And here's some Sanskrit wordplay. http://swarajyamag.com/columns/verses-which-produce-magic-when-re-read/
I remember also being told of similar wordplay in old Kannada verses. Story goes that a king wanted to test the mettle of a poetess who arrived in his court. He gave her two unsavoury lines, and asked her to compose verses that included them (in ways that wouldn't offend, of course). Iliyam muri muridu thinnuthirpar (They were breaking mice and eating them) and Danavam kaDi kaDidu basadigoyyuthirpar (They were cutting up the cows and leading them into basadis, in this context Jain temples) And she cleverly ended the lines preceding each of them in such a way that the Iliyam became Chakk-iliyam (snack similar to murukku, instead of mice) and Chan-danavam (Sandalwood, instead of cows) On Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 9:29 AM, Namitha Jagadeesh <[email protected]> wrote: > Rajesh, I'm married to a non-Kannadiga who can't always master the L, so > he just refrains from using the word entirely :D > > There are plenty of puns within Indian languages too, I'm sure. Na > Kasturi, who `translated' Alice in Wonderland into Kannada, used all sorts > of local references and limericks to substitute the English word play. I > can't remember any from the book off the top of my head, but here's one > from my childhood. > > An old woman was selling lemons to a customer, who had just asked her how > much each one cost. At the same time, a man ran up to her and asked her if > she had seen his horse. The clever woman replied to both with just one > word. Na kaane > > Naak aane = 4 annas > Naa kaane = I haven't seen > > On Thu, Sep 24, 2015 at 9:21 AM, Rajesh Mehar <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> In Kannada (and many South Indian languages), there are two possible >> pronunciations of the sound corresponding to the English letter L. >> Wikipedia says these are called Retroflex Lateral Approximant and >> Retroflex >> Lateral Flap. Usually, while transliterating Kannada, they're written as l >> (as in shaale or school) and L (as in baaLe or banana). Many people who >> are >> unfamiliar with these sounds cannot pronounce the two differently. >> When you add to this the fact that heLu in Kannada means tell and helu >> means shit, there is scope for an abundance of beautiful toilet-humor-ey >> puns. Imagine the wrong pronounciations of "tell me now" or "tell me in my >> ear" or "tell me right here". >> > >
