"Murphy's Laws" and Polish puns

[Mai Kuha]

Hm. I'm so far culturally removed that I actually can't match a stereotype
with any region. Since my father is Karelian, I'd better just say they're
grievously wronged, long-suffering people.

-Mai

On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> 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