WTF is wrong with Florida-3/21/06

The criminals are so stupid, they take urns containing cremated remains

Stolen Urn Returned
03-21-2006 8:50 AM

(Jacksonville, FL) -- Three burglaries in three months. That's been the experience of the Luisser family who moved to Jacksonville from Texas. This weekend the family's recreational vehicle was the target. Taken were a television set and an urn with the remains of Marge Luisser's father. She put the word out to the neighborhood on Sunday about the urn. On Monday morning found it in the front yard. Luisser says she doubts the crooks knew what they took. It was heavy and looked valuable. She says the tape is intact so they didn't open it. The family can now continue with plans to make a trip to Chicago for a burial service.<

Stupid indeed....

Being originally from Jacksonville, this doesn't surprise me

The nickname for Jacksonville is "Freakville"

duh

Freak

Hey, be nice, that's MY freak

OK, for you, I will

See, I knew you could be reasoned with

Not according to SOME people, apparently

Well then those people should get the death sentence???

You're hijacking my thread, Sallykins!

Oops sorry! WTF is with people in Florida???

Lecktor is from Jacksonville, 'nuff said

hehe true enough

at least he doesn't live there now...

New Thread:

WTF is wrong with Alabama?

Hahaha! Brilliant!

Ever feel like we are just talking to ourselves???

Whatever gave you that idea? The voices in my head keep me entertained all day.

Is it cause you're in Florida?? lol

Exactly! WTF is wrong with me?

I dunno! The LEFT coast is much nicer (oh and all blue states!)

Enjoy it while you can

mmhmm

'Cojones' not acceptable on billboard in Miami, advertiser finds

By Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal
Posted March 19 2006

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright used the word "cojones" to lambaste Fidel Castro. Americans use it colloquially to describe someone who is gutsy. Now, Volkswagen AG is getting flak for using it in billboards to advertise a sporty model to Hispanics in the United States.

Cojones is a Spanish word that means, literally, testicles. In the United States, however, it's a sort of catch-all term for daring. That's what Volkswagen was going for in a black-and-white billboard featuring its GTI 2006 model accompanied by two words in big, bold letters -- "Turbo-Cojones."

But the campaign has boomeranged, with Volkswagen taking the billboards down in three cities after they quickly generated a firestorm in Miami.

Luis Perez Tolon, an instructor at Miami-Dade Community College, said the ad might not sound so offensive in English.

"But in the Spanish-speaking community, it will always have a vulgar connotation," said Tolon, who supervises a writing program for Spanish-language network, Telemundo.

Volkswagen isn't the first advertiser to discover that words that are amusing in one culture can be inappropriate in another. A few Asian countries have banned Australia's latest tourist slogan, "Where the Bloody Hell Are You?"

Volkswagen's intent was to pitch the sporty, fast car, which has a sticker price starting at $23,000, to young, bilingual Hispanics who retain ties to their Latino heritage.

"We wanted something that broke out of the mold and carried the connotation of being strong and gutsy," says Daniel Marrero, creative director for the Miami-based agency, CreativeOndemanD, that came up with the ad. "This is a word adapted in the American vernacular. We never thought it would be an issue."

But it quickly became one, as billboard companies homed in on the possibility that the word would be offensive not to English speakers, but Spanish speakers. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. refused to put up the ad in Miami. "It wasn't appropriate," said a spokeswoman for Clear Channel. She said the local manager, who has veto power over ad content, nixed the billboard.

Then another company, CBS Outdoor, a division of CBS Inc., agreed to hoist it. The billboard went up last Monday in Little Havana. By Wednesday, the barrage of complaints had prompted the billboard company to consult Volkswagen about how to proceed. "Our marketing department said let's go ahead and pull it," said Steve Keyes, a spokesman for Volkswagen's U.S. headquarters at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Meanwhile, the billboard went up in New York and Los Angeles, where there were no immediate complaints. But Thursday, Volkswagen decided those should come down, too, said Keyes. They will be replaced with other billboards that play on Spanglish, or Spanish-English blends: "Here Today. Gone Tamale," says one of them. The other reads: "Kick a Little Gracias."

It's an interesting saga for a word that teeters on the brink of semantic crudity, depending on the audience. On the floor of the United Nations, Albright told Fidel Castro in 1996 that "this is not cojones. This is cowardice," when Cuba downed two flights of exiles.

In her 2003 memoir, Madam Albright, Albright devoted an entire section to the controversy. "I didn't think it took much testosterone to shoot down unarmed aircraft with missiles. … I delivered a statement that never in a thousand years would have been cleared by the State Department if submitted in advance."

Her words generated "a hornet's nest of criticism from experts in Latin America," she wrote, prompting the White House to tell her to keep a low profile at the exiles' funeral in Miami. But she was greeted by Cuban-Americans smiling, waving and calling out "Senora Cojones."

Guillermo Alvarez Guedes, the comedic voice of Cuban exile, credits Albright for making the expression acceptable enough to use in his jokes. He has since used it on his radio and live stand-up comedy routines, a spokesperson said.

But the expression remains vulgar to most Spanish speakers. "For us Latinos, it's a bad word. It's offensive," said Hector Calderon, maintenance supervisor of a fitness center in Los Angeles. But he concedes, "A billboard like that sure attracts attention."