Americans Will Always Laugh (ready made)

[milo]

Americans will always laugh
when you say the word
“vodka” translates literally to “water.”

Like the recent news
that Kremlin officials were just
getting around to recognizing beer

as a form of alcohol, it confirms
an enduring stereotype
about Russian people:

that they can, and do, drink
in quantities that would startle
people in most other nations.

The roots of Russia’s special relationship
with alcohol have been the subject
of widespread speculation,

with some chalking it up
to genetics and others pointing
to the essential melancholy
of the Russian soul.


taken from an article titled "Why Russia's drinkers resist AA' published in The Boston Globe by Leon Neyfakh November 3, 2013. Some changes include: cutting all text before and after this section, insertion of words for meter, setting line breaks and stanza breaks. Photo untitled by Oleg Nikishin © 2001

[Erthona]

We will not always laugh, only the first time.

AA does not work in Russia because being a drunk is still a perfectly acceptable thing to be. In the US we try to abolish everything do to our background in the Puritan religion. Of course only it only causes the thing you are trying to abolish to become more expensive, thus supporting a culture of organized crime, but hey, it's the thought that counts! Of course I won't mention we got the Puritans from the UK

Dale

[John Galt]

Really enjoyed this one Milo, the last six words had me imagining them singing "folk songs".
JG

[Brownlie]

Americans will always laugh
when you say the word
“vodka” translates literally to “water.”

Like the recent news
that Kremlin officials were just
getting around to recognizing beer

as a form of alcohol, it confirms
an enduring stereotype
about Russian people:

that they can, and do, drink
in quantities that would startle
people in most other nations.

The roots of Russia’s special relationship
with alcohol have been the subject
of widespread speculation,

with some chalking it up
to genetics and others pointing
to the essential melancholy
of the Russian soul.


taken from an article titled "Why Russia's drinkers resist AA' published in The Boston Globe by Leon Neyfakh November 3, 2013. Some changes include: cutting all text before and after this section, insertion of words for meter, setting line breaks and stanza breaks. Photo untitled by Oleg Nikishin © 2001

Didn't know that bit about the etymology of vodka. There's quite a bit of info conveyed here. The laughter seems to be correlated with the whole mystery of it

[Carousal]

We will not always laugh, only the first time.

AA does not work in Russia because being a drunk is still a perfectly acceptable thing to be. In the US we try to abolish everything do to our background in the Puritan religion. Of course only it only causes the thing you are trying to abolish to become more expensive, thus supporting a culture of organized crime, but hey, it's the thought that counts! Of course I won't mention we got the Puritans from the UK

Dale

Yeah we kicked the Puritans out 400 years ago, give or take a few years. let’s face it they were a pretty miserable bunch. But be fair we also gave you the English language which you assassinated, Rounders and Netball, both gentle games for young maidens and Rugby, one for the Macho's. None of which you couldn’t resist fucking about with. World Series, my arse.

What did we get in return? KFC and poxy Line Dancing.

[ChristopherSea]

Bad water will kill you: A study by Russian, British and French researchers published in The Lancet scrutinized deaths between 1990 and 2001 of residents of three Siberian industrial towns with typical mortality rates and determined that 52% of deaths of people between the ages of 15 and 54 were the result of alcohol abuse.

[kindofahippy]

Strange that Russian literature can be so somber and imposing even after drinking so much

[JakMak]

Americans will always laugh because we take nasally languages, that grew out of cold, wet weather on a tiny island where all the people there have to eat are fish and I suppose some chips. Like fleas off the boat we carried that language over here, fed it some beef, gave it some sun, and now y'alls language at its most refined in a good ol' southern drawl y'all are welcome *tips ten gallon hat

[vagabond]

Americans will always laugh
when you say the word
“vodka” translates literally to “water.”

Like the recent news
that Kremlin officials were just
getting around to recognizing beer

as a form of alcohol, it confirms
an enduring stereotype
about Russian people:

that they can, and do, drink
in quantities that would startle
people in most other nations.

The roots of Russia’s special relationship
with alcohol have been the subject
of widespread speculation,

with some chalking it up
to genetics and others pointing
to the  essential melancholy
of the Russian soul.


taken from an article titled "Why Russia's drinkers resist AA'  published in The Boston Globe by Leon Neyfakh November 3, 2013. Some changes include: cutting all text before and after this section, insertion of words for meter, setting line breaks and stanza breaks.  Photo untitled by Oleg Nikishin © 2001

what  a great way to demask hypocrisy! 
 
only thing: “voda = water”, vodka = little water”
but then, I guess that the mistranslation is essential part of the poem! (was that part of the article?)

that pattern can be found worldwide .. misinformation (deliberately or not) and the reactions/ conclusions that come from it.