despite my generally large removal from russian culture, it always frustrates me to a great degree to not be able to translate russian puns, jokes and expressions to english properly. we can come close, but it is, of course, impossible.
thus, this wikipedia page is bringing joy to my heart.
witness:
A Frenchman, a Scotsman, and a Russian are drifting in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. Suddenly they see a bottle bobbing on the waves. They uncork it, and a Genie comes out. For releasing him he’s prepared to grant them each two wishes. The Scotsman says: “I want a bottle of whisky and to go back to Scotland,” and promptly disappears. The French says: “I want a bottle of the finest Merlot, and to go back to France,” and is sent on his way. The Russian considers it a moment and decides: “I want a case of vodka and the fellas back!”
* Side Note: This joke is a play on the fact that in Russia it is believed that three is the optimal amount of people for drinking. This in turn goes back to when in the Soviet Union a bottle of vodka cost 2 roubles 87 kopecks, 3 r. being a convenient price for three to buy a bottle and have 13 k. left for a snack, e.g., 100 grams of candies. A good deal of Soviet folklore is based on this interpretation of the “magical number 3”.
and, as promised! clicky for large
Wouldn’t it be “I want a case of vodka and the COMRADES back!” Or maybe CAPITALISTIC PIGDOGS because they arent Russian =P
And i know exactly what you mean about not being able to translate humor from one language to another and vice versa. Hell, i had a tough time explaining to my boses some differences in the Argentinean language when it came to racial slurs =P
yea, my parents have canadian friends and my dad always wants to tell them jokes but realizes that they won’t get it.
and kiiiiiiitty!!!!!!!!
he’s just like I imagined him :)
beautiful!!!
you have to multiply for the math question now? what a ripoff.
wikipedia good.
need more dof on lawrence #2. or at least focus on the eyes like in #1.
i make the worst comments ive ever seen, except for spam maybe, and even spam is kind of entertaining at times.