Thursday, December 17, 2009
Maybe they should just call 'em skanks
A high school classmate and University of Wisconsin alumn has reminded me of my station in life. You're a Sconnie, he says. Doesn't matter where you've been or where you're going, you're a Sconnie. Always have been, always will be.
And I'm all right with that. Being back in Wisconsin, finally, after all these years, it's easy to wear the Sconnie thing on my sleeve. Return of the native, and all that. If they told me I'd have to get a tattoo, I'd only ask directions to the best tattoo parlor in town.
I mention this because there's a video (above) that was generated by, I would assume, Sconnies at the U of W who decided to have some fun with non-Sconnies on campus. Perfectly harmless, it would seem. But watch the video and decide for yourself.
Now the U of W is a great school with a big campus that attracts students from around the country, indeed, from the entire world. In other words, enrollment includes out-of-state students. And within this large group of non-Sconnies is a smaller subgroup that has been pigeon-holed (for lack of a better term) as "Coasties."
And now, because of this video, the poor fun-loving students who produced it are being called out for exercising bad taste. There are even cries of anti-Semitism. Which is ridiculous.
But, hey, I'm just a Sconnie. If I knew anything about sensitivity I wouldn't have written the headline.
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When I was hanging out with Sconnies, I never felt like a skank.
ReplyDeleteA snake, maybe, but never a skank.
Sconnie: \skän-nē\: Anyone from Wisconsin, who attends school in Wisconsin, or just loves the dairy state in general can identify with
ReplyDeleteSconnie. Sconnie is anything of or relating to Wisconsin. Sconnie is an identity. It can be used as a noun (“I am a Sconnie.”) or an
adjective (“Look at that Sconnie truck.”) You don’t have to be from Wisconsin to appreciate the Sconnie movement. It’s all about
embracing and celebrating this genuinely Wisconsinesque environment we call home. Sconnie is tailgating, bowling, drinking a Pabst, wearing Carhartt, having a John Deere mailbox, or eating a cream puff. If you
like eating a brat and cheering for the Packers, you know what we’re talking about.
You lost me at cheering for the Packers.
ReplyDeleteSconnie is only how people from outside the state refer to us.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't believe the videographers, while they had some poorly chosen words, said anything more offensive about the coasties than that they are "spending daddy's money".
So where do you get skank? A visual of a young woman in tights, a tee and Uggs? Yikes.
The Sconnie vs. Coastie "furor" is nothing more than another example of political correctness run amok. A now smoldering (dying) fire of another throw-back U. professor expounding on racism and personal attacks and a cub-like reporter looking for bigger headlines. In truth it's nothing more than the endless stream of wit, satire and humor pouring out of the U.W. over the years. If this upsets one, so should the Pail and Shovel Party, The Onion or the Zukor brothers and their Kentucky Fried Theater...that went on to make films, including such memorable movies as Airplane!, Ghost, The Naked Gun series, Ruthless People, Top Secret, and Hot Shots!...all U.W. student and alum ventures.
ReplyDeleteFianlly, there is nothing wrong with being a Costie or a Sconnie; absolutely nothing. If it offends, we are a sorry lot. As this Sconnie would say, there are bigger fish to fry.