From LOJBAN%CUVMB.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Sat Mar 6 22:52:20 2010 Received: from YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU by MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Wed, 14 Apr 1993 10:38:00 -0400 Received: from CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU by YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 4538; Wed, 14 Apr 93 10:37:37 EDT Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Mailer R2.07) with BSMTP id 3953; Wed, 14 Apr 93 10:34:10 EST Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1993 00:32:55 +1000 Reply-To: Nick Nicholas Sender: Lojban list From: Nick Nicholas Subject: Re: A (Lame) Joke in Loglan X-To: cowan@SNARK.THYRSUS.COM X-Cc: Lojban Mailing List To: Erik Rauch In-Reply-To: from "John Cowan" at Apr 13, 93 05:05:17 pm Status: OR X-From-Space-Date: Thu Apr 15 10:32:55 1993 X-From-Space-Address: @YaleVM.YCC.YALE.EDU:LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET Message-ID: <2rOOJooIF0J.A.4H.k00kLB@chain.digitalkingdom.org> The Seraphim surely rejoiced when John Cowan spoke thus: I'll add my conjectured translation. }James Jennings writes: }> Hoi Raban, kae, } doi romeis. tu'e[?] Heeeey, everybody [noone DARE say it's Howdy Doody time :) ] }> Hu namci lo datliamao gandia lo logli? } ma cmene loi denlingau galctu loi lobypli Whaddaya call a orthodontics[?] professor [balctu] in Loglan? }> Lo ditka ditca. } .i loi batci ctuca A 'Teach You 'To Chew 'Teacher! ["'" indicates stress] }> (soi punkra) } sei[?] kixycro (Ouch!) }Now perhaps I am dense, but this joke seems to me so feeble that I don't }get the point at all. Can anybody elucidate it? To quote Filthy (or was it Rich or Claptrap?) from the BBC comedy series of the same names, "I got it; I just didn't think it was funny." {ditka ditca}'s alliteration is the only punchline you'll get out of this. There are similar jokes in English, pun-based, but they require a pun; this is not a pun, but soundplay. I wouldn't sneeze at it; it's the only way I was able to translate the puns in the Colossal Cave game (which will come out in Lojban sometime this millenium, I presume? :) . But it needs a proper set-up, and, as seems typical with Loglan {nu jvozba}, that's too much to hope for here... I don't know what {denlingau} is about (braces?), and {galctu}, for either professor or high school teacher, is... well. Liberal, shall I say... Nick, wondering whether his Lojban analyser should implement database queries... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Nick S. Nicholas, "Rode like foam on the river of pity CogSci & CompSci student, Turned its tide to strength University of Melbourne, Australia. Healed the hole that ripped in living" nsn@{munagin.ee|mundil.cs}.mu.oz.au - Suzanne Vega, Book Of Dreams ______________________________________________________________________________