For the Fun of It!

1. P For the Fun of It! On the transferability of puns in dubbed TV comedy

2. A pun = paronomasia a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar-sounding words or phrases for rhetorical effect, either humorous or serious • “textual phenomena contrasting linguistic structures with different meanings on the basis of their formal similarity” Belgian academic Dirk Delabastita in There Is A Double Tongue

3. signified signifier The Disruptive Power of Puns “He that would pun, would pick a pocket.” Alexander Pope Ferdinand de Saussure’s diadic model of the linguistic sign signified

4. The Pun Stops Here! “Anything which can be said in one language can be said in another (unless the form is an essential element of the message).” Nida, E.A. and Taber, C. 1969. The Theory and Practice of Translation.

5. Becker, NBC, ep. #37: “All the Rage” JOHN: Excuse me. Why do I have to stand when everyone else gets to sit down? I mean, that’s not fair. RICHARD: Doctor Becker, remember what we say. “Fair” is a place where hogs compete for ribbons. ДЖОН: Всички седнали, а само аз стърча. Аз също имам право! Everybody’s sitting down with only me standing. I also have a right (to sit). РИЧАРД:Доктор Бекър, помните ли какво казахме? “Право..е добичето, докато го водят към дръвника”. Dr. Becker, do you remember what we said? Upright/Standing..is the animal while being taken off to slaughter. Under punfire Untranslatable

6. Fairness does not exist. Don’t look for it, or you can even suffer. Translating the ‘untranslatable’: pun  pun analysis not fair (adj.) = unjust fair (n.) = fairground right (n.) = право (п.) upright, = право standing (adj.) (adj.neuter) Fairness does not exist. Don’t look for it.

7. Wings, NBC, ep. # 121: “Boys Just Wanna Have Fun” JOE: Helen - I - I - can't promise anything. It's a bachelor's party. It could get pretty wild. HELEN: All right. A bunch of boobs lookin' at a bunch of boobs. [LAUGHTER] CUT TO: ДЖО:Не обещавам нищо. На ергенско парти става щур купон. ХЕЛЪН: Да. Група задници гледат задници. Under punfire Untranslatable

8. Screen translator’s choices 0) footnote 1) PUN  PUN 2) PUN  NO PUN (explicitation) 3) NO PUN  PUN (compensation)

9. Possible solutions in dealing with wordplay according to Dirk Delabastita 1) pun  pun 2) pun  non-pun 3) pun  punoid 4) non-pun  pun 5) ST pun = TL pun 6) pun  zero 7) zero  pun 8) editorial techniques (e.g. footnotes, forewords) DELABASTITA D. (ed.) Wordplay and Translation, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. 1996

10. The constraints of screen translation In dubbing: • The temporal constraint • The visual constraint • The phonetic constraint • The dramatic constraint

11. JANET:D'you know I was thinking we could get a take away tonight. GEORGE: Ta daa. HE HOLDS UP AN INDIAN TAKEAWAY BAG, FULL OF GOODIES. JANET: Oh well done George. GEORGE: Oh and I also brought your nan. HE POINT TO A FRAIL OLD LADY WE NOW SEE IN A CHAIR JANET:Not a nan! A naan bread! My Hero, BBC, ep. D5 ДЖАНЕТ:Мислех да вземем храна за вкъщи. ДЖОРДЖ:Та-та! ДЖАНЕТ: О, браво, Джордж. ДЖОРДЖ: А за теб съм взел и леля. For you I also got an auntie. ДЖАНЕТ: Не “леля”, Джордж – “паеля”! Not an auntie, George – paella! Under punfirePUNPUNOID under visual constraint

12. My Hero, BBC, ep. A-3 ARNIE IS DEALING WITH A DISGRUNTLED CUSTOMER AT ONE TABLE. ARNIE: (POINTING TO SOMETHING ON CUSTOMER'S PLATE) Of course it's small! It says on the menu: Minute steak. АРНИ: Нормално е да се нервираш. В менюто пише – ‘нервозно кюфте’! Under punfire- in a straitjacket

13. Seinfeld, #7-01, “The Engagement” GEORGE: What happened to the pact? We were both gonna change. We shook hands on a pact. Did you not shake my hand on it uh? JERRY: You stuck your hand out, so I shook it. I don't know about a pact. Anyway, you should be happy you're engaged. You're getting married. ДЖОРДЖ: Дадохме обет! Да се променим! Стиснахме си ръцете! Не ми ли стисна ръката?! ДЖЕРИ: Ами ти ми я подаде и я стиснах. Беше обед, не обет. Както и да е, радвай се, че си сгоден, че ще се жениш! Under punfireNO PUN  PUN solution

14. Seinfeld, #7-23, “Wait Out” ELAINE: Why are we calling? Oh, I got it. I've got it. We're calling just to say, "I'm there for you.” JERRY: I'm there for you. ELAINE: Then after a period of being there for you, we slowly remove the two words ‘for you’, and we're just there. ИЛЕЙН: Защо, защо, защо?.. А! Измислих! Измислих! Звъним, за да им кажем..: “Аз съм винаги насреща.” ДЖЕРИ: Аз съм винаги насреща. ИЛЕЙН: После, след като известно време сме “винаги насреща”, внимателно разделяме на две думата “насреща” .. и отиваме..“на среща”! Under punfireNO PUNPUN solution under phonetic constraints

15. NO PUN  PUN analysis Аз съм винаги насреща. (You can always rely on me.) I am always there for you. (You can always rely on me.) насреща (in front, opposite) на среща (on a date)

16. Translation as Transformation and Re-writing “… for the notion of translation we would have to substitute a notion of transformation…of one text by another. We will never have to do with some ‘transport’ of pure signifieds from one language to another that the signifying instrument would leave virgin or untouched.” Derrida J. (1981) Positions

17. Faithfulness? It seems that with puns “the only way to be faithful to the original text (i. e. to its verbal playfulness) is paradoxically to be unfaithful to it.” Delabastita, Dirk (1996) ‘Introduction’, Wordplay and Translation, special issue of The Translator.

18. International Conference of the Bulgarian Society for British Studies South-West University, Blagoevgrad, November 2007 Speaker: Danya Doganova, NBU