Odd News

                  Old rivalry between English people and French people is getting once again under the spotlight due to a popular British cartoon and television series "Mr. Men" that just come up with Mr. Rude, an obnoxious character who speaks with a bad French accent.                     Mr. Men is a comedy show aired by Channel Five for four to seven years olds that include such characters as Mr. Messy, Mr. Strong and Mr. Tickle, created by Roger Hargreaves in the early 1970s as a series of books. In 1975 it was for the first time broadcasted on TV and since then it had a continuous success, with female characters added in 1981 and some new updates like Mr. Scatterbrain, Mr. Stubborn, Little Miss Daredevil and Little Miss Calamity. The new character, Mr. Rude, is the only one with a foreign accent and it will appear in the new series which will run on British television starting February 25. Nonetheless, in a promotion for the new series, children can take a peak at the character on a game played on the television show's website www.mrmen.com where he breaks wind just by pulling one of his fingers, while stating: "I'll geeve you rude".                      Reuters tried to find out French embassy on the matter, but they refused to comment and only from unofficial source Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper published an article where an unknown person from inside the embassy confessed that the light-hearted humor of the series will not improve the relations between the two countries. Still, Channel Five's spokesperson said that the character has a French accent with the purpose of having fun and without any intention to offend France or the more than 300,000 French citizens who live and work in Britain. Moreover, Chorion, which makes the show, said it is looking to sell the series to France, among other countries, without mentioning if the French version of Mr. Rude would have a British accent or not.                       Laugh now while you still can't, although no matter if it is without the intention of offending, any nationalist joke tends to become a xenophobic thing and generally it should be avoided. Anyway, take a look at the show and pass judgments later. Enjoy!

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080214/od_nm/mrmen_rude_dc;_ylt=AgrjZzikED0.SraRXT.0.wSs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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Edited by Iveta Nagyova

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