One of my favorite puns ever was not in any spoken language. I’ve written already of how I lived in a Pulaar village that occasionally had Peuhl visitors, nomads coming in from the Sahara (or technically, the very northern edge of the Sahel. Sure looked like Sahara to me.)
These people speak two dialects of the same language, so I was able to converse with Peuhls, at some level, in Pulaar. The Pulaar people in the village were devout moslems. The Peuhl, generally speaking, not so much. The people in that part of the world smoke tobacco in these tiny pipes made of pewter. (Just looking at them hurts my teeth.) It was during Ramadan. The people in my village all observed the dawn-til-dusk fast, and those who were smokers gave up tobacco for the month. A very-intense young Peuhl came into my neighbor’s yard (where “yard” == “sandbox”) and I sat down to chat with him. After a while he reached into his robe, pulled out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, and lit it. I asked him, “Oh, you’re not fasting?” He gave me a withering look, then spit on the ground. [1.] jrs 1. During Ramadan people spit all the time. This is so they won’t inadvertently break their fast by swallowing their saliva. But also, in that culture, as in many, spitting is a sign of contempt. > On Sep 17, 2015, at 2:16 PM, Vinayak Hegde <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 5:05 AM, Thaths <[email protected]> wrote: >> What are your favorite puns in languages that are not English? > > Saw this on twitter[1] the other day and had a good laugh. > > Wife: Badla Lungi. > Husband: Marathit bollis ka Hindit? > > -- Vinayak > > 1. https://twitter.com/bombaylives/status/642612961421365249 > ps: Translation > What the wife said = > In Hindi it means - I shall have my vengeance. > In Marathi - Change the 'lungi' - Lungi is a sarong-like garment > wrapped around the waist and work on lower abdomen > > What the husband said : Are you talking in Hindi or Marathi ? (in Marathi) >
