OT: Northern Europe Pun

Mine was certainly, I thought, perfectly clear! Please read it again - then tell yourself that if YOU can misunderstand a simple statement like the one I made, it`s very, very easy for someone whose first language is not English to misinterpret it. ;-))

Pat P

Those kind of make sense to me - I've been absorbing a German take on humor for years now..

Cheryl

Lucretia , i feel that i answered Tegan in a more polite way than she wrote to me. The subject was dealt with several days ago, she reopened

it for no obvious reason , unless she wanted to have a debate or flame. As to Pat , She knows very well that saying i lost it in the translation is a stupid remark ,,, as far as i know i haven`t read this in anyother language but English,, and i didn`t find it funny , and that was all i said. And it could be left at that. Dwelling and developing it into a debate or fight , or what ever you calll this, doesn`t show nice intentions.

Nobody said Hell is a forbidden word yet it is unkind to say such a thing about any place . And if Kids in schools are going further in their word use , does it mean we have to play along. Maybe you Didn`t realize it But this is a Changed world, And A GREAT DEAL of the Terror war leans on use of words . Becuase it is a Cultural war. About the Offense one part of the world feels about the use of words.[amomgst other things] And let me assure you , the other side that is not your`s is far better in it. You don`t listen to the other side enough. It is Now 5 years after 9/11 , the tapes that were broadcasted after the tragic fall of the Towers, Said a lot about the why they did it and that they plan to go on with their fight , `till there won`t be any more Planes in the air and high rising buildings standing. Maybe , even you noticed that indeed many acts of terror are aimed at international flights , tourist resorts etc.

This NG made a very impressive Memorial Work , for those who died. Which i respected, and i also wrote here when you finnished it But , wouldn`t it be also very productive for your future to learn the conclusions, the first of which is , that even if this is mainly an English Speaking Ng,,,It isn`t your property, it is an INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC place. Would you go into a Market and shout offensive words against some of the people there ? . This is a Public Market place or Plaza. You are a grown up , not a child, Behave here as you would while visiting a Plaza in an unknown to you city. mirjam

Hehehe. And I thought mine was, too. I guess it goes to show how easily the written word can be misinterpreted/misunderstood/misconstrued/misread. I said nothing about misunderstanding you, and don't believe I have. I read your statement carefully before my original post and just now. I'm not disagreeing with you; I think you are correct that meanings can be lost in translation. Would you agree that there are times when the joke is completely understood and is just not amusing the the hearer?

Yeah it's also kind of which country you live in, the tolerance of 'humor' is different. Of course this is an international forum and there is a common courtesy, but then there is also a wide variety of tolerance. I live in a town called Hellerup, which in Danish is harmless ('Heller up', directly translated means 'Rather up' so it's all in the translation. If I didn't translate then it might be construed differently.There is always a risk of someone getting offended.

LOL! We`re making a right old hash of this between us, aren`t we? And yes, I certainly agree with that. In that event I just say "I don`t think that`s funny" and usually explain why, if I really have to. Sometimes it`s better to do that or the teller may take your silence as enjoyment and subject you to further "non funny" jokes.

Pat P

" snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

No just pointing out that if one is participating in a thread, then there is a post without any reference, it makes life difficult. This is not a board where the posts appear directly below each other, they can appear in totally different order depending on many things.

No, I was stating a fact. There was no quoted text, I answered but was not sure whether I was answering you responding to something I said, or others said. I was correct, you were not responding to what I said, but I had no way of knowing.

IF, however, you were stating essentially the

I saw no need whatsoever for any harshness. I merely said to you that different people, on different days, or different occasions, even before one begins on different languages, will see humour differently. Humour usually does not translate easily, I have lived in countries where I watched people collapse in gales of laughter over something that left me wondering. That's the way the world turns.

snipped-for-privacy@actcom.co.il (Mirjam Bruck-Cohen),in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Mirjam - how your mind goes from a pun about Helsinki to the WTC and the Firehouse Angel is totally beyond me!

Thank you for your note TEGAN Not being Christian at all , i just watch and read about the beliefs connected with Hell , but i am concerned with interaction of cultures. I will not debate over what both of us think is open minded, or not,i assume each of us is open minded in her own way. I was surprised that you started the subject again. We hear more and more about places who `go back` to the older names. Whenever i see or hear a new [to me ] name whether it is a private , family or place name, i ask the person what it means, in their language. Usually it gives a lesson in history or language, that adds some miniscule points of knowledge, about other cultures. If people make puns about their own place , name or situation it is ok , but i never joke about another`s person`s place, or name or situation. Hence i didn`t miss your point about you dealing with puns about the state you live in. But you yourself said that you deal with it and don`t get offended, you didn`t say you enjoyed it ,,, And as i wrote/said , it is not my nature to do so. I also wasn`t offended by your remark of me not having a sense of humour, while you complimented my being an artist, and my ability to live under uneasy conditions. This uneasy conditions, make us extremely realistic , straight forward people , but also require some sort of humour. You might notice that as the discussion developes here people start to agree that humour might be different even for the same person , in other times. The remarks about a joke going lost in translation , might be relevant only if it was told in a langugae i didn`t speak . Since this was plain English and the pun had nothing to do with being translated. i felt i could say ididn`t fund it funny. Thank you very much for this letter and your thoughts . It was much nicer that being jumped at with your first letter. mirjam

Well, forgive me for having had a few busy days where logging on and reading rctn was not a high priority! It might have been old news to you, but it wasn't to me. From now on I'll be sure and check the date before I even think about responding to anything anyone has posted. Will that do?

As I said, your response just irked me, so I responded. Shame on me. I'll be sure and whine to the cat and not actually post anything again.

Tegan

I'll agree to just about everything else in the interest of making peace. However... I've had an extremely hectic week and so had not logged on the rctn for a while. I didn't notice the date on the original post, nor any others. It may have been old news to you, but it was new to me. I didn't realize I was starting something up again. But you can bet from here on out, I'll check the dates and not reply to anything that's more than a few hours old... Tegan

LOLOL! Did you sleep in the knife box last night, Tegan? :-D You`re starting to sound like me!

Pat P

Tegan i have answered your longer letter , in detail . here i answered Madam Lucretia`s letter. mirjam

Tegan , please read as i write , i was surprised , it is not a Negative thing to be surprised or to say i was surprised. i only was a bit sory that by reopening it , you gave a chance to some less polite posts. I will be interested to read any thing you write any time you send it ... thank you for your letter. mirjam

"That wasn`t funny" is a fairly polite way of registering disapproval of an offensive joke - to stay silent denotes tacit approval, in my mind. Of course it should actually be EASIER to protest amongst friends - if they are annoyed at being told, then they aren`t particularly good friends, who don`t know you or your sense of humour as well as they think they do.

As you say, if it`s just not funny - let it pass!

Pat P

GRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dawne, thanks for starting my Monday with a laugh!!!! I still can't believe you came up with that!

Joan (shaking her head in amazement)

Well, Pat, actually, I tried to delete this one because it sounded a wee bit too snarky for me. Apparently I didn't hit Delete but hit Post instead. I really didn't mean to be opening up a can of worms, but knowing how simple phrases have baffled certain readers before, I just couldn't resist the other day. I should have just passed it on by and you know I normally do. I guess a Perversity Bug bit me that morning. Tegan

Attila the Hen wrote:

snipped-for-privacy@actcom.co.il (Mirjam Bruck-Cohen),in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Oh hey ! Dig that "Madam" !

You have a brothel? Learn something new every day!