Could you please explain this joke from The Simpsons?

September 23, 2009 2:53 AM

Could you please explain this joke from The Simpsons?

I know this makes me appear as dumb as Wiggum but its bugging me. Here is the joke/quote:

Chief Wiggum: [reading a tombstone, talks into his "radio"] Put out an APB on a Uosdwis R Dewoh. Uh, better start with Greektown.
Joe Friday: That's Homer J Simpson, chief. You're reading it upside down.
Chief Wiggum: Uh, cancel that APB. But, uh, bring back some of them, uh, gyros.
Joe Friday: Uh, chief, you're talking into your wallet.

What are gyros?

In my defense I have only read the quote and have not seen or been able to find the clip. Thanks

p.s. its from the episode Mother Simpson details here:

posted by therubettes to media & arts (33 comments total)

a greek dish
posted by emmling at 2:56 AM on September 23, 2009

They're a greek wrap, traditionally with lamb meat and a Tzatziki (cucumber) sauce.
posted by Bleusman at 2:56 AM on September 23, 2009

Gyros are a typical Greek food, one that would be easily found in the Greek part of town.
posted by patricio at 2:57 AM on September 23, 2009

You might know this tip, but... If you want a definition of a word, in Google you can search for "define: X" replacing X with the word. So, for gyros, it looks like this.
posted by Houstonian at 3:03 AM on September 23, 2009

A freakin' delicious sammich.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:04 AM on September 23, 2009 [3 favorites]

Actually I found out what gyros were already thanks, though I did ask the question 'What are gyros?'! From reading the quote I was under the impression that Wiggum had also read a word from his wallet upside down (just like he read the tombstone upside down) and had come up with the word gyros. This left me wondering what the hell could spell gyros if it were read upside-down.

I am now guessing that he just asks for gyros cos he was hungry. The 'uh' pause before he asked for gyros made me think he was trying to make out what the word was. It now appears clear that he was just talking into his wallet and this was the joke.

I am not always this dumb!
posted by therubettes at 3:14 AM on September 23, 2009

FWIW, it's pronounced "yeeroes," not "jeyeroes."

Just hoping to pre-empt another person pronouncing it incorrectly. I walked around for, like, 2 years saying "jeyeroes" before someone let me know I was an idiot, haha.
posted by InsanePenguin at 3:15 AM on September 23, 2009

The punch line is the wallet though?
posted by mary8nne at 3:28 AM on September 23, 2009

Chief misreads the name and takes it for a Greek one. Sends officers, he thinks, to "Greektown."

Joe points out that he's got the name wrong.

Chief, using his "radio," calls off the APB, but decides that since they're going to Greektown anyway, they might as well bring him back some of that yummy Greek food.

Joe points out that he's been speaking into his wallet all this time.
posted by houseofdanie at 3:43 AM on September 23, 2009 [5 favorites]

There's not really a specific punchline. There are several mini-jokes working together to demonstrate Wiggum's total ineptness as a police officer.

1. He was reading a tombstone upside down

2. He was trigger happy enough to call an APB on someone called Uosdwis R Dewoh without pausing to consider that he might have it wrong.

3. He assumed that because a name sounded weird to him, it must be European, most likely Greek. (And I can tell you, that sounds not even remotely like a Greek name)

4. After mentioning Greeks, the thought of Greek food completely distracted him.

5. He was talking into his wallet the whole time.

There are probably more. This is one of the things that is (was?) great about the Simpsons - that they were able to squeeze so many jokes into such a brief exchange.
posted by Diag at 3:47 AM on September 23, 2009 [7 favorites]

It's also funny to imagine that Springfield has such a large Greek population that they'd have their own "Greektown."
posted by Jon-o at 3:59 AM on September 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

oh dear. I've been calling them "heroes" all this time.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 4:31 AM on September 23, 2009

oh dear. I've been calling them "heroes" all this time.

Good thing we cleared this up, or someday you would have wound up with one of these!
posted by pullayup at 4:40 AM on September 23, 2009

As an aside, isn't "Uosdwis R Dewoh" a really fun name to say? The writers talk about this joke on the DVD commentary of this episode of The Simpsons and it clearly still cracks them up after all these years.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:03 AM on September 23, 2009

About the pronunciation -- being half Greek I can say that even some Greek-Americans pronounce it the "wrong" way, and as with Greek coffee we pretty much stole the recipe from Turkey anyway :) so the Greek word itself is probably not steeped in linguistic tradition.

I don't actually know much Greek though, and I have a related question for anyone who does: is the "s" part of the singular (like "kudos") and we're technically incorrect in dropping it?
posted by pete_22 at 5:41 AM on September 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

And Jon-o, good point about Greektown -- I think one of my favorite meta-jokes in the Simpsons is how Springfield varies in size from a small town to a sizable midwestern city as the plot demands...
posted by pete_22 at 5:44 AM on September 23, 2009

> FWIW, it's pronounced "yeeroes," not "jeyeroes."

This is not true. In Greek, the singular is pronounced /yiros/ (voiceless -s at the end: YEER-ohss) and the plural /yiri/ (YEE-ree); it literally means 'turn.' But we speak English, not Greek, and in English there are two regional pronunciations, /džairow/ (JYE-roh) in the Northeast and /yirow/ (YEE-roh) in California (and doubtless elsewhere in the West). You can use whichever you prefer, but to claim your version is correct and the other wrong is ignorant and boorish. (N.b.: I have had the satisfaction of seeing a Californian try to order a YEE-roh in NYC and the Greek counterman turn to the cook and holler "One JYE-roh!")

Also, Diag has an excellent explanation.
posted by languagehat at 6:19 AM on September 23, 2009 [13 favorites]

As an aside, isn't "Uosdwis R Dewoh" a really fun name to say?

Come back, Joey Jo Jo Jr Shabadoo!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:23 AM on September 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

Jon-o: "It's also funny to imagine that Springfield has such a large Greek population that they'd have their own "Greektown."


Well.. the Map of Springfield does show a Chinatown and a Russian District... but I'm not seeing any Greek locations. (perhaps you can only get a Gyro from a mobile food-cart :P
posted by jmnugent at 7:09 AM on September 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

in English there are two regional pronunciations, /džairow/ (JYE-roh) in the Northeast and /yirow/ (YEE-roh) in California.

IME, it's YEE-roh in London, Houston, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary (at least).... so I suspect that if the uglier-sounding JYE-roh has spread further than New York City, it's all Seinfeld's fault.

I've definitely always thought of it as a New York-ism.
posted by rokusan at 7:19 AM on September 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

I always thought that the Simpsons writers and/or Hank Azaria (who are, after all, living in California) were having the somewhat-dim Wiggum pronounce it "incorrectly" intentionally. So you might add that to Diag's list above.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:53 AM on September 23, 2009

IME, it's YEE-roh in London, Houston, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary (at least).... so I suspect that if the uglier-sounding JYE-roh has spread further than New York City, it's all Seinfeld's fault.

I've definitely always thought of it as a New York-ism.

And in my experience, the guy at the counter will pronounce it differently than me no matter how I say gyro.
posted by HumuloneRanger at 8:12 AM on September 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

IME, it's YEE-roh in London, Houston, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary (at least).... so I suspect that if the uglier-sounding JYE-roh has spread further than New York City, it's all Seinfeld's fault.

We were saying JYE-ro in Michigan pre-Seinfeld. It's a Rust Belt thing.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:16 AM on September 23, 2009

The other funny thing is that even though the APB has been called off, Wiggum still assumes that someone is going to Greektown and can pick him up some food.
posted by Aquaman at 8:17 AM on September 23, 2009

We were saying JYE-ro in Michigan pre-Seinfeld. It's a Rust Belt thing.

YEE-roh in Ohio. I don't think you can pick one specific place and extrapolate to a whole region.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 8:26 AM on September 23, 2009

We were saying JYE-ro in Michigan pre-Seinfeld.

Don't be silly. White Castle doesn't serve gyros!
posted by rokusan at 8:47 AM on September 23, 2009

"in English there are two regional pronunciations, /džairow/ (JYE-roh) in the Northeast and /yirow/ (YEE-roh) in California (and doubtless elsewhere in the West)... (N.b.: I have had the satisfaction of seeing a Californian try to order a YEE-roh in NYC and the Greek counterman turn to the cook and holler "One JYE-roh!")

I worked in a Greek pizza place in New Hampshire (pizza places are frequently owned by Greeks in New England.) Customers often used the JYE-roh pronunciation, but the family that owned the place used the YEER-ohss pronunciation and would tell their staff that was the correct way to say it. I've never encountered any confusion using that pronunciaton in New York City, at both Greek and Lebanese owned places (often the waiters and countermen are Hispanic.) I've known other people from New England who use the Greek pronunciation as well.
posted by Jahaza at 9:55 AM on September 23, 2009

If anyone wants to suggest some places in NYC to get a good gyro, that would be awesome.
posted by clockzero at 10:08 AM on September 23, 2009

We were saying JYE-ro in Michigan pre-Seinfeld. It's a Rust Belt thing.

I and everyone I know in Michigan was saying YEE-ro pre- and post-Seinfeld.

But I can also confirm that, no matter how I say it, the guy I'm ordering it from will say it differently.
posted by The World Famous at 10:32 AM on September 23, 2009

I've known other people from New England who use the Greek pronunciation as well.

I was about to say the same thing! As a Greek New Hampshirite, I only heard "YEE-ro" from those I grew up with.

the family that owned the place used the YEER-ohss pronunciation and would tell their staff that was the correct way to say it.

I've also noticed that New Hampshire Greeks are, by and large, way more stubborn than any I've encountered in New York.

sorry yiayia
posted by Greg Nog at 11:57 AM on September 23, 2009

If anyone wants to suggest some places in NYC to get a good gyro, that would be awesome.

Well, I was going to suggest Sahara Grill, but it's gone. I hadn't been there all year (moved to Queens last fall), but it was my go to place for Gyros. So I guess I'll be waiting for suggestions too...
posted by Jahaza at 5:21 PM on September 23, 2009

YEE-roh in Ohio. I don't think you can pick one specific place and extrapolate to a whole region.

Very true because I am from northeast Ohio and everyone I knew pronounced it JYE-roh.
posted by Falconetti at 9:52 PM on September 23, 2009

My wife and I tease each other all the time about this. she insists on YEE while I say JYE. Then I usually wonder out loud why she doesn't pronounce burrito or ravioli with similar "country of origin correctness" and then she usually tells me to be quiet.
posted by firemouth at 7:23 PM on September 24, 2009