Loving this thread! John, yours was really cool. One of my favourite bilingual puns plays with Kannada and English words.
What do you say to a rabbit at your door? Bunny (banni= come in, in Kannada) What do you say to a really tall rabbit at your door? Bugs bunny (Bags banni = bend your head and come in) On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 8:05 PM, John Sundman <[email protected]> wrote: > 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) > > > > >
