in portuguese, i just came across “por que o vírus da gripe não tem amigos? porque ele é uma má influenza”
translation: “why does the flu virus have no friends? because it’s a bad influenza!”(Influence)
i think it could work in english but sounds better in portuguese.
I’m sure there’s a better example in Ukrainian, but
Як як? Ну як як? Як як як…
Not really a pun and not translateable as a joke, but same word that can repeat to form a sentence.
Joke is a guy went to the zoo and friend is asking him how was yak. He replies with yak was like yak.
Something similar in Finnish;
Kokoo koko kokko kokoon. Koko kokkoko kokoon? Koko kokko kokoon.
Which translates to
Put together the whole bonfire. The whole bonfire together? The whole bonfire together.
Danish has: Far får får får? Nej, får får ikke får, får får lam.
This translates to: Dad, does sheep get (give birth to) sheep? No, sheep don’t get sheep, sheep get lambs.
A similar one in Swedish:
Bar barbar-bar barbar bar bar barbar-bar barbar.
This can be translated to “a lightly dressed barbarian from a bar for barbarians carried a lightly dressed barbarian from a bar for barbarians.”
A joke in Spanish and English, but the punchline is different in each, despite being the same joke. (My Spanish may well be rusty as it’s been a while)
De donde se van los gatos cuando mueren? Purgatorio (focus on gato)
Where do cats do when they die? Purrgatory (focus on purr)
Qual è la città preferita dei ragni? Mosca!
What is the spider’s favorite city? Moscow! (mosca is also the word for fly)
“5 neden 6’dan korkdu? Çünkü 6 7 8”
Why was 5 afraid of 6? Because 6 7 8.“7” in Turkish is a homonym for “eaten”. That’s right, same as the english joke minus 1.
Hah! That’s interesting! I wonder if that’s purely by coincidence, or if there is some etymological reason for this.
These ones work in German and English:
Warum gehen Gottesanbeterinnen nicht in die Kirche? Weil sie in Sekten sind.
Why do praying mantisses not go to church?
Because they’re in sects.Ich lass mir von nem Freund ein neues Dach bauen, das geht aufs Haus.
I’m getting a new roof built by a friend, it’s on the house.
This one doesn’t:
“Heiße Würstchen” — “Angenehm, heiße Maier”“Hot sausages!” — “Nice to meet you, my name is Maier.”
(“Heiße Würstchen” can also mean “My name is Little Sausage”, which is a slur for men, like “little bitch”)
