There is one other possibility I can think of: - Assume Randall meant cretin and pronounced it the British way. - Assume Mike thinks Randall is referring to Cretans. Mike is correcting Randall for mispronouncing the nationality, due to Mike not knowing the word cretin and Mike misunderstood the insult. **This joke is irony**: Mike is uneducated and doesn't know the word cretin, thus proving he is foolish (like a cretin). If my interpretation is correct, this joke matches the tenor of this later joke in the same scene: Randall: "Say hello to the scream extractor" Mike: "Hello"