Punishing us during a ethnical discussion is hardly germane, perhaps you guys could come up with a few more before you Finnish.

Background Slav
 

[QUOTE=ewmayer;344483]Actually, if he's a yugo that is very germane to a discussion of his ethnicity. ;)

But someone should do a deeper background czech to be sure.[/QUOTE]

Wikipedia:[QUOTE]Alfred was born in [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downey,_California"]Downey, California[/URL], and raised in the town of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynwood,_California"]Lynwood[/URL]. He is the only child of Nick Louis Yankovic (June 4, 1917 – April 9, 2004)[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-faq-7"][7][/URL] and Mary Elizabeth (née Vivalda; February 7, 1923 – April 9, 2004).[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-faq-7"][7][/URL] His father was born in [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City,_Kansas"]Kansas City, Kansas[/URL] of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavs"]Yugoslavian[/URL][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-faq-7"][7][/URL][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-Conrad-8"][8][/URL] descent, and began living in California after serving during [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II"]World War II[/URL];[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-booklet-9"][9][/URL][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-10"][10][/URL] he believed "the key to success" was "doing for a living whatever makes you happy" and often reminded his son of this philosophy.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-booklet-9"][9][/URL] Nick Yankovic married Mary Elizabeth Vivalda in 1949. Mary, who was of [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italians"]Italian[/URL] and English descent, and had come to California from [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky"]Kentucky[/URL], gave birth to Alfred ten years later.[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_al_yankovic#cite_note-booklet-9"][9][/URL][/QUOTE]

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic[/url]

[QUOTE=kladner;344498]Wikipedia:

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Weird_Al%22_Yankovic[/url][/QUOTE]

Well, there yugo.

Mo'-OT-ness: Another interesting ethnicity-featuring musician bio is that of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa]Frank Zappa[/url]. Reading about his Dad's profession has me wondering whether the "...'til the mustard squirt" line in [url=http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+zappa/dong+work+for+yuda_20056733.html]Dong Work for Yuda[/url] might be a reference to Zap-Pa's line of work. (Probably not, but it sure is a funny-as-hell song. :)

[OT-in-nearby-thread-sense: I think from now on whenever I listen to the Central-Scrutinizer bits in [i]Joe's Garage[/i] I'm gonna think of the NSA. In fact, I'd like to propose that as the official musical album of the "spying" thread.]

Weird Al also did his bit for spying hard:
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7KMMxAQp8I[/URL]

good news for texan :
DoMA is down
[url]http://kutnews.org/post/doma-struck-down-what-s-next-same-sex-couples-texas[/url]

[QUOTE=firejuggler;344505]good news for texan :
DoMA is down
[URL]http://kutnews.org/post/doma-struck-down-what-s-next-same-sex-couples-texas[/URL][/QUOTE]
This is certainly good news, and not "kutnews"!
Until I loaded the link into my browser, I actually thought you had linked from a site which disapproved of the news, maybe some evangelical group in Texas (they're commonplace there, I believe). In Dutch, "kut" is a crude word for a part of the female anatomy, and putting "kut" before anything is a mildly profane way of saying that you hate it. I wonder if they know that at "kutnews".:smile:
Thanks for the link. It's obviously enormously significant.

Using a word for part of a womans body as a negative modifier seems a little...gay. ;)

[QUOTE=Brian-E;344551]This is certainly good news, and not "kutnews"!
Until I loaded the link into my browser, I actually thought you had linked from a site which disapproved of the news, maybe some evangelical group in Texas (they're commonplace there, I believe). In Dutch, "kut" is a crude word for a part of the female anatomy, and putting "kut" before anything is a mildly profane way of saying that you hate it. I wonder if they know that at "kutnews".:smile:
Thanks for the link. It's obviously enormously significant.[/QUOTE]

That is amusing, Brian. The "k" is one of two letters which begin radio station call signs. "ut" has to stand for University of Texas. Funny that the combination has a negative connotation in Dutch.

Thanks for the enlightenment, Kieren.:smile:

Jeff: you may be right, but in my experience the modifier is used exclusively by super-macho males who are obviously straight. It would sound ridiculous if I used it in my speech, for example.:smile:

[QUOTE=kladner;344556]That is amusing, Brian. The "k" is one of two letters which begin radio station call signs. "ut" has to stand for University of Texas. Funny that the combination has a negative connotation in Dutch.[/QUOTE]As I've noted before: "Am", as in America, has exactly the same meaning in Turkish as "Kut" does in Dutch. Seems like our colonial cousins just can't win.

AFAIK, all Germanic languages, North and West, have the same cognate word; I'm sure that all Germanic speakers on the forum will recognize it in English and their own native language. The Slavic version, as discussed here recently, is from a quite different root.

maybe a gardian.co.uk link would sound better?
[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/us-discrimination-gay-rights-doma[/url]