what’s a pun in your language, the english translation, and do you think it makes sense in english or has an english equivalent?
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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)
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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.
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Yeah, verb is kind of a stretch though.
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"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."
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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."
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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.
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A joke so old that only boomer & gen-x speakers may get it:
¿Quál clase de auto no va? ¡Nova!
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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.
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As an Estonian, it doesn't surprise me that you Finnish people have this. You weird, but actually cool neighbours.
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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.”
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Barbara's barbarian rhubarb bar
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"5 neden 6'dan korkuyordu? 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.
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Or slightly different:
Får får får? Får får ej får, for får får lam.
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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.
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This one works 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. -
– 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
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Ha, works in English too, in a Yoda-esque kinda way.
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I've always used this version, since the verb is commonly used in modern English unlike buffalo:
Police police police Police police police Police police.
That expands to "the police from Police, Poland will police the police from Police, Poland, who in turn also police the police from Police, Poland" or something like that.
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I'm a bit sad Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbierbarbärbel doesn't make an appearance in this.
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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)
