# Cell Block Tango **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 28, 1999, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017 "1999-06-28T01:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 1999, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/1 "1999-06-28T01:47:00Z")
## There’s a number in the musical _Chicago_ called _The Cell Block Tango_. Six women are telling the stories of how and why they killed their husbands/lovers. One character, Hunyak tells her story in another language. I’d try to translate it, but I don’t even know what language it is. What she says (according to the liner notes) is: ## Mit keresek, en itt? Azt mondjok, hogy a hires lakem lefogta a ferjemet en meg lecsaptam a fejet. De nem igaz, en artatlan vagyok. Nem tudom mert mondja Uncle Sam hogy en tettem. Probaltam a rendorsegen megmagyaranzi de nem ertettek meg… Does anyone know what language this is or how I could find out? I’ve been curious about this for a good long time. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 1999, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/2 "1999-06-28T02:16:00Z")
Strange, I always thought it was Italian, but that’s obviously not. * * * The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. – Henry David Thoreau ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 1999, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/3 "1999-06-28T03:28:00Z")
Hungarian. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 1999, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/4 "1999-06-28T04:35:00Z")
I put it into a translator (Hungarian to English) and this is how it translated: > [@](#): > > _Mit_ searches, _en_ here? That term, that the _hires lakem_ clinches the _ferjemet en_ plus precipitate the his head. But it’s untrue, _en artatlan_ am. I don’t know _mert_ term Uncle Sam that _en_ it made it. _Probaltam_ the _rendorsegen megmagyaranzi_ but not _ertettek_ plus… It’s not very clear, and the parts in italics didn’t translate at all, but I guess that’s what I get for using an online translator. * * * The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. – Henry David Thoreau ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 1999, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/5 "1999-06-28T22:35:00Z")
OK, I found a few more words. I can sort of make out the gist of it. Of course, I still can’t figure out how she killed her husband, which is what I really wanted to know in the first place. But that’s the way it goes, I guess. * * * What searches, en here? That term, that the famous _lakem_ clinches my husband _en_ plus precipitate the his head. But it’s untrue, I innocent am. I don’t know _mert_ term Uncle Sam that _en_ it made it. _Probaltam_ the _rendorsegen megmagyaranzi_ but not _ertettek_ plus… * * * Now if that doesn’t clear it up, I don’t know what does. Incidentally, jens, how did you know it was Hungarian? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 1999, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/6 "1999-06-29T19:15:00Z")
It looked Hungarian to me, but then it might have been Turkish. I have seen a bit of both languages, but know only a few words of each, not enough to distinguish. So I did a web search on a bunch of the words from the message, and every hit was from \*.hu. That clinched it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/7 "1999-07-02T03:26:00Z")
Slugtastic: > [@](#): > > Incidentally, jens, how did you know it was Hungarian? And, of course, Hunyak looks and sounds a lot like the derogatory term for Hungarians that is (often but not always) spelled Hunyock. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 1999, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/8 "1999-07-02T22:53:00Z")
I just want to know what “precipitating his head” means. It sounds really, really painful. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 1999, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-block-tango/2017/9 "1999-07-18T05:16:00Z")
Just saw _Chicago_ tonight. She is Hungarian, she was charged with the ax murder of her husband.