NUTS or Nuts for Jericho?

Now, I've watched the show "Jericho" a few times and it was a good show to watch complete with pathos and caveats of what may happen to surrounding towns and people when major cities get nuked.

However, I happen to prefer to watch the show called "24" which details a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, who works with the U.S. Government as it fights threats on its soil. Especially the recent season's show on how Jack Bauer tried to stop nuclear detonation by terrorists, namely the Islamic kind. It's more interesting to watch a show how characters try to prevent a nuclear detonation on American soil rather than a show on the aftermath where neighboring towns are at war with each other for survival sake. This is a bit of clue on which shows I'd prefer to watch in terms of context rather than watch a show just because one of the characters happens to be deaf and is deaf in real life.

Which leads me to ask this question.

Are Deaf people upset that the show "Jericho" is cancelled only because it happened to have a deaf character in it? Somehow I think the complaints over the show's cancellation is really about the deaf character rather than show itself for some/many/most Deaf people. And so a few Deaf people get on board the NUTS campaign in the hope to get the show re-instated.

Banjo brings up the word "NUTS" about a "NUTS" campaign that has been underway to try and convince CBS to bring back "Jericho". However, nothing was explained fully as to the real historical use of the word "Nuts" (some say that "NUTS" is the made up acronymn for "Not Understanding Terms of Surrender" which is not the same thing as the word "Nuts!" uttered back during WWII). Let's get some historical facts correct here.

The word "Nuts" wasn't even a phrase, as the nut company said, but rather a response to a question back during World War II to German officers on U.S. surrendering. This is well known and famous response in all of World War II. Now, what's really amazing is that this nut company never even watched the show!!

From a few orders, to a few more orders, to a few emails, to a lot more emails, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a campaign to support a show we had never even watched before. At first I thought you were nuts, but after interacting with a bunch of you I realized how real you were and how I could easily see myself in your place. Maybe I get excited too easily, but I was impressed with your devotion and passion and decided to fully embrace your campaign.

But I gotta admit. The "NUTS" campaign is turning out to be a cheap advertising gimic for a generational, family-owned nuts company to generate lots free exposures and additional revenues coming from "Jericho" fans to buy and send nuts out to CBS executives as part of their protest campaign to get the show re-instated.

Now. Which one is correct on the use of the word "nuts"? Would it be "N.U.T.S." or "Nuts" ?

The word "Nuts" was uttered by General McAuliffe during World War II at the Battle of the Bulge in response to a surrender call by the German officers.

The General's first reaction was that the Germans wanted to surrender to us. Col. Moore quickly disabused him of that notion and explained that the German's demanded our surrender. When McAuliffe heard that he laughed and said: "Us surrender? Aw, nuts!" the date was December 22nd, 1944.
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But then McAuliffe realized that some sort of reply was in order. He pondered for a few minutes and then told the staff, "Well I don't know what to tell them." He then asked the staff what they thought, and I spoke up, saying, "That first remark of yours would be hard to beat." McAuliffe said, "What do you mean?" I answered, "Sir, you said 'Nuts'." All members of the staff enthusiastically agreed, and McAuliffe decided to send that one word, "Nuts!" back to the Germans. McAuliffe then wrote down: "To the German Commander, "Nuts!" The American Commander."

McAuliffe then asked Col. Harper to deliver the message to the Germans. Harper took the typed message back to the company command post where the two German officers were detained. Harper then told the Germans that he had the American commanders reply. The German captain then asked, "Is it written or verbal?" Harper responded that it was written and added, "I will place it in your hand."

The German major then asked, "Is the reply negative or affirmative? If it is the latter I will negotiate further."

At this time the Germans were acting in an arrogant and patronizing manner and Harper, who was starting to lose his temper, responded, "The reply is decidedly not affirmative." He then added that, "If you continue your foolish attack your losses will be tremendous."

Harper then put the German officers in a jeep and took them back to where the German enlisted men were detained. He then said to the German captain, "If you don't know what 'Nuts' means, in plain English it is the same as 'Go to Hell'. And I'll tell you something else, if you continue to attack we will kill every g**dam German that tries to break into this city."

So, it's not about "NUTS" ("Not Understanding Terms of Surrender" - a recent made up acronymn) in terms of actual historical use of the word but "Nuts!" in response to a surrender ultimatum by the Germans.

Now, would I get upset if a show gets cancelled? In a, er, nutshell, no. Considering the vast number of shows on cable/satellite television nowadays, there are lots of shows to choose from. In fact, too many television programmings whether its sports, soaps, series or movies. If a show gets cancelled, it gets cancelled. I am not the one to run around to wring my hands just because a show gets cancelled.

Awww, nuts!

Are Deaf folks angry because they cannot watch the show that has a Deaf character in it or because it was simply a good show to watch and had nothing to do with that Deaf character in the first place? People need to be honest on answering this question.

Life moves on.