translating puns

Wilmer Rivers rivers at seismo.CSS.GOV
Tue Oct 12 17:35:57 CET 1993


Harry's signature line:
> "No, it's Ramjah Phee. What a strange person you are!"
>
leads David Gerstein to ask:
>	Isn't that *Samjah* Phee, or am I not remembering right?  And
> most importantly... Don, is there a meaning or pun to "Samjah Phee"
> that I just haven't caught, despite reading "Return to Xanadu" upwards
> of eight times?
>
which in turn leads **me** to ask, how are puns like this one (on Sam
Jaffee, who played the ancient lama in "Lost Horizon") handled in the
non-English editions?  If they use different names for Donald, Scrooge,
etc., do they keep the "English" names for the incidental characters,
such as the residents of Tra La La?  When that name involves a pun,
what do they do?  In particular, how did the European editions handle
"coral barques"?  Do the European authors attempt any "non-English"
puns, or do they worry about how the story will read in English?

Just curious.
Wilmer Rivers



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