My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

A colleague is travelling in the US, and she sent back this picture of her commute to work, with the comment "Traffic jam!"

http://i56.tinypic.com/2wg59uo.jpg

Having already had my second cup of coffee, and feeling pretty sharp, I sensed the opportunity to make a funny... "Ah," I quipped, "that explains all the honking!"

I looked around at my colleagues, their laughter being the reward for my clever pun. Nope, nothing but expression-less faces, gaping at an Englishman chortling to himself and wondering if he didn't have a few screws loose...

"The geese.... the honking.... Geese honking?" I tried to explain, but to no avail. These non-native speakers weren't going to reward my wordplay, no matter how witty...

So I came to the only place I could: English Forum. And I present to you:
















http://i56.tinypic.com/2wg59uo.jpg

"Traffic jam!"

"Ah! That explains all the honking..."

:jester: :wave: :jester:



(I'll get my coat...)

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Don't quit your day job man

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

..... lost in translation eh ? :msnnerd:

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

I somehow understand you username now. :rolleyes:

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Wow. Tough crowd. :msntongue:

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

humour is a foreign language.

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

I, for one, found it hilarious :msnblush:

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

I'm not as brutal as him though!

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Hey those are ducks in that picture aren't they ?
I hear they are quite yummy with a bit of mint sauce.

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Just loved it too :D

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

That's why you got a 'Thanked'. ;)

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Yeah, yeah...I'm a pussycat.

:msnsick:


Surprise, surprise....:rolleyes:

At least somebody loves ya....;)

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

No, no, no. You've got it all wrong. Ducks QUACK, and that wouldn't be a clever joke at all.

These are geese. Geese HONK. Hence the clever wordplay about the two meanings of honk -- cars honking, geese honking, a traffic jam... (Uh oh. I'm sensing deja vu.) :msntongue:

And mint sauce goes with lamb. Duck is 'a la orange'!

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

So no sense of humor and no sense of taste... ?

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Don't make such a paté of it :rolleyes:

zee evening's silly thread..... there's always one

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

...at least I can read "geese" and know what they look like. ;)

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

You mean like the Honky Tonk man ?

So these ducks don't go with mint sauce ? Is that what you are saying ?

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Well according to the thread title...our learned friend LiB wouldn't 'get it' anyway

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

Only village idiots don't know that puns are among the trickiest aspects of any language. And among all the languages I speak, English is the language that has by far the most puns, because its grammar has been stripped down to the bare essentials and even below, and because its weird orthographic system allows all sorts of distortions of words.

English puns are a minefield for non-native speakers. And puns can't be translated. That's why many jokes can't be translated either, simply because they are based on puns.

Re: My humour is lost on the Swiss...
 

no you can't.. some might be ganders