# Non-English speaking Dopers: does the "my dog has no nose, how does it smell? Awful" joke work.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772 "2009-12-18T19:05:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/1 "2009-12-18T19:05:41Z")
… In your language? Seems to work in Spanish: > [@](#): > > Mi perro no tiene nariz. - > > ¿No tiene nariz? > > ¿Y como huele? > > ¡Horrible! I guess it would work well in languages where the same word is used for the verb and the noun. The idea for this thread came from watching the Spanish dubbing of the “28 Days Later” DVD. In the original English track, one of the characters says a joke that’s a play on words: “Hey you can’t leave that lying there!” The man says, “It’s not a lion, it’s a giraffe” They tranlated it to Spanish literally! They didn’t bother to even try to make it a joke. Obviously it’s not the same thing as the “nose” joke because they’re using a word that sounds simlar to another one. Anyways, does it work? ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/2 "2009-12-18T19:13:46Z")
Hindi has different words for each of the different meanings, so it won’t work. It even has different words for “smells good” and “smells bad”. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/3 "2009-12-18T19:16:31Z")
Japanese has multiple systems of writing. Kanji (Chinese characters) are a hieroglyphic writing system, but the other two are phonetic. Books, comics, and movie subtitles will often write the phonetic pronunciation of words written in kanji above or to the side of the word. > **[Furigana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furigana)** > > Furigana ('"\`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000000B-QINU\`"'振（ふ）り仮名（がな）, Japanese pronunciation: \[ɸɯɾigaꜜna\] or \[ɸɯɾigana\]) is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana (syllabic characters) printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known as yomigana (読み仮名) and rubi (ルビ, \[ɾɯꜜbi\]) in Japanese. In modern Japanese, it is usually used to gloss rare kanji, to clarify rare, nonstand... For jokes reliant on something of this sort, generally they’ll translate the line as-is but add furigana above the relevant words to indicate what’s going on. It’s not funny, but at least you get the idea. And no, smell/smell don’t work in Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/4 "2009-12-18T19:24:11Z")
> [@xash](#): > > Hindi has different words for each of the different meanings, so it won’t work. It even has different words for “smells good” and “smells bad”. English has “stinks”. Not sure if there’s a “smells good” word. Spanish has “apesta”. Not sure about a “smells good” word either. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/5 "2009-12-18T19:30:23Z")
> [@Livardo](#): > > English has “stinks”. Not sure if there’s a “smells good” word. Maybe “fragrant”, but it has a narrow definition. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/6 "2009-12-18T19:31:04Z")
[Works just fine in German](http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/hitler%27sdoggie.htm) ---
**Author:** ![toodlepip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@toodlepip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toodlepip)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/7 "2009-12-18T21:01:15Z")
Works in Norwegian. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/8 "2009-12-18T21:15:08Z")
The joke translates well to french. “Mon chien n’a pas de nez, comment sent-il? Horrible!” ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/9 "2009-12-18T21:25:01Z")
Works in Greek too: Ο σκύλος μου δέν έχει μύτη, πώς μυρίζει; Απαίσια! ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/10 "2009-12-18T21:49:39Z")
> [@Livardo](#): > > I guess it would work well in languages where the same word is used for the verb and the noun. I don’t think there’s a noun involved anywhere. “He smells” in English can either mean “He processes scents via his nose” or “He has an odor,” but in both cases, the word “smells” is a verb. It’s not a given that the same word will be used for both verb meanings, but it’s less of a stretch than a noun and a verb having the same spelling. One of my favorite bad direct translations was on a McDonald’s ad. They were advertising iced coffee, I think, and the English copy was something like “Ice to see you!” The Spanish was: “Hielo dice hola!” which is basically “Ice says hello!” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/11 "2009-12-18T21:59:30Z")
> [@Livardo](#): > > I guess it would work well in languages where the same word is used for the verb and the noun. Neither is a noun; one is a transitive verb, the other intransitive. ---
**Author:** ![Laalune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Laalune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laalune)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/12 "2009-12-18T23:31:47Z")
It works in Romanian. _Câinele meu nu are nas. Şi cum miroase? Îngrozitor!_ ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/13 "2009-12-19T00:17:22Z")
It doesn’t work in Russian. The verb “to smell” as in to perceive smells doesn’t really exist in Russian. Well, to be more precise it exists but I’ve never seen it or heard it used – “обонять”. There’s also a verb that means to inhale air with the goal of smelling it – “нюхать”. Both of these are not at all close to the verb which means to “emit a smell” – “пахнуть”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/14 "2009-12-19T04:55:16Z")
I wouldn’t use “horrible” for the Spanish, since it’s an adjective and not an adverb. You need an adverb there: “muy mal,” “fatal.” That doesn’t mean there aren’t places where “horrible” isn’t used as an adverb, just that it sounds strange to me. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/15 "2009-12-19T05:00:17Z")
You seriously think this joke “works,” even in English? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/16 "2009-12-19T05:16:27Z")
When I was a teen I came across Freud’s book about jokes and the subconscious. What amused my friend’s and I was that all the jokes were puns translated from German and made absolutely no sense in English. Our favorite was “In your haste to write the prescription for the Indian haven’t you made a mistake?” The German original ‘wie du dem Inder hast verschrieben, in der Hast verschrieben?’ So if someone told a poor joke, one of us would say “in der Hast verschrieben” and we would laugh uproariously while everyone else looked puzzled. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/17 "2009-12-19T05:32:31Z")
“Quick, call me a taxi!” “Okay, you’re a taxi!” No, not terribly funny, but it doesn’t work at all in German. Which made it a goofy inside joke between me and my girlfriend in college as we practiced our high school German on each other. Humor is pretty quirky, it is. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/18 "2009-12-19T06:58:58Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > You seriously think this joke “works,” even in English? :rolleyes: Jokes are, um, easily misconcieved. ESPECIALLY jokes, which cause new columns, columns, and that are more responses more disdainful than many of my own. Noted: Bros Mark and Ray. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/19 "2009-12-20T09:07:33Z")
Works in Danish: _“Min hund har ingen næse, hvordan lugter den? Forfærdeligt.”_ lugter=to smell, smelling badly ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772/20 "2009-12-20T12:08:31Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Jokes are, um, easily misconcieved. ESPECIALLY jokes, which cause new columns, columns, and that are more responses more disdainful than many of my own. > > Noted: Bros Mark and Ray. 😕 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-the-my-dog-has-no-nose-how-does-it-smell-awful-joke-work/521772.md?page=2)