For some Tuesday afternoon humor, here’s the classic Monty Python "Funniest joke in the world skit."
Since I couldn't find anything online, it got me wondering what the best translation would be. And so, armed only with 2½ years of rusty German and the Googles, I decided to give it a chance. Wikipedia lists the original as:
"Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! ... Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput."
A lot of the German is not real German, so I'll just assume they're speaking some obscure regional accent that causes them to mispronounce a number of more common words.
Wenn
If
ist
is
das
the
Nunstück
two compounded words... "now piece"
git
Probably a regional pronunciation of "gibt", German for "give"
Slotermeyer
A bit of a stretch... I break this into three words. I assume "Slot-" is an regional abbreviation from ausloten, which "plumb" or, idiomatically, "investigate". "er" sounds enough like "uhr", a clock. Meyer's a last name, so I assume that's proper.
Ja!
Yes!
Beiherhund
"Hund" is "Dog". Beiher I assume is the local slang for "Beider", meaning "both"
das oder die
"that or the"
Flipperwaldt
compound of "pinball" and "forest"
gersput
Local pronunciation of gespurtet, infinitive form of past tense "spurted"
Dumping these words into Google Translate I got: (WARNING: MAY BE SO FUNNY IT CAUSES DEATH)
"If the pieces are now investigated and watch Meyer? Yes! ... Both the dog or the pinball forest spurted."
I don't get it. People with better German, feel free to correct me in the comments section.
