Chuck Norris facts

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Protest banner at the University of Bamberg hinting to Chuck Norris facts (German: "Only Chuck Norris manages to achieve a bachelor's degree in scheduled time")

Chuck Norris facts are satirical factoids about martial artist and actor Chuck Norris that have become an Internet phenomenon and as a result have become widespread in popular culture. The facts are normally absurd hyperbolic claims about Norris' toughness, attitude, virility, sophistication, and masculinity.

The facts typically claim that Norris is a tough, all-powerful super-being. Chuck Norris facts have spread around the world, leading not only to translated versions, but also spawning localized versions mentioning country-specific advertisements and other Internet phenomena. Allusions are also sometimes made to his use of roundhouse kicks to perform seemingly any task, his large amount of body hair with specific regard to his beard, and his role in the action television series Walker, Texas Ranger.

Contents

Background

Chuck Norris facts originally started appearing on the Internet in early 2005. Conan O'Brien's Chuck Norris jokes on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (which generally center on Walker, Texas Ranger) have been seen as an inspiration for the fad. The exaggerated style of these facts is similar to a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch called "Bill Brasky". Due to the popularity of this phenomenon, similar jokes have been created for various other celebrities, as well as fictional characters.

Norris' response

Norris responded to the Chuck Norris facts on his official website with a statement. Admitting some of the statements were indeed humorous, he said he tries not to take any of them seriously, and he hopes that such statements will interest people in real facts about him contained in his literary works.[1] On October 23, 2006, Chuck Norris' first column for WorldNetDaily consisted of yet another response. It began similarly to the above statement from chucknorris.com, but then disclaimed Norris' own prowess in favor of God and Jesus Christ.

One of the satirical facts made of Norris states that "There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live". In the aforementioned article, he wrote:

It's funny. It's cute. But here's what I really think about the theory of evolution: it's not real. It is not the way we got here. In fact, the life you see on this planet is really just a list of creatures God has allowed to live. We are not creations of random chance. We are not accidents. There is a God, a Creator, who made you and me. We were made in His image, which separates us from all other creatures. By the way, without Him, I don't have any power. But with Him, the Bible tells me, I really can do all things — and so can you.[2]

On November 29, 2007, Gotham Books, the adult division of Penguin USA, released a book entitled The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 facts about the World's Greatest Human.[3] Norris subsequently filed suit in December against Penguin USA claiming "trademark infringement, unjust enrichment and privacy rights".[4] In 2008, Norris dropped the lawsuit.[5]

On October 7, 2009, Tyndale House Publishers issued The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book, which was co-written and officially endorsed by Norris.[6]

Norris has stated that his personal favorite "fact" is that people wanted to add Chuck Norris to Mount Rushmore, but the granite was not tough enough for his beard.[7]

Prominent mentions

In the March 20, 2006 issue, TIME magazine interviewed Chuck Norris, calling him an "online cult hero." In the answer to their last question, he called the Chuck Norris Facts "weird but wildly popular sayings" and quoted one: "Chuck Norris can divide by zero."[8]

In 2011, a commercial for World of Warcraft featured Chuck Norris and included its own "Chuck Norris facts" in the dialogue.[9]

During the movie The Expendables 2 in a fight scene, all the enemies suddenly die and a tank blows up. Barney Ross' (Sylvester Stallone) crew was left puzzled. Out walks Booker played by Chuck Norris, essentially playing off of the Chuck Norris facts that he is a super human and destroys everything he sees fit. During the same dialog scene Sylvester Stallone's character says to Chuck Norris' character "I heard you got bit by a cobra" to which Chuck Norris responds, "yeah I was, but after 5 days of agonizing pain, the cobra died" again a play off of the Chuck Norris facts.

Inspirations and similar trends

In India, there exist similar jokes in the form of factoids and quotes about Indian film actor Rajinikanth.[10] The factoids about Tamil actor Rajinikanth are inspired by Chuck Norris facts in that those follow the same pattern as Chuck Norris facts.[11][12] While some Rajinikanth jokes are original, many of them are circulated with Norris' name replaced by Rajinikanth's.[13]

A page on Tumblr was formed to create similar facts for the Doctor Who character Rory Williams.[14]

Schalke 04 football player Hans Sarpei received a similar Facebook audience claiming similar factoids about him. [15]

During the 2012 Armenian parliamentary election, there have been found some ballots with Chuck Norris' name written on them as a candidate.[16][17][18]

In Egypt, and prior to the Egyptian presidential election, 2012, similar jokes were made upon Omar Suleiman the Ex-Director of the General Intelligence Directorate in the same style of Chuck Norris facts, making fun of the powers and skills that his supporters claimed to be his to promote him before the elections.[19]

Similar jokes exist in Russia. They are made upon famous Russian journalist, political pundit and winner of different intellectual games (which he won numerous times) Anatoly Wasserman. They state that Wasserman has a superforce and superintellect that allow him to do everything (for example "after the night with Wasserman a prostitute entered Moscow State University" - that joke is about 2 things he is most famous for - his erudition and virginity). Also, some facts tell that Wasserman is the father of Chuck Norris, so, he has more power.[citation needed]

In Brazil the Capitão Nascimento, main character of the movie The Elite Squad, is also attributed similar powers due its role as the BOPE´s capitain, a special police squad in Rio´s military police.

SchneierFacts.com applies the same principle to security expert Bruce Schneier, but boasts about Schneier's supposed expertise in cryptography. ("Bruce Schneier knows how to generate a digital signature. Anyone's.")[20]

Bibliography

  • Ian Spector: The Truth About Chuck Norris: New York: Gotham Books: 2007: ISBN 1-59240-344-1
  • Chuck Norris & Todd DuBord: The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book: 101 of Chuck's Favorite Facts and Stories: Tyndale House Publishers: 2009: ISBN 1-4143-3449-4

References

  1. ^ Chuck Norris. "In response to the "Random facts" that are being generated on the Internet". Retrieved 2006-12-04. 
  2. ^ "On Chuck Norris 'mania' sweeping the Net". WorldNetDaily. 2006-10-23. 
  3. ^ Ian Spector. The Truth About Chuck Norris: 400 Facts About the World's Greatest Human. Gotham. ISBN 978-1-59240-344-8. 
  4. ^ Kearney, Christine (2007-12-21). "Chuck Norris sues, says his tears no cancer cure". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-12-23. 
  5. ^ Chuck Norris kicks suit ...
  6. ^ The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book. Tyndale House Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4143-3449-3
  7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA_hMq-JUOE
  8. ^ Keegan, Rebecca Winters (2006-03-20). "People". Time. Retrieved 2006-06-20. 
  9. ^ Benedetti, Winda (November 21, 2011). "Chuck Norris lends his face, fists to 'World of Warcraft'". In-Game. MSNBC.com. Retrieved December 10, 2011. 
  10. ^ Iyer, Meena (October 11, 2011). "Rajinikanth vs Chuck Norris". Times of India. 
  11. ^ Venkateswaran, N.; Ravi, Bhama Devi (October 16, 2010). "'I am what I am'". The Times of India Crest Edition. 
  12. ^ "Rajini humour". Times of India Crest Edition. October 16, 2010. 
  13. ^ Rajinikanth jokes sell out faster than his tickets
  14. ^ "Facts about Rory Williams". Tumblr. Retrieved 17 December 2011. 
  15. ^ http://fussball.zdf.de/ZDFsport/inhalt/14/0,5676,8349358,00.html?dr=1/
  16. ^ (Armenian) "Չակ Նորիսն ու «Եկածիրինն»` այլընտրանք. ընտրողները կատակում են քվեաթերթիկներով (ֆոտո)". NEWS.am. May 6, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012. 
  17. ^ (Armenian) "Խորհրդարանական ընտրությունների «հայտնությունը». ոմանք ընտրել են Չակ Նորիսին և «Եկատիրինին» (լուսանկարներ)". Թերթ.am. May 6, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012. 
  18. ^ (Armenian) "«Չակ Նորիսը» որպես հայկական ընտրությունների ֆենոմեն". Mediamax. May 6, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012. 
  19. ^ "بحث جوجل : هل تعلم ان عمر سليمان" [Google search: Did you know that Omar Suleiman.] (in Arabic). 
  20. ^ http://www.schneierfacts.com/

External links

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