in portuguese, i just came across “por que o vírus da gripe não tem amigos? porque ele é uma má influenza”

translation: “why does the flu virus have no friends? because it’s a bad influenza!”(Influence)

i think it could work in english but sounds better in portuguese.

  • daq@lemmy.sdf.org
    14·
    7 days ago

    I’m sure there’s a better example in Ukrainian, but

    Як як? Ну як як? Як як як…

    Not really a pun and not translateable as a joke, but same word that can repeat to form a sentence.

    Joke is a guy went to the zoo and friend is asking him how was yak. He replies with yak was like yak.

    • Bldck@beehaw.orgEnglish
      9·
      7 days ago

      In English we have

      Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

      Which means:

      Bison who are bullied by bison do themselves intimidate or bully bison (at least in the city of Buffalo – implicitly, Buffalo, New York)

      • daq@lemmy.sdf.org
        5·
        7 days ago

        I’ve seen this before and always thought the verb was a stretch since it is definitely not used in modern English, but I do like the idea of forming a sentence this way.

        • amoistgrandpa@lemm.ee
          3·
          6 days ago

          I’ve always used this version, since the verb is commonly used in modern English unlike buffalo:

          Police police police Police police police Police police.

          That expands to “the police from Police, Poland will police the police from Police, Poland, who in turn also police the police from Police, Poland” or something like that.

          • ornery_chemist@mander.xyz
            1·
            6 days ago

            It doesn’t work as well spoken, though? Pretty sure Police is pronounced something like po-lee-tseh.

            Also, I think you might have swapped a police with Police: “Police police, (whom) Police police police, police Police police.”