Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

} Evan Kirshenbaum filted:
}>
}>Douglas Hofstadter tells of the trouble people have had trying to
}>translate that riddle into languages that obligatorily mark gender on
}>occupations.  Does anybody know of any riddles/jokes that are
}>similarly difficult to translate into English for similar linguistic
}>reasons (i.e., that we force a distinction on something the source
}>language leaves ambiguous)?
}
} Well, there is the Japanese story of the Buddhist monk and novice who were
} walking in the countryside when the young man decided he had to urinate...as he
} lifted his robe in preparation to relieve himself on a tree, the monk stopped
} him and said the divine spirit within the tree would be dishonored...a short
} time later, he again tried to empty his bladder, this time on a roadside shrine,
} and was again stopped because it would offend the divine spirit housed within
} the shrine...finally, unable to stand the pressure any longer, the novice
} climbed up onto a rock, lifted his robe, and peed all over the monk's head,
} saying "there's no divine spirit there!"...
}
} Which story seems utterly bewildering unless you know that the Japanese word
} "kami", variously translated as "god" or "divine spirit", sounds just like the
} word "kami" meaning "hair"...(it further helps to know that Buddhist monks shave
} their heads)....r

Isn't that the story that finished off the HUAC?