Summary:
This clip satirizes a popular "reality police show" called "Cops." The Springfield police department is potrayed as corrupt, lazy, and inefficient. While they surround the house of a local minister, a cattle-rustler, obviously right next door, makes his escape, his tires squealing as he drives off into the distance.
Transcript
Song:
'Springfield cops are on the take
But what do you expect for the money we make?
Whether in a car or on the horse,
We don't mind using excess force.'
Wiggum: All right, boys, time to bag us a cattle rustler.
Rev: What in God's name are you doing?
W: Isn't this 742 Evergreen Terrace?
Rev: No, that's next door. [ Mooing ]
Snake: Close, but no doughnut, cops.
W: This is Papa Bear. Put out an A.P.B. for a male suspect... driving a... car of some sort... heading in the direction of, uh... you know, that place that sells chili. Suspect is hatless...I repeat, hatless.
Idioms and vocab:
Satirize: -- To make fun of by imitating or parodying
Potray-- Show, depict
Cattle-rustler-- A criminal who steals cows and other livestock (from old "Western" movies).
Squeal-- to make a high-pitched noise, like tires
On the take-- Corrupt, accepting bribes
Bag-- Capture, take. Often used with reflexive pronoun. "Bag me," or "bag him"
Close but no donut-- A play on words of "close but no cigar," an idiom meaning 'almost.'
APB-- Abbreviation for "All points bulletin," a notification to other police officers. Chief Wiggum's APB is hilariously vague.
Now you practice:
Pretend you are the police chief's supervisor criticizing the chief for his bad police work. Write a brief speech in which you chew him out (criticize him) for his his incompentence. Try to use the construction: "How could you + verb?" E.g., "How could you be so lazy?"
Email your responnse to jpenna@udel.edu for this week's Simpson's practice.