"Murphy's Laws" and Polish puns

[Dennis R. Preston]

Mai,

Aha! A good clue. What is the usual stereotype of Karelians in Finland?

dInIs

>The ones I could bother have been neglecting their e-mail lately
>(incomprehensible, I know) so I'll check, but you might get an answer
>faster.
>
>Interesting that the song "Jokohama Humahuta" that George Cole just
>brought to our attention was recorded by Markku Karjalainen ("Karelian").
>Maybe that gives us a clue?
>
>-Mai
>
>On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>
>> Mai,
>>
>> Let's find out. Shall I bother a Finn or will you?
>>
>> Dennis
>>
>> >Well, this is going to be more impressionistic than accurate, because I
>> >know next to nothing about variation (or anything else) in this attriting
>> >first language of mine, but my sense is that "humahuttaa" for "punch" is a
>> >word you'd only use in joking; I actually can't say whether it's archaic,
>> >or from a rural dialect, or both. It did make the joke funnier, though
>> >(maybe the meaning is better rendered as "I reckon I'll whomp him now").
>> >
>> >-Mai
>> >
>> >On Tue, 22 Jun 1999, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>> >
>> >> OK Mai. What's the quaint regional twist? After all, this is a dialect
>> >> society list. My Finno-Ugric capacities are limited to my mother tongue.
>> >>
>> >> dInIs
>> >>
>> >> >In my family of origin, we used to joke about the famous Japanese boxer
>> >> >Yokohama Humahuta, which is Finnish (with a quaint regional twist) for
>> >> >"shall I punch [the opponent] now?"
>> >> >
>> >> >-Mai
>> >> >.....................................................
>> >> >Mai Kuha
>> >> >mkuha at indiana.edu
>> >>
>> >> Dennis R. Preston
>> >> Department of Linguistics and Languages
>> >> Michigan State University
>> >> East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
>> >> preston at pilot.msu.edu
>> >> Office: (517)353-0740
>> >> Fax: (517)432-2736
>> >>
>> >
>> >.....................................................
>> >Mai Kuha
>> >mkuha at indiana.edu
>>
>> Dennis R. Preston
>> Department of Linguistics and Languages
>> Michigan State University
>> East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
>> preston at pilot.msu.edu
>> Office: (517)353-0740
>> Fax: (517)432-2736
>>
>
>.....................................................
>Mai Kuha
>mkuha at indiana.edu

Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736