BabelJoke

I have never really been one for telling jokes. Occasional humorous stories. Sporadic witty asides. But standard jokes have never been my forte.

I thought I would try one.

"So these two Irishmen walk into a bar. Migranes ensued."

Hmmm. It isn't really a punchline and then rimshot kind of joke. It should be wittier.

Maybe if it was in French....en français, as it were.

Luckily, I have access to the beautiful babelfish. Onward!

"Ainsi ces deux Irlandais marchent dans une barre. Migranes s'est ensuivi."

Getting there.

How about Dutch? Not really a culture known for ribald comedy, per se...but we will give it a go.

"Aldus lopen deze twee Ieren in een staaf. Migranes heeft zich gevolgd"

I can't really tell. I have no idea how to read Dutch. I actually don't really know anything about the Dutch culture. I probably shouldn't have even bothered to translate it into Dutch. Nevermind.

Moving on.....possibly Italian, one of the more romantic languages. At least, that is what I hear.

"Così questi due Irlandesi vanno in una sbarra. Migranes si è seguito."

That isn't too bad. I think we are getting closer to comedy gold here.

Well, the joke has been most of the way around the world. At this point, I figured I would translate is back into English to see if the comedy had percolated to a fine brew.

"Therefore these two Irishes go in a slab. Migranes has been followed."

Um....no. Not really.

Well, it still somehow seems funnier than the first version.