Tuesday, December 7, 2010

From Reddit

I tried to explain the common saying "Gacche kathal gophe tel" to my friends today. But in English, "Oiling your mustache in anticipation of the jackfruit tree bearing fruit" doesn't have the same snap.

It means "Don't get ahead of yourself." Like, an American equivalent might be, "Don't start counting your vacation days before the job interview."

But I like the fact that the Bangladeshi version makes the assumptions that:

a) You love jackfruit (which is milder than durian but if even slightly overripe smells like diarrhea),

b) You have a mustache that's thick enough that it would be a hindrance to eating the juicy and sticky jackfruit,

c) You oil the mustache before you eat the jackfruit so that the remnant stink (which can get pretty intense) doesn't fuck with your luxurious facial hair, and

d) You are so excited by the idea of eating jackfruit that you oil your mustache in anticipation of this glorious event.

1 comment:

  1. Apparently Afrikaans is good for this:

    " Jou ma is so besig om te naai, jy's uit haar gat gebore."
    your mother engages in such copious amounts of intercourse that it necessitated your being born out of her anus, as her vagina was otherwise occupied.


    "Jou mammie naai vir bakstene om jou sissie se hoerhuis te bou."
    your mother engages in prostitution in order to raise funds for the building materials necessary to construct a brothel from which your sister will operate.

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