tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 03 15:19:13 2004

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Re: MSN jabbI'ID labwI' lo'wI'pu'

cheesbro ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

>>The problem with this classic joke is that you can't translate it
>>ambiguously.
>>
>>    Yesterday I shot a bear wearing my pajamas.
>>    (Why he was wearing my pajamas, I'll never know!)
>>
>>Since Klingon verbs are declined, you have to be specific:
>>
>>    wa'Hu' nIvnavwIj tuQtaHvIS mIl'oDDaq jIbach.
>>    Yesterday I shot a sabre bear while (it was) wearing my pajamas.
>>
>>    wa'Hu' nIvnavwIj vItuQtaHvIS mIl'oDDaq jIbach.
>>    Yesterday I shot a sabre bear while (I was) wearing my pajamas.
>>
>>Although the first version is certainly amusing, it lacks the double entendre.
>
>D'oH!  It just occurred to me that the way to preserve most of the joke is 
>to change the actor, and thus the ambiguity, from the speaker to someone else:
>
>   wa'Hu' nIvnavDaj tuQtaHvIS mIl'oDDaq bach jIlwIj.
>   Yesterday my neighbor shot a sabre bear while (it/he was)
>   wearing his pajamas.
>
>   qatlh nIvnavDaj tuQ mIl'oD?  not jISov!
>   Why was the bear wearing his pajamas?  I'll never know!
>
>It's almost the same joke, though you do have to think about if for a minute.


HolQeD 4:2, pg 5,6 MO tells us:
>>>
...that old Groucho Marx joke, you know, "I just shot an elephant in my 
pajamas... and how he got in my pajamas I'll never know."  You can say that in 
Klingon, no problem; they'll get the joke.  There's not many jokes you can get 
to translate into Klingon, but that one would work."
<<<


DloraH

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