That joke used to work in English.
By c. 1300, of things, “to come into physical contact with, join by touching or uniting with;” also, of persons, “come together by approaching from the opposite direction; come into collision with, combat.”
Comment on Anon experiences German humor
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
In case people are wondering: it’s indeed a german joke.
It’s a pun. “meet” and “hit” are using the same word in german
That joke used to work in English.
By c. 1300, of things, “to come into physical contact with, join by touching or uniting with;” also, of persons, “come together by approaching from the opposite direction; come into collision with, combat.”
That’s why translation can be so hard, especially for poems, songs, comedy etc. Double meanings, metaphors, rhymes etc are often lost when translated.
In some cases you can replace a pun with another pun that works in the target language.
In other cases, where you’re translating a religious text, doing something for scholarly reasons, or otherwise think your audience would really like to know what’s going on in a text you have to add a translation note.
I only understand train station.
So it’s a misstranslated joke then. With that information it’s kinda funny or at least it makes sense.
More like untranslatable, as the context just doesn’t work in English. You either have something that doesn’t make sense or - if you use the other meaning - a statement with no humor. The pun is completely dependent on the German phrasing.
treffen.
GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Come to think of it, that’s a thing in Swedish as well - we could make the pun work there as well:
Två jägare träffades. Båda dog.
SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Båda dog! Båda dog! No Treåt
(I know å is pronounced like “eu” like in Blåhaj)
GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
For it to match Swedish phonetic rules, it would have to be:
Bäd dågg! Bäd dågg! Nåu trit!
SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Oh true my bad, thank you!
Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
Wouldn’t it be “Nåo trit”?
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 2 months ago
A Båda dog once bit my sister… No realli!
deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 months ago
My hovercraft is full of eels!
Taalnazi@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Works in Dutch too.
Twee jagers treffen elkaar. Beiden zijn dood.