# Are there puns that can still work after translation to a different language? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2024, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024 "2024-03-19T10:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/1 "2024-03-19T10:29:38Z")
I don’t mean so-called ‘bilingual puns’ where a foreign word is dropped into an English sentence (‘Look at that S-car go!’), but rather, puns or other similar wordplay where the meaning survives translation, even though the translated words are totally different. So for example, the joke: Q: How do you greet a snowman? A: Ice to meet you If this were translated to another language in the way I am looking for, we’d be looking for words synonymous with ‘ice’ in that language, that also sound similar to a key word in conventional greeting-type sentence in that language. Obviously this might be easier in languages where the words in question are cognates, so I suppose I’m especially interested in cases where that isn’t so. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/2 "2024-03-19T11:11:13Z")
Way back in my misspent youth, when I was studying the classics instead of messing around with sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll, we were translating one of the Greek tragedies, or maybe the Odyssey. In this passage, a goddess said to the hero that she was going to spoil him; the double-entendre of “spoil” meaning both “to treat lavishly” and “to ruin” was the same in both languages. I’m not sure if you’d consider a double-entendre to be a pun, but it’s all I’ve got for now. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/3 "2024-03-19T13:03:55Z")
Ages ago, when I was living in Budapest, there was a bicycle shop in the Castle district. In Hungarian, “bicycle” is _kerékpár_ and “castle” is _vár._ So they called themselves **Kerékvár**. They didn’t translate their name into English. But the pun also works in English! **Bicastle**. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/4 "2024-03-19T13:19:56Z")
There’s a meme that goes around on FB once and a while about a bilingual joke with a pun in both punchlines: Where do cats go when they die? Purr-gatory. ¿Adónde van los gatos cuando mueren? Pur-_gato_-rio Pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/5 "2024-03-19T13:24:55Z")
Quoting myself from about a decade ago: In the French-language movie **City of Lost Children** , the three main characters (One, Miette, and Kranc) have names with meaning in three different languages: One in English, “Miette” is “crumb” in French, and “Kranc” is “Sick” in German (I think). At one point, One has lost his tiny friend Miette and thinks she’s gone forever, so he’s drowning his sorrows in a bar, and a prostitute is trying to distract him. It’s working, until she says something (in English) like, “Well, you haven’t tried **me yet**!” and One moans, “Miette!” and starts to sob. It’s a brilliant bit of translation, because in French the character also says a sentence ending in the sounds “me yet,” so the pun in French also works in English. At some point, someone on the board tracked down a French script for the movie and found the exact line in French–but I’m having trouble finding where they did that. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/6 "2024-03-19T13:29:43Z")
That would work in French too: Ou vont les chats quand ils meurent ? PURRgatoire ! ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/7 "2024-03-19T14:51:38Z")
I don’t “get” the French version…? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/8 "2024-03-19T15:25:31Z")
It’s the same joke as in english…but I guess it doesn’t work if in French cats don’t “purr” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/9 "2024-03-19T15:30:23Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > That would work in French too: > > Ou vont les chats quand ils meurent ? > PURRgatoire ! I don’t think that works, because “purr” isn’t a French word, is it? I think French cats _ronron_. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/10 "2024-03-19T15:49:18Z")
What do you call the perfect Cinco de Mayo party? The “Fiesta Résistance”. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/11 "2024-03-19T16:33:25Z")
Hmm, for some reason I thought that ‘purr’ was a French onomatopoeia for the purring sound. But it’s more like ron-ron, so the pun doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/12 "2024-03-19T16:35:02Z")
PurGATOry! (spanish for cat is “gato?”), works too? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/13 "2024-03-19T16:47:24Z")
??? Did you read post 4? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/14 "2024-03-19T16:48:24Z")
Oh, sorry, no. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/15 "2024-03-19T17:20:48Z")
The closest I can think of (and I don’t think this fits the bill) is this English-Spanish joke: What do you call a January getaway? _Enero_ escape (where _Enero_ is Spanish for January). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/16 "2024-03-19T18:53:46Z")
You rang? 🙂 > [@How are puns and wordplay translated?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-puns-and-wordplay-translated/926560/41): > > Looks like [someone asked about this line on another message board](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/en-miettes.1056632/) twelve years ago. The best guess was “ils (ne) sont pas en miettes” = (figuratively) “they haven’t fallen apart yet.” (Literally, “they’re not in crumbs.”) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/17 "2024-03-19T19:44:00Z")
The pun in Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance Of Being Earnest” kinda works in the German title “Ernst sein ist alles” too, as “Ernst” is both a male first name and means earnestness or earnest. > **[The Importance of Being Earnest | In translation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest#In_translation)** > > The Importance of Being Earnest's popularity has meant it has been translated into many languages, though the homophonous pun in the title ("Ernest", a masculine proper name, and "earnest", the virtue of steadfastness and seriousness) poses a special problem for translators. The easiest case of a suitable translation of the pun, perpetuating its sense and meaning, may have been its translation into German. Since English and German are closely related languages, German provides an equivalent adjec... ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2024, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/18 "2024-03-20T08:18:55Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The pun in Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance Of Being Earnest” kinda works in the German title “Ernst sein ist alles” too, as “Ernst” is both a male first name and means earnestness or earnest. I’m pretty sure that in French the title is _L’Importance d’Être Constant_. Different first name, same idea. > [@zimaane](#): > > Ou vont les chats quand ils meurent ? > PURRgatoire ! As noted above, this doesn’t work, but the Spanish model does, more or less : _le purCHAToire_ > [@Mangetout](#): > > Q: How do you greet a snowman? > A: Ice to meet you Just for fun, I came up with this when I read the OP: _- Que dit-on à un bonhomme de neige que l’on rencontre pour la première fois ?_ _- Enneigé !_ (“snow-covered”) It kind of works because the first and last sounds are the same as the expected word and both have 3 syllables (_Enchanté_) but it’s… lame and not funny. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2024, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/19 "2024-03-20T08:33:13Z")
I wouldn’t say ‘lame and not funny’ necessarily disqualifies it; puns are often lame and unfunny. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024/20 "2024-03-20T15:46:53Z")
In Catalan they translated it as something like “L’importància d’èsser Frank”, with “Frank” being homonymous with the Catalan word “franc” that means “sincere”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-puns-that-can-still-work-after-translation-to-a-different-language/999024.md?page=2)