Asterix
For my last brithday, my daughter Catherine got me the board game Asterix and Obelix. She knows what a fan I am, on a previous occasion she got me two hard-rubber figurines.She and her then fiancee were sweet enough to play me a game. You may notice that the box is labeled in German: the cartoon was a big international hit.


I'm not sure I get the last frame in the above - why would the centurion think they'e giggling unless Obelix's "that's the lot," sounds like a giggle to a Roman? I think the French is "c'est la tout," but that sounds like a sneeze.
One of their panels still floors me each time I think of it. The pirates below have just had the misfortune to encounter Asterix and Obelix.

The gag, of course, is the representation of the Raft of the Medusa by Gericault (Pronounced Jericho.)

But here's the thing - how would the word "framed" have the same two meanings in French as it does in English, and would our pronunciation of Gericault as Jericho (as in Joshua fit the battle of...) match theirs? How is it possible for such an elaborate pun to work in two different languages? And how would it have worked in German?
Don't tell me, I'd rather enjoy the mystery.
By the way, if you're curious about the outcome of the game: I won.
Published on June 03, 2012 02:45
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