Scott Reynolds <sar@gol.com> said:

>On 7/8/2003 8:53 AM, Kevin Wayne Williams wrote:
>
>> My favorite Doonesbury strips were the set where Duke was the U.S.
>> Ambassador to China, and Honey was acting as his interpreter. Her
>> interpretations included such gems as "He has concluded his joke now,
>> and you are expected to laugh."
>
>I've heard that interpreters really do say things like this sometimes. 
>Not quite in those words, perhaps, but they might interject something 
>along the lines of, "That comment contained an untranslatable pun, and 
>was only intended as a joke."

It even happened to a former King of Sepponia here
in Japan. After using the same old worn out joke
at a university (graduation?) speech, Jimmy Carter
got the biggest laugh he had ever received.
Afterwards, he asked the interpreter to tell him
exactly how he told the joke so he could use his
translation in the future. It took a while before
the interpreter finally admitted that he had just
told the crowd, "Former President Carter just told
a joke. Please laugh."


--
Bryan
gaijenerous -
adjective:   more than adequate (Example: "A slab of 
gaijenerous proportion") 
adjective:   willing to give and share unstintingly 
(Example: "A gaijenerous ejaculation") 
adjective:   not petty in character and mind (Example: 
"Unusually gaijenerous in his judgment of people")