Aportes: 25
Idioma: English
MiEstasDavid (Mostrar perfil) 13 de octubre de 2011 01:25:07
But I'll explain it to you after 
Read the joke first.Suppose Esperanto was the current accepted lingua franca of the world. One day, a Korean man was waiting outside in the rain for his ride. After waiting for a while, he realized it wasn't coming. He looked upset. Seeing him outside in the rain, an American man came up to him with an umbrella and asked "Ĉu vi bezonas pluvombrelon?(Do you need an umbrella?)". The Korean man replied "ne". Hearing this, the American man smiled and walked away. The Korean man looked confused. A few hours passed and a British woman came up to him with food in her hands and asked "Ĉu vi estas malsata?(Are you hungry?)". The Korean man again replied "ne". Hearing this, the British woman walked away. The Korean man's confused face turned to one of shock. A few more hours passed and the Korean man was still outside. It was dark and he was visibly distraught. Noticing that he had been outside for hours, a Polish man drove up to him, with the passenger-side door of his car open, and said "Ĉu vi bezonas veturigon?(Do you need a ride?)". But again, the Korean man replied "ne". Hearing this, the Polish man closed the door and drove away. By now, the Korean man looked PISSED OFF. He yelled and cursed at the car as it left, and ended up walking home. Does anyone know why the Korean man seemed so angry? And why he wouldn’t accept anyone’s offers?
Well, it’s because he did accept their offers. In Esperanto, "ne" means no. But in Korean, it means yes. The Korean man didn't know Esperanto so he was just saying yes in his native language. The Esperantists on the other hand thought that he was saying no, so they just left, respecting his wishes. When they left, the Korean man thought that they were just being cruel by offering him things and then walking away.
So, what do you think? It just popped in my head and I thought it was funny
Although, this wouldn’t happen in real life since anyone would’ve been able to tell if the Korean man were saying yes or no simply by a nod of the head. Anyway, thanks for reading! ^^ 
darkweasel (Mostrar perfil) 13 de octubre de 2011 05:36:06
"... targanook (Mostrar perfil) 13 de octubre de 2011 19:06:20
In winter a naked man stands naked in snow and trembles. Someone comes up to him and asks:
"Zimno ci?" (Are you cold?)
"N..nie" (N..no)
"Gorąco ci?" (Are you hot?)
"N..nie" (N..no)
"To jak ci?" (Then how are you? - can also mean - what are you called?)
"Stasssek" (Stanley - that was the naked man's name)
Altebrilas (Mostrar perfil) 13 de octubre de 2011 19:26:45
MiEstasDavid: Although, this wouldn’t happen in real life since anyone would’ve been able to tell if the Korean man were saying yes or no simply by a nod of the head. Anyway, thanks for reading! ^^It seems that this convention (nodding for "yes") is not universal: The greek use the opposite convention.
erinja (Mostrar perfil) 13 de octubre de 2011 19:42:31
I saw a kind of head-waggle in India, a sort of side to side rather than back and forth or up and down. It took me a long time to determine whether this waggle meant yes or no. (it meant yes).
ceigered (Mostrar perfil) 14 de octubre de 2011 03:34:17
Good story though
@ Darkweasel:
Perhaps he understood Esperanto but was replying using korean, assuming the foreigners would recognise the Korean "yes" - if you came here to Australia and asked me stuff in Esperanto, I'd probably use "yeah" to reply to you even though it's not EO (even "hai" or "ya" if my mind slipped
) MiEstasDavid (Mostrar perfil) 14 de octubre de 2011 03:51:28
darkweasel:Uhm, if the Korean doesn’t know Esperanto, he won’t respond anything but "I just assumed he understood by the gestures...
targanook:Sometimes to understand a joke you must first know the language in which it is spoken. That reminds me of an old Polish joke:I guess you're right. Because I don't get the joke. Haha.
In winter a naked man stands naked in snow and trembles. Someone comes up to him and asks:
"Zimno ci?" (Are you cold?)
"N..nie" (N..no)
"Gorąco ci?" (Are you hot?)
"N..nie" (N..no)
"To jak ci?" (Then how are you? - can also mean - what are you called?)
"Stasssek" (Stanley - that was the naked man's name)
Altebrilas:Wow, very interesting. I had no idea. I supposed I need to see a little bit more of the world before I make any assumptions.MiEstasDavid: Although, this wouldn’t happen in real life since anyone would’ve been able to tell if the Korean man were saying yes or no simply by a nod of the head. Anyway, thanks for reading! ^^It seems that this convention (nodding for "yes") is not universal: The greek use the opposite convention.
erinja:It's not universal.Haha, again. This shows how little I know about other countries.
I saw a kind of head-waggle in India, a sort of side to side rather than back and forth or up and down. It took me a long time to determine whether this waggle meant yes or no. (it meant yes).
ceigered:I think it's universal enough that Koreans do it though?Do what? Do you mean speak Esperanto?
Good story though
@ Darkweasel:
Perhaps he understood Esperanto but was replying using korean, assuming the foreigners would recognise the Korean "yes" - if you came here to Australia and asked me stuff in Esperanto, I'd probably use "yeah" to reply to you even though it's not EO (even "hai" or "ya" if my mind slipped
ceigered (Mostrar perfil) 14 de octubre de 2011 04:17:13
=====
RE Targanook's joke, think of it like this:
------
An aide with broken English is looking for the Hungarian diplomat at a social event, so he can escort him to an important conference.
He comes up to a man with grey hair and a bushy moustache.
"Are you hungary?"
"No, I'm-a the Italian diplomat"
He then proceeds to another typical looking European man.
"Are you hungary?"
"Nah, sorry mate, I'm here from Australia"
The man then finds a bespectacled man in his late 50's.
"Are you hungary?"
"I surely am, I've been waiting for someone to ask me about that!"
The aide laughs at the joke, and escorts the diplomat to the conference hall. Upon arriving, the diplomat is met with many confused looks from his colleaguges.
"Who is this man?!" they ask the aide, even though they should know him.
The diplomat speaks up - "I tell you, in Romania when we ask if a man's hungry we give people food not blank stares!"
-----
It's a crap joke coz I only just came up with it, but same principle. - In tarnagook's joke they man is asking if he's cold/hot etc and the man misunderstands and says his name instead.
barat (Mostrar perfil) 14 de octubre de 2011 05:06:11
ceigered:...RE Targanook's joke, think of it like this:...Your joke is based on bad English. Targanook's one is based on ambiguity of colloquial Polish - the question "jak ci?" can mean both "How do you feel (cold or warm)?" and "What's your name?". Of course the situation was quite clear, but the nude man chose the second meaning which is pure nonsence in this case - that's the whole fun in it. There are milion of such jokes in every language. So it seams that misunderstanding also can be funny as anything else.
chrisim101010 (Mostrar perfil) 14 de octubre de 2011 06:19:22