From hungary-online-owner Mon May 29 14:31:38 1995 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id OAA16056 for hungary-online-out31415; Mon, 29 May 1995 14:31:38 -0700 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id OAA16045; Mon, 29 May 1995 14:31:27 -0700 Received: from tbeke@math.mit.edu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online@hungary.yak.net (16043) Received: from math.mit.edu (MATH.MIT.EDU [18.87.0.8]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id OAA16040 for ; Mon, 29 May 1995 14:31:17 -0700 Received: from markov.mit.edu (MARKOV.MIT.EDU [18.87.0.40]) by math.mit.edu (8.6.12/8.6.9) with ESMTP id RAA17598 for ; Mon, 29 May 1995 17:31:11 -0400 Received: (from tbeke@localhost) by markov.mit.edu (8.6.12/8.6.9) id RAA12918 for Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net; Mon, 29 May 1995 17:31:12 -0400 From: Tibor Beke Message-Id: <199505292131.RAA12918@markov.mit.edu> Subject: (HOL) Re: (HOL-A) Magyar geeks get chicks To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Date: Mon, 29 May 1995 17:31:12 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: from "Steven Carlson" at May 29, 95 01:27:20 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5314 Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Steve, from your last column -- > Hungary-specific areas of Usenet exist as well, but these focus on more > mundane subjects like jobs and computers. The closest thing to Barney the > Dinosaur on Hungarian TV is a puppet goat called Mekk Mester. Mekk Mester > is popular, but I can't imagine Hungarians spending much time on Usenet > talking about him. > > There are probably two points to make here. One is that with an estimated > 25,000 online users, Hungary just doesn't have the critical mass to sustain > newsgroup discussions about Mekk Mester the goat. The more relevant point > is that neither you nor I can imagine the Magyars getting too excited about > discussing TV. The Magyars are much more interested in jobs and computers. If you permit me to drop a few remarks -- I don't think your argument is phrased carefully enough. For one thing, the Usenet has retained an EXTREMELY strong heritage of the subcultural. Let me quote some evidence from my .newsrc: Group Number of articles present alt.fan.rush-limbaugh! 122188 alt.fan.monty-python! 33218 alt.fan.letterman! 30720 alt.fan.dan-quayle! 30534 alt.fan.douglas-adams! 15761 alt.fan.howard-stern! 15585 alt.fan.warlord! 13270 alt.fan.frank-zappa! 13140 alt.fan.tolkien! 10313 alt.fan.oj-simpson! 7984 alt.fan.james-bond! 5741 alt.fan.ronald-reagan! 5453 alt.fan.bill-gates! 4883 alt.fan.madonna! 4864 alt.fan.u2! 4861 alt.fan.british-accent! 4090 alt.fan.lemurs! 3172 alt.fan.noam-chomsky! 2706 alt.fan.dune! 2267 alt.fan.shostakovich! 1778 alt.fan.spinal-tap! 1719 alt.fan.david-bowie! 1640 alt.fan.joel-furr! 1269 alt.fan.blues-brothers! 1235 alt.fan.hofstadter! 1113 alt.fan.woody-allen! 990 alt.fan.lightbulbs! 559 alt.fan.schwarzenegger! 346 alt.fan.oj-simpson.gas-chamber! 256 alt.fan.sting! 161 alt.fan.michael-bolton! 151 alt.rush-limbaugh.die.a.flaming.death! 35 alt.music.yanni.aural-enema! 20 alt.fan.jimi-hendrix! 13 alt.fan.jesus-christ! 13 If you have the time to lazily browse through all the numbers, I think you find there sources of instant amusement. Certainly VERY counterintuitive. Esp thinking of lightbulbs vs schwarzenegger, shostakovich vs spinal tap, and noam chomsky vs lemurs. (If you don't know who joel furr is, don't bother. He's the historical character from the 80's responsible for much of the groundwork for the .alt hierarchy, including lemurs.) In short, I'd rest assured there's room for Mekk Elek in cyberspace (aside: if you ask any fan of Central European animation, you'll be told what a quintessential character he is: a jack-of-all-trades who never succeeds at any job; compared to that epitome of inaneness, Barney... :) so, as soon as Internet/Usenet becomes _cheap_ enough in Hungary. If it's virtually free for a handful (100 or so) crazies who find each other, that will do just fine. Though it seems humanly impossible to predict what one hundred crazies with ample free time will choose to talk about. On the other hand, if the Net is expensive, it's also more focussed and content-intensive. It would happen in the States too, not only in Hungary. Maybe you were thinking of the proposed new hu. Usenet hierarchy. Don't forget that that's just being introduced now, and is pretty much in the same state as Usenet in the US in the 70's (at which point only system administrators talked to each other, and only about system administration). If you wade through the HIX archives, you'll recognize what a staggering amount of zest there is in the discussions -- that thing pretty much substituted for the absence of Usenet, for the ones who did have free email in Hungary. As for the point that you termed "more relevant" > is that neither you nor I can imagine the Magyars getting too excited about > discussing TV. The Magyars are much more interested in jobs and computers. I think it very unfortunately borders on the stereotyping (and misleading). Maybe if you'd written, "My buddies -- these journalistic, businessman types -- are much more interested in jobs and computers" it'd be more precise . The Magyars watch an unhealthy dose of TV -- not because they like it, but because they don't -- they're known to watch channels in languages they don't understand (isn't that remarkable?); they discuss it, hate it, crack jokes about it (you may be aware of the ample supply of jokes about ads, for example); they gossip, talk politics or current events, even get emotional or excited, and will start doing that on the Net as soon as gripping socio-economical factors allow the Net to be an appropriate medium for that. Now I don't _deny_ that the Magyars are interested in jobs and computers, and are very good at them too, and have excellent backgrounds in the natural sciences, are a bit more neurotic than the ROW, drink, smoke, evade taxes, found at least two companies per capita, have a sharp tongue, are hard to collaborate with (or to collaborate with each other), are more intelligent and their females more beautiful, are from Mars and are wacky Asiatic horsemen, but let's just be cautious with stereotyping, shall we? Tibor ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from Tibor Beke # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############