[lojban] Re: Language-independent humor

["Matt Arnold" <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On 7/1/06, Yanis Batura <ybatura@mail.ru> wrote:
> coi jbonei
>
> How do you estimate the percentage of language-independent humor in
> 'overall' English/American humor, say, in a jest-book or the like?
>
> My next letter will be an anecdote goi ko'a that retains its fun after
> translation to Lojban. The fun of ko'a is based on misinterpretation of a
> common word by people who put it each in his own context.
>
> mi'e .ianis.

I look forward to reading your anecdote.

I think it's beyond our reach to collect and count enough samples of
humor to get a statistically-signifigant answer about how much of it
is language-dependent. So, we don't really have an answer for you.

We were just talking about this subject in the last Lojban meeting at
my house. This joke by Ellen Degeneres would come out in any language
just fine:

"Walking is good for your health. My elderly grandmother started
walking when she was 18.

We don't know where the heck she is."

-epkat


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