先来看一则幽默:
---Where is Washington ?
---He’s dead.
---I mean, the capital of the United States.
---They loaded it all to Europe.
---Now do you promise to support the constitution?
---Me? How can I? I’ve got a wife and five children to support .
上面这则幽默据说是在美国大选登记时,对选民的口头测试。明显当中运用了一系列的双关语:Washington既指美国首都,又指美国第一任总统;
Capital 兼有“资本”和“首都”之意;
Support既是“支持”又是“抚养”。
可见这里双关语运用的恰当好处,既体现了幽默感,又讽刺了美国的政治。
那到底什么是双关语呢?(Pun)
Pun也称Paranomasia,一词源于拉丁语paronomazein,意为“to call by a difficult name”(以不同的名称称呼)。双关语是一种(play on words),它利用Homographic Pun“语义双关”或Homophonic Pun“谐音双关”的词或词组以达到诙谐幽默的效果。它是英语中常见的一种幽默形式。
就像Webster’s New World Dictionary中对它的定义:the humorous use of word, or of words which are formed or sounded alike but have different meanings, in such a way as to play on two or more of the possible applications.
而Cambridge International Dictionary索性直接表明就是play on words文字游戏-------an amusing use of word of phrase that has two meanings, or of words with the same sound but different meanings.
显然在现代英语中, pun的确已被归纳为一种幽默的修辞方式。随处可见用pun串成的笑话。可我今天还想浅谈一些,关于William Shakespeare作品中pun修辞格的运用。
莎翁的文学造诣,令人叹为观止。对pun的运用也是独具匠心的。
William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes
With nimble (soul) soles ; I have a soul(sole) of lead
So stakes me to the ground. I cannot move.
注意:“Sole” & “soul”是可以转化的
译一:我实在不能跳了,
你们都有轻快的舞鞋。
我只有一个像铅一样重的灵魂,
把我的身体紧紧的钉在地上,使我不能动弹。
译二:我实在不能跳了,
你们都有轻快的舞鞋。
我只有一个像铅一样重的舞鞋,
译三:我实在不能跳了,
你们都有的舞鞋,且心情轻松
我虽有舞鞋,但心情沉重。
Attention: 其实每种译法都有异曲同工之妙。
William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice
这段主要讲:夏洛克要从违约的安东尼奥身上割去一磅肉而磨刀时的对白。
Not on the sole , but on the soul , harsh Jew,
Thou mak’st thy knife keen.
狠心的犹太人,你不是在鞋口上磨刀,
而是把刀放到你的心口上磨。
When a woman complained to her butcher that his sausage tasted like meat at one end, and but bread at the other, he replied,“Madam , in the times like these, no butcher can make both ends meat .”
这里的pun 主要集中表现在最后一句,make both ends meat.(两头都是肉)和to make both ends meet(收支平衡)谐音。看到了吧!~正印了中国有句古话“无奸不商”,哈哈
最后以一则“搞笑+讽刺”的PUN来结尾:
He denounces that stand-pat advice, he knows George Bush is getting from subordinates, “I told you,’ you got a bad case of AIDS ’’” says Holms. “A-I-D-E-S.” 先捉摸琢磨吧,搞笑在哪里!~