?
Is Mr. Rick a real person?   What is real and where is the humour?
Please explain.

Farqyu

> From: Rick FromPortland <pruneshrub04 @YAHOO.COM>

> Rick McGarrey <rickmcg @FLASH.NET> writes:
> > Dear Mr. Updabut,
> >It is amazing that a simple peasant from a small mountain village is able
> to so
> >pithily probe to the very center of this issue.  You are a true voice of
> wisdom
> >crying out from the wilderness of the Turkish hinterland.  Your answer
> was so
> >concise and on point, that the next time I hear some fathead blathering
> on
> >about how cool it is to dance contemporary nuevo alternative tango to
> >Nine Inch
> >Nails I will respond with only two words:  Farqyu Updatbut!
>
> I sure hope that the Bush administration doesn't subscribe to Tango-L. Karl
> Rove may be out of a job soon. Mr. Updatbut looks like a genius & will make
> a perfect spokesperson/mouthpiece for promoting & marketing GoldenAge
> music. He quite eloquent, articulate & extremely wise.
>
> R

> PS: Not totally serious
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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