Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Groaners

Ho un amico americano che ogni tanto mi manda delle storielline
che lui chiama "groaners".
Cosa significa esattamente?
Queste storielline contengono dei giochi di parole e io
non ne capisco una che è una :-(
Disturbo se le posto qui per farmele spiegare?
Un esempio:
» A man rushed into a busy doctors office and shouted, "Doctor! I think I'm
» shrinking!" The doctor calmly responded, "Now settle down. You just have
» to be a little patient"
Roger 

 Roger
A groaner is a sort of joke, but not a very good one, you can just 
smile about it, not laugh hard. Just like your joke :)
Shrinking means becoming smaller, contracting. To be a little patient 
means literally: a small person, but also it means being tolerant, 
somebody who can wait his turn. Now that is the pun, the word play.
You get it now?

 You get it now?
Ah, ecco il senso!
"To be a little patient" può significare sia "pazientare un momento"
e "essere un piccolo paziente"
Grazie!
Roger 


And now that you got it, Roger, don't you feel a desperate need to break 
up with your friend? :-)

 up with your friend? :-)
Hmm... maybe "break up" is not very appropriate here!

 
More than just making you smile, a groaner is a joke that's so corny it makes 
you want to groan... in agony at having wasted time istening to it.
-- 
Joey from NY

 you want to groan... in agony at having wasted time istening to it.
I guess you don't want to explain me the other ones, right?  :-)
Roger

 Roger
You are very welcome. Humo(u)r can be tricky :)

):

Here's one:
Q. Why didn't the Jews starve when they were wandering in the desert for 40 
years?
A. Because of the sand which is there.
(Let me know if it doesn't make sense.)
-- 
Joey from NY

 A. Because of the sand which is there.
Well, this is not too difficult to understand. :-)
Here is another one (I cannot catch the meaning):
» A famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage
» and found his name missing from the town register. His wife
» insisted on complaining to the local official, who apologized
» profusely saying, "I must have taken Leif off my census."
Roger 

A better one:
Q. Why did the Jews had been wandering in the desert for 40 years?
A. Because one of them dropped a nickel
-- 
Valjean

 (Let me know if it doesn't make sense.)
(*groans)
Italians make jokes about Jews a lot? In every country there seems to 
be a group of people who is the "underdog". I.e. In NL it used to be 
the Belgians, in Germany the Ost-Friesen,

 » profusely saying, "I must have taken Leif off my census."
Say Leif out loud, then you will get it :)
I will give you another hint as well:
Leif, a famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage...........

 Valjean
Roger

 Roger
Frugality is also attributed to the Dutch as well as to Scots. :)

"Renee" ha scritto:

Leif = life?
Does the official's phrase mean:
- My standard of living is too high compare with my income
- I cancelled Leif from the register of the population
?
Roger 

 Frugality is also attributed to the Dutch as well as to Scots. :)
And also to the inhabitants of Genoa
They bury dead people with the face outside the ground to save the
cost of photography.
Roger

 ?
No, and yes...:)
Leif is a nordic name but pronounced more or less as "life" in English.
Un famoso esploratore vichingo (his name is Leif) tornato a casa da un 
viaggio
E ha trovato che il suo nome è disparato dal registro città.
Sua moglie insiste per lamentarsi al funzionario locale, che si scusa
profusamente dicendo:" Devo aver preso Leif (a life) il mio censimento. 
"
I must have taken a life (Leif) from my population register.......
It is just a play with words Leif becomes a life.


No, questo e' un tipo diverso di "pun", si prende una frase di uso comune si
cambia un po' e si costruisce una frase diversa che si pronuncia in modo quasi
uguale e poi si costruisce una storia che ha come battuta finale quella frase.
Qui la frase e' "I must have taken leave of my senses" piu' o meno equivalente
all' italiano "chissa' a cosa stavo pensando" o "devo essere impazzito" o cose
del genere e ovviamente si pronuncia in modo molto simile a "I must have taken
Leif off my census" , "devo aver dimenticato Leif nel censimento" 
G

 It is just a play with words Leif becomes a life.
Nope.
Live is Life,
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=EGikhmjTSZI&feature=related
not Leif.
:-)

 you want to groan... in agony at having wasted time istening to it.
Here's an Italian groaner.
"Non hai idea di cosa m'è successo stamattina!"
"Cosa?"
"Mi stavo facendo la barba e mi è caduto il rasoio per terra!!!"
"E allora?"
"E allora mi sono raso al suolo"
-groan-

 -groan-
Took me a while, but I got it!  :')

 frase.
Don't take Leif so seriously.

 Live is Life,
Without a lijf you don't have a life, nor Leif.

 G
Ciao,
Roger 


"He who esitate is lost" 
G 

 "He who esitate is lost" 
Sorry, un paio di typos: "He who hesitates is lost"
G

):

You're way off here.
-- 
Joey from NY

):

The pun is based on "Leif off my census."
"I must have taken leave of my senses." is the pun.
-- 
Joey from NY

 "I must have taken leave of my senses." is the pun.
Thank you.
Roger

 G
Roger
P.S. Se "rompo" ditelo che smetto. Ne avrei altri cinque o sei :-) 


Pensa "Pitagora" ....  
Hippopotamus -> hypotenuse 
squaw -> square  
e via cosi' 
G

 G
Roger

Renee, 06:26, venerdì 23 luglio 2010:

No, we had so few of them.
We make jokes about Carabinieri.
"Scherza coi fanti
ma lascia stare i santi."
(proverbio)
-- 
"Quand un homme dit qu'un jeu est stupide et infantile, c'est
que sa femme le bat a tous les coups."
                -- Anonyme 

 :-)
Evvai!
-- 
"It makes no difference whether you win or lose until you lose."
                -- Unknown 

 
Nessun "pun", solo una frase che puo' avere piu' di un significato:
"nothing to go on" ..... forza ci puoi arrivare......
G

 "nothing to go on" ..... forza ci puoi arrivare......
Il ladro si è portato via tutte le "tracce" biologiche?
La polizia è rimasta senza argomenti su cui chiacchierare (to go on mi pare
voglia dire anche intrattenersi su di un certo argomento)?
Un nuovo groaner:
» A skeptical anthropologist was cataloging South American folk
» remedies with the assistance of a tribal Brujo who indicated that the
» leaves of a particular fern were a sure cure for any case of constipation.
» When the anthropologist expressed his doubts, the Brujo looked him in
» the eye and said, "Let me tell you, with fonds like these, you don't need
» enemas."
Qui il "pun" c'è sicuramente, ma non riesco a metterlo a fuoco.
Roger 

 » enemas."
sarà "fronds"

 (proverbio)
Holy moly...
-- 
groetjes Renée
If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving isn’t for you.

 Roger
I made an interesting mistake.
If you pronounce "Leif" correctly, in the original nordic language, the 
joke gets a totaly different twist. Sometimes language is a bitch :)
English is good at denegrate a foreign language. Also think of "déjà 
vu", which is pronounced as [déjà voo].
Sorry Roger, that I have put you "on the wrong leg" as we Dutch say.
I will try to do better.


 sarà "fronds"
Ah ecco! Giusto! Ho trovato:
La frase originale è:
With fronds like these, who needs anemones?
(dal film Finding Nemo)
che, a sua volta, è un derivato dal detto:
With friends like this you don't need enemies!
(grazie a te e a Google :-))
Devo dire che questi "esercizi" mi hanno sollecitato la comprensione
e infatti sono riuscito a capire i rmanenti (se a qualcuno interessano, li 
posto)
Grazie a tutti
Roger 

 groetjes Renée
Ciao,
Roger


No, per esserci un "groaner" deve esserci un cambio totale di significato.
"Nothing to go on" puo' significare
1) niente su cui basare le indagini (non hanno lasciato indizi)
2) niente in cui "farla" (hanno rubato cessi ed urinali)
Il resto ho visto e' gia' stato spiegato...
G

 G
Molte grazie! Mi sei stato di grande aiuto :-)
Roger 

 G
Roger 


No, e' "state line", confine statale . Negli US un reato e' piu' grave (diventa 
reato federale) quando comprende l' attraversamento di piu' stati.
G


Non e' proprio un "idiom" e' un significato del verbo "go".
E' normale per un bambino dire "I have to go" per dire che deve andare al 
gabinetto. se guardi su  
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/go
c'e
20 : to empty the bladder or bowels
non e' proprio il primo significato (in effetti e' l'ultimo) ma c'e'.
G

 Non e' proprio un "idiom" e' un significato del verbo "go".
Già.
Sbagliavo a cercare "go on"
Se avessi cercato "go" l'avrei trovato anche nell'altro dizionario
http://www.yourdictionary.com/go
 > G
Ciao,
Roger 


«Main Entry: groan·er
Pronunciation: \&#712;grô-n&#601;r\
Function: noun
Date: 1795
1 : one that groans
2 : a stale or corny joke, observation, or story»
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/groaner
Joe from Massachusetts
-- 
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