How do you turn a piece of paper into a lazy dog in three steps?
Q: How do you turn a piece of paper into a lazy dog in three steps?
A: A piece of paper is an ink-lined plane, an inclined plane is a slope up, a slow pup is a lazy dog.
*rimshot*
Okay, so I like puns. I'm irrationally amused by them. More than I should be, I think. And in my English-French translation class today, we discussed how to translate things like advertising slogans, because they often have word play and cultural references and such that may not physically exist in the language/culture you're translating to.
Some of my favourites from the list were:
"If I only have one life, let me live it as a blonde" (For hair colouring) I think that we ended up coming up with a pun in Québecois French with "blonde" (the hair colour) and "blonde", as in "ma blonde", which is slang for my girlfriend.
"Let the train take the strain" (for some British rail company). I think one of the guys in my group came up with "Pour n'avoir rien à craindre, prenez le train-dre", which translates, roughly, to "So you have nothing to worry about, take the train", except the word for train has a verb ending tacked onto the end of it so it rimes with "craindre" (to worry). It would never actually fly, but the way that he said it, waggling his eyebrows? Funny as hell.
We didn't get to this one, but I love it: "It sits as lightly on a heavy meal as it does on your conscience." (for Jell-O)
We did get into this class-wide argument on how to translate Taco Bell's slogan "Think outside the bun." Clearly, it's a play on the expression "Think outside the box", telling consumers to think beyond hamburgers and think about tacos. We trashed the original slogan altogether, in my group, translating it as "C'est comme une fiesta dans ta bouche" (It's like a fiesta in your mouth!). A couple groups tried to translate it directly, but used the word "pain" (bread) which had us all descend into arguments, because "bread" doesn't immediately bring to mind hamburgers, right? Especially not in France. And then our prof said the most hilarious line (maybe you had to have been there and heard it said). He was saying that no, the girl's proposed translation would never work, because her word choice didn't convey "la réalité du 'bun.'" He said exactly what it sounds like - it didn't convey "the reality of 'buns'", like, hamburger buns have abstract connotations circling around them that invoke certain feelings and thoughts, and yeah, it's true, but he said it so seriously everyone started laughing. XD
Anyway, I don't have a picture that's thematically appropriate for this post, so here, have a picture of some Olympic athletes running with scissors:
A: A piece of paper is an ink-lined plane, an inclined plane is a slope up, a slow pup is a lazy dog.
*rimshot*
Okay, so I like puns. I'm irrationally amused by them. More than I should be, I think. And in my English-French translation class today, we discussed how to translate things like advertising slogans, because they often have word play and cultural references and such that may not physically exist in the language/culture you're translating to.
Some of my favourites from the list were:
"If I only have one life, let me live it as a blonde" (For hair colouring) I think that we ended up coming up with a pun in Québecois French with "blonde" (the hair colour) and "blonde", as in "ma blonde", which is slang for my girlfriend.
"Let the train take the strain" (for some British rail company). I think one of the guys in my group came up with "Pour n'avoir rien à craindre, prenez le train-dre", which translates, roughly, to "So you have nothing to worry about, take the train", except the word for train has a verb ending tacked onto the end of it so it rimes with "craindre" (to worry). It would never actually fly, but the way that he said it, waggling his eyebrows? Funny as hell.
We didn't get to this one, but I love it: "It sits as lightly on a heavy meal as it does on your conscience." (for Jell-O)
We did get into this class-wide argument on how to translate Taco Bell's slogan "Think outside the bun." Clearly, it's a play on the expression "Think outside the box", telling consumers to think beyond hamburgers and think about tacos. We trashed the original slogan altogether, in my group, translating it as "C'est comme une fiesta dans ta bouche" (It's like a fiesta in your mouth!). A couple groups tried to translate it directly, but used the word "pain" (bread) which had us all descend into arguments, because "bread" doesn't immediately bring to mind hamburgers, right? Especially not in France. And then our prof said the most hilarious line (maybe you had to have been there and heard it said). He was saying that no, the girl's proposed translation would never work, because her word choice didn't convey "la réalité du 'bun.'" He said exactly what it sounds like - it didn't convey "the reality of 'buns'", like, hamburger buns have abstract connotations circling around them that invoke certain feelings and thoughts, and yeah, it's true, but he said it so seriously everyone started laughing. XD
Anyway, I don't have a picture that's thematically appropriate for this post, so here, have a picture of some Olympic athletes running with scissors: