4d ago

what’s a pun in your language, the english translation, and do you think it makes sense in english or has an english equivalent?

in portuguese, i just came across “por que o vírus da gripe não tem amigos? porque ele é uma má influenza”

translation: “why does the flu virus have no friends? because it’s a bad influenza!”(Influence)

i think it could work in english but sounds better in portuguese.

38 comments

"5 neden 6'dan korkdu? Çünkü 6 7 8"
Why was 5 afraid of 6? Because 6 7 8.
"7" in Turkish is a homonym for "eaten". That's right, same as the english joke minus 1.
- Hah! That's interesting! I wonder if that's purely by coincidence, or if there is some etymological reason for this.
  
  I'm betting more on pure coincidence -- especially since the number 7 (yedi) derives from the proto-Turkic "*jëtï" and the past tense verb of "having eaten" (yedi) is an eclectic mix of the word for food (yemek) and eating (yermek) with a past second-person suffix (-di) tacked on. I'd wager the universe just rolled snake-eyes on this one!

A joke in Spanish and English, but the punchline is different in each, despite being the same joke. (My Spanish may well be rusty as it's been a while)
De donde se van los gatos cuando mueren? Purgatorio (focus on gato)
Where do cats do when they die? Purrgatory (focus on purr)
- i love when jokes work in both languages :)

Qual è la città preferita dei ragni? Mosca!
What is the spider’s favorite city? Moscow! (mosca is also the word for fly)
- awesome!!

Treffen sich zwei Jäger. Beide tot.
Two hunters meet. Both dead.
"Treffen" translates both to "meet with someone" or "hit something", however the second case is used much less.

"Care e diferența dintre un porc și o râmă? Porcul râmă, dar râma nu porc".
It's not translatable directly because in Romanian there's a word for digging with the snout. That word is the same word as the word for earthworm. So it goes like "What's the difference between a pig and an earthworm? The pig digs (earthworms), but the earthworm doesn't pig."
In English there's one very similar in concept: "What is the difference between a fly and a flea? A fly can flee, but a flea can't fly."
- A similar joke could be made in English as "root", to dig with the nose, is also part of a plant. Earthworm is, unfortunately, not a homophone.
  My favorite of this style is about roast beef and pea soup.

These ones work in German and English:
Warum gehen Gottesanbeterinnen nicht in die Kirche? Weil sie in Sekten sind.
Why do praying mantisses not go to church?
Because they're in sects.
Ich lass mir von nem Freund ein neues Dach bauen, das geht aufs Haus.
I'm getting a new roof built by a friend, it's on the house.
This one doesn't:
"Heiße Würstchen" — "Angenehm, heiße Maier"
"Hot sausages!" — "Nice to meet you, my name is Maier."
("Heiße Würstchen" can also mean "My name is Little Sausage", which is a slur for men, like "little bitch")

Que dijo un pes al otro pes? Nada!
What did one fish say to another fish? Nothing!
Nada means nothing, but it also means swim, coming from the verb "nadar".
It also reminds of the Simpsons episode where Homer eats the candy that was stuck to the babysitter's butt. He gets accused of sexual harassment, and his world is in chaos with news reporters outside. Marge tries to comfort him by saying that'll blow over soon enough. Homer then says, "nothing ever blows over for me." We then see the helicopter outside blow their car over.
Now, I watched the above episode probably 5 times or so, but in German. I never understood that part. It felt super random to just show his car flip over. Years later I finally saw it in English, and understood the joke. In the German version, I think he says, "Für mich ist nie etwas vorbei." - > "Nothing is ever over for me."
- A joke so old that only boomer & gen-x speakers may get it:
  ¿Quál clase de auto no va? ¡Nova!
  
  my dad always said we shouldn’t buy a nova “porque no va” :)
  in our other language, portuguese, nova means “new” (feminine)
  
  oohh, recuerdo eso

I'm sure there's a better example in Ukrainian, but
Як як? Ну як як? Як як як...
Not really a pun and not translateable as a joke, but same word that can repeat to form a sentence.
Joke is a guy went to the zoo and friend is asking him how was yak. He replies with yak was like yak.
- Something similar in Finnish;
  Kokoo koko kokko kokoon. Koko kokkoko kokoon? Koko kokko kokoon.
  Which translates to
  Put together the whole bonfire. The whole bonfire together? The whole bonfire together.
  
  A similar one in Swedish:
  Bar barbar-bar barbar bar bar barbar-bar barbar.
  This can be translated to “a lightly dressed barbarian from a bar for barbarians carried a lightly dressed barbarian from a bar for barbarians.”
  
  Danish has: Far får får får? Nej, får får ikke får, får får lam.
  This translates to: Dad, does sheep get (give birth to) sheep? No, sheep don't get sheep, sheep get lambs.
  
  There are several versions of these kinds of puns in German, one version:
  Wenn Grillen Grillen grillen, grillen Grillen Grillen.
  When crickets barbecue crickets, then crickets are barbecuing crickets.
  
  As an Estonian, it doesn't surprise me that you Finnish people have this. You weird, but actually cool neighbours.
- In English we have
  Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
  Which means:
  Bison who are bullied by bison do themselves intimidate or bully bison (at least in the city of Buffalo – implicitly, Buffalo, New York)
  
  Also relevant: Americans think Bison and Buffalo are the same type of animal.
  
  Yeah, verb is kind of a stretch though.
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo
  
  I've seen this before and always thought the verb was a stretch since it is definitely not used in modern English, but I do like the idea of forming a sentence this way.

How about if we mix up the original you posted?
"Why does the flu virus have no followers? Because it's a bad influencer"
In my limited knowledge of Portuguese, it should still work, but the English version will sound better.
- i like that!
- It's a bad influenz-er

– Γιατί πίνει ο ακέφαλος καβαλάρης;
– Για να κάνει κεφάλι.
– Why does the headless horseman drink?
– To make (a) head
"Making head" in Greek would mean getting drunk to the point where you first start feeling dizzy

Not exactly in my language, but Lipton used to have an advert for their ice tea “Limone” in Japan. A lady sing a jingle, and in the middle of it she’d exclaim 「おいちい」, meaning “delicious.” However, 「ちい」could also be interpreted as the English word tea. Thus an appropriate translation of the pun would be "tealicious."
Did a quick search and found the advert in question.

38 comments