trb (03/11/83)
"Garcia y Vega" is a cigar manufacturer. That means "Thanks for the car" in Spanish. Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491
rb (03/11/83)
The way I heard it, "out of sight, out of mind" became "invisible idiot".
ljm (03/11/83)
My favorite story along these lines comes from IBM: Origonally, the IBM System/32 was to be called the System/42. However, IBM marketing types in Japan noted that the transliteration of "42" to Japenese yielded a not-so-nice comment about one's mother(or something - any Japanese out there please feel free to elucidate). Hence, the change of number...
jim (03/11/83)
When I was but a tiny tot, my father had a book called "Fractured French" which was full of interlingual puns. A few of them I still remember. Unfortunately, my keyboard doesn't have all the necessary accent marks, but here are a two of them: French English Translation Coup de grace Mow the lawn S'il vous plait Not sterling
palmer (03/12/83)
There is a book out written in Pseudo-French called "Mot d'Heures, Grosses Rames" (Book of the hours, branch and leaf) or something like that. Read the title in French to figure out what it is about. It is a book of poems, the first of which goes: Un Petite, d'Un Petite Un petite, d'un petite, S'etonne aux Halles, Un petite, d'un petite, A! Degree tes a fallent... Which, in french, is pronounced similarly to Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall... The book is written by someone called Luis d'Antin Van Rooten (sp) and may still be available at book stores. David Palmer
gh (03/12/83)
I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned "macaronic verse" -- verse which appears to be in one language, but which is actually in another. The best known of these is probably "Mots d'heure: gousses, rames" by Luis d'Antin van Rooten (still in print, published by Penguin, $2.95). I believe this was the first such collection; it has been widely imitated in many languages. The book purports to be a collection of French poems, complete with scholarly annotations on the literal French. However, if read out loud with a bad French accent, they become something quite different! A sample is given below. I won't give away its secret; anyone stumped by it can mail me for the answer. The book's title gives a further clue. (NB: You have to know French to understand the humor in the footnotes. But even if you don't, try speaking the poem, and seeing if you can "get" it.) Graeme Hirst, Brown University Computer Science !decvax!brunix!gh gh.brown@udel-relay OH, LES MOTS D'HEUREUX BARDES Oh, les mots d'heureux bardes Ou` en toutes heures que partent. [1] Tous guetteurs pour dock a` Beaune. [2] Besoin gigot d'air De que paroisse paire. [3] Et ne pour dock, pet-de-nonne. [4] NOTES: 1. Minstrels were no doubt a happy lot, and it is not surprising that France, a cradle of wit and culture, could turn them out in such numbers that they came and went on an almost predictable schedule. 2. Beaune: Town in the Cote-d'Or, pop. 11,000, famed for its wines and mustard. It does not have a port; therefore, why should one watch its docks? Certainly, it does not have any particular renown as a center of contraband. 3. This must refer to the Cote-d'Or, a peerless parish indeed, rich in some of the finest vintages of France, and if we are to believe the previous line, a great lambing country. 4. Pet-de-nonne: An extremely light and fluffy pastry. Although any decent housewife would ask for them without hesitation at her favorite patisserie, decency forbids a direct translation here.
jss (03/12/83)
Posted on the wall of a public swimming pool, of all places: Ocibili, si ergo, Fortibuses in Ero. O Nobili, emar trux, Summa causan summa dux. I was wed before I figured it out. Better luck in the dry... judith
jss (03/12/83)
In my previous submission on Dog Latin, I seem to have said "I was wed..." That was an unexpected machine translation of what I really said, which was "I was waterlogged..." wonder how THAT will come through?? j
donath (03/13/83)
Another book that would be of interest to anyone who likes interlingual puns is Vladimir Nabokov's Ada. While it has (in my opinion) a good deal of literary merit aside from its humorous use of language, it is also filled with puns in French, English, Russian and combinations thereof. judy d
rlr (03/14/83)
This is taken from a previous article about the choice of name for the IBM System/32 (originally System/42): However, IBM marketing types in Japan noted that the transliteration of "42" to Japanese yielded a not-so-nice comment about one's mother(or something - any Japanese out there please feel free to elucidate). What is it about this number 42????????? Rich
dave (03/14/83)
There is a highly entertaining book entitled Mots d'Heures, Gousses, Ra^mes which I used to have (I gave it away, unfortunately). It appears to be a highly academic publication of some old French manuscripts. Each manuscript is accompanied by extensive footnotes which amount to a translation of the French, with explanations. The manuscripts just barely make sense, when explained by the footnotes. Of course, the book is nothing but transliterations of Mother Goose Rhymes. For example: Un petit, d'un petit, s'etonne a volle Un petit, d'un petit, a d'un grand folle I recommend this book to anyone with some knowledge of French and a good sense of humour. Dave Sherman Toronto
dave (03/14/83)
Then, of course, there's the old Latin standard (that everyone who took Latin should remember): Semper Ubi Sub Ubi. Non petrificatus ut nomen scripsam, Dave Sherman Toronto
mat (03/16/83)
It is my understanding that Prof. Peter Schickle has discovered a number of puns of this sort in the works of PDQ Bach. No, I haven't got any references. -Mark Terribile Duke of DeNet
tims (03/16/83)
(Not really a pun.) Italian and Latin are closely-related languages, no? Here's a sentence that means one (prosaic) thing in Italian, and another quite different (if slightly strange) thing in Latin: I VITELLI DEI ROMANI SONO BELLI. Italian: Roman calves are beautiful. Latin: Go, Vitellius, to the sound of the war of the Roman gods. (Let's see...have we killed this interlingual pun business?)
gh (03/16/83)
A point for those who, upon reading Judy Donath's note, go out in search of a copy of "Ada" by Vladimir Nabokov: Some editions of the book, but not all, have a set of notes at the back by Nabokov, in which he explains some of the more complex puns, etc. -- very useful for those who are not fluently trilingual. The Penguin edition is one of those with the notes. Graeme Hirst, Brown University Computer Science !decvax!brunix!gh gh.brown@udel-relay
death (03/16/83)
Interlingual puns may be found in "The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach" which includes references to such places as Wein am Rhein, and august personages as the music publisher "Boozey" Hawkes and the then-world-famous bargain-counter-tenor Enrico Carouso, whose inablity to father children made him especially popular with the women. -=- death -=-