# Foreign humor you just don't get **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 17, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410 "2009-04-17T13:45:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/1 "2009-04-17T13:45:40Z")
Umberto Eco had an interesting take on comedy and tragedy. Both are takes on some sort of social taboo being broken. When the taboo is shared by every society on earth, it’s tragedy. Even if it’s not universal, the plot can set up the taboo, and then when it’s broken, tragedy ensues. But comedy is far more specific to a culture. What is funny in Botswana may not translate so well to Sweden. Sure, the taboo can be explained to set it all up, but that’s like explaining the joke before delivering the punchline. It drains it of humor. Basically, comedy doesn’t translate well. Ever run across this? Back when Macs were just starting to come of age, I worked at a language school. One of the Mac functions was Macro. A couple of French guys thought that was hilarious. They would see that word and giggle like schoolboys. None of the rest of us got it. I asked them to explain it, and they looked at me like I was a moron. “Macro!” Huh? “You know, Macro!” Sorry, not getting through. “Macro, like the fish!” Buh? “Mackerel!” And? Apparently, in France, mackerel is slang for a slimy guy. A cheat, a scoundrel, a liar. Like a jackoff. It would be like Americans seeing a computer command called jakov. Oh. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/2 "2009-04-17T15:07:07Z")
The word’s slang in America, too, from the same origin. Except here, it’s a bit more positive. “Mack-Daddy.” ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/3 "2009-04-18T03:06:30Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > The word’s slang in America, too, from the same origin. Except here, it’s a bit more positive. “Mack-Daddy.” That’s ridiculous; _macking_, in American (originally African-American) slang, is flirting or making out, and has nothing to do with mackerel. A mack daddy is a man of uncommon smoothness and success with women. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/4 "2009-04-18T03:25:46Z")
Why do you say so confidently that “mack daddy” has nothing to do with mackerel? The [Oxford English Dictionary](http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00328189?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=mack+daddy&first=1&max_to_show=10) says otherwise (i.e., that the African-American slang term “macking” does probably ultimately derive from “mackerel”). ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/5 "2009-04-18T03:29:37Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Why do you say so confidently that “mack daddy” has nothing to do with mackerel? The [Oxford English Dictionary](http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00328189?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=mack+daddy&first=1&max_to_show=10) says otherwise (i.e., that the African-American slang term “macking” does probably ultimately derive from “mackerel”). Well, that explains one of the Kingfish’s catch phrases from Amos ‘n’ Andy, “Holy Mack’rell!” ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/6 "2009-04-18T03:34:51Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Apparently, in France, mackerel is slang for a slimy guy. A cheat, a scoundrel, a liar. Like a jackoff. I believe it can also mean a pimp. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/7 "2009-04-18T03:36:38Z")
Yes, quite right, which is the original sense of the English word “mack” under discussion as well (partially because the use in English was influenced by the French). ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/8 "2009-04-18T07:48:25Z")
Would those with the coin to subscribe to OED Online please not rub us po’ folkses’ noses in it by posting links we can’t follow? Yes, “mack” was also used in English the same way “maquereau” is used in French, but without a list of continuous references leading to modern use in urban America, I’m not going to believe you or the OED; not that a bit of archaic London slang that disappeared in 1700 suddenly got adopted 200 years later by Black musicians. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/9 "2009-04-18T07:56:42Z")
The OED suggests that the 20th century re-appearance was fashioned as a calque on the extant French term, which hardly seems outlandish. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/10 "2009-04-18T18:07:14Z")
Isn’t the example in the OP just a pun (_macro_ and _maquereau_), which obviously doesn’t translate? (In a similar vein, I heard a legend that the reason they didn’t borrow the word _computer_ was because it had _con_ and _pute_ in it.) I thought this was going to be something like the thread we had a little while ago about not getting German humour, even when it didn’t rely on puns and such. There also seems to be a big divide in North America between people who don’t get British comedy at all and those who think it’s the funniest thing ever. Or the fact that stand-up comedy doesn’t seem to play at all well in France in general, but it’s so popular in Quebec that we have one of the world’s largest comedy festivals. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/11 "2009-04-18T19:00:07Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Isn’t the example in the OP just a pun (_macro_ and _maquereau_), which obviously doesn’t translate? (In a similar vein, I heard a legend that the reason they didn’t borrow the word _computer_ was because it had _con_ and _pute_ in it.) Ha, maybe. The word “ordinateur” was created by IBM during the fifties; I don’t know why they chose that and not “computeur”. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/12 "2009-04-18T19:15:46Z")
I’m always skeptical of this kind of thing, but a couple months ago I went on an economic development tour of Detroit and when we went down Mack Avenue, our tour guide informed us that Back In The Day, this was the red light district and is the source of the slang word “macking”. So, another version of where that word comes from. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/13 "2009-04-18T20:19:22Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I’m always skeptical of this kind of thing, but a couple months ago I went on an economic development tour of Detroit and when we went down Mack Avenue, our tour guide informed us that Back In The Day, this was the red light district and is the source of the slang word “macking”. Except that I’ve always read that prostitutes never kiss. In the 70’s Los Angeles city schools saw a large influx of Iranian students. They thought that the widely advertised boxing match of Holmes vs. Cooney was the funniest thing ever. The gang bangers and pseudo-gang bangers used to all call each other “holms” (short for homeboy) and “cooney” in the Persian word for asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/14 "2009-04-18T21:08:28Z")
I had trouble with the Brit-Coms but once you watch enough of them you get the jokes and it kind of falls in line ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/15 "2009-04-18T23:02:06Z")
This is sort of the reverse, but once in Spain my roommate and I were watching “Frasier” on TV dubbed in Spanish. In the episode, Tony Shalhoub played a man in a focus group who did not respond positively to Frasier’s radio show. Frasier becomes obsessed with the man and finally tracks him to his newsstand to demand an explanation. Shalhoub’s character, intimidated, responds meekly, “I’m sorry I don’t like you.” At this point, I laughed along with the laugh track. My roommate stared at me in puzzlement and asked me why that was funny. I couldn’t explain, it just was! We both agreed that this must be American humor that just doesn’t translate. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/16 "2009-04-19T03:19:41Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > At this point, I laughed along with the laugh track. My roommate stared at me in puzzlement and asked me why that was funny. I couldn’t explain, it just was! We both agreed that this must be American humor that just doesn’t translate. Are you sure they got the subtitles correct? I’m only asking because I used to watch a lot of subtitled TV in Bulgaria and the unbelievably bad subtitling has made me never want to watch anything in a language I don’t speak ever again. Worst example: I saw an ad for the TV show _Californication_ a thousand times that involved David Duchovny yelling “I hate my life!” Subtitle, as translated by moi: “I hate my _wife_.” SRSLY. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/17 "2009-04-19T11:05:24Z")
[http://www.word-detective.com/011107A.html](http://www.word-detective.com/011107A.html) If it helps, here’s the origin of Mack-Daddy itself. The Word Detective appears to agree with the OED on the origin of mac-mackerel. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/18 "2009-04-19T12:14:53Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > This is sort of the reverse, but once in Spain my roommate and I were watching “Frasier” on TV dubbed in Spanish. In the episode, Tony Shalhoub played a man in a focus group who did not respond positively to Frasier’s radio show. Frasier becomes obsessed with the man and finally tracks him to his newsstand to demand an explanation. Shalhoub’s character, intimidated, responds meekly, “I’m sorry I don’t like you.” > > At this point, I laughed along with the laugh track. My roommate stared at me in puzzlement and asked me why that was funny. I couldn’t explain, it just was! We both agreed that this must be American humor that just doesn’t translate. It was Tony Shalhoub’s delivery! I remember that episode, and I thought he was hysterical. His accent combined with his earnest deadpan were giggle-worthy. My husband and I sometimes repeat his line “I think you are a smarty-pants”, trying to capture his accent and demeanour, and laugh. Regarding puns and computers, I know I and all the other secretaries at my then law firm giggled like oafs when we were first asked to put our hands on a “Wang”. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/19 "2009-04-19T13:27:29Z")
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!.. Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput! ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410/20 "2009-04-19T17:07:47Z")
_dies laughing_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-humor-you-just-dont-get/493410.md?page=2)