Question:
How do you express English puns? I saw one interpreter simply sign "hearing
joke, please laugh." My choice has been to fingerspell the English that
has multiple meanings.
Response:
Fingerspelling (of a pun) is certainly better than patronizing.
If I ever witnessed an ASL interpreter sign, "hearing joke, please laugh" I
would certainly try to avoid using that interpreter again.
An interpreter should do their best to sign a joke after which it is my pleasure
and opportunity to attempt to "get" (figure out) the joke. That is what part of
what makes jokes funny -- figuring them out and then being amused by having done
so.
For the interpreter to take away the recipient's opportunity to even "see" the
joke and then worse to patronizingly tell the recipient to "laugh" so that it
will appear that the interpreter was competent enough to interpret the joke and
instill a false idea of having good sense of humor to the teller of the unseen
joke -- is an egregious (*shockingly bad) abuse of privilege and responsibility
on the part of the interpreter.
A few thoughts for interpreters and/or presenters:
Do not assume that Deaf people can't "get" Hearing jokes.
Some do. Some don't.
Deaf people who are bilingual generally can.
One of the first rules of comedy is to "know your audience."
My "day job" (as of this writing) is at a 4-year accredited university. I and
three of my colleagues are Deaf and hold doctorate degrees. We are all skilled
bilinguals (English and ASL). My (Deaf) wife holds a Master of Fine Arts in
Creative writing. She is witty in both ASL and English.
A pun is funny to those who know the language in which the pun is told and who
have the nimbleness of wit to make the mental leap to find amusement in the
alternate meanings created by the use of the pun.
Telling someone what something means is different from extending the opportunity
for the other person to figure out what it means. (Figuring out a joke tends to
require a "mental leap.")
Interpreting a pun for a monolingual (or even for a bilingual) removes the
mental leap and causes the pun to become "not funny."
A hammer isn't much good when you need to tighten a bolt. You need a wrench. You
need the right tool for the job. If all you have is a hammer it is a good idea
to leave the bolt alone until you can find a wrench* (or locking pliers). That's
just the way it is.
Puns are one of those language tools that only work well when your audience
knows the (originating) language. If not you should just leave puns alone.
.
.
.
Cant...resist....
.
.
.
Otherwise you might have a gut wrenching* experience when you try to
hammer home your point with a pun.
_________________________________________
* For those of you who didn't get my (attempted) pun. In one paragraph I
used a "wrench" and a "hammer" as metaphors for "language tools." In my
"pun" later on -- I used "gut wrenching" and "hammer home" to mean things that
have no direct connection with putting a wrench on a bolt or hitting a nail with
a hammer. It is (supposedly) funny because I'm obviously "stretching" to
make it work. So, in this situation the amusement (if there be any) comes
from the "attempt" at hummor rather than the pun itself. Or in other words, go
ahead and laugh (or grimace?) "at" me instead of "with me."
Definition:
"patronizing" 1. apparently kind or helpful but betraying a feeling of
superiority; condescending. (Source: Oxford / Lexico)
Note:
I realize that some people may feel the need to approach puns as an opportunity to "interpret" or sign something to make it clear, obvious, and easily understood without effort by the viewer.
That is not what puns are for.
"Puns" are funny because the person who "gets" (understands) the pun - figures it out or makes a mental leap to create the connection.
The moment you expand a pun to make it 100% clear or add information that removes all abstraction, ambiguity, and/or metaphor -- you are no longer telling a pun -- you are interpreting.
Interpreting is a valuable skill -- but it isn't funny.
Puns are funny because it takes a little effort or in-group knowledge to understand them.
So feel free to continue telling me how you would sign a pun very clearly so that there is no doubt in the mind of the viewer what you are signing.
Yay! You are a good interpreter! Thanks!
(But you aren't funny.)
Thesis: The temporary preservation of ambiguity is integral to a
pun that relies on polysemy.
Supporting arguments:
(Um...nah. Maybe someday. Feel free to donate to the "Bald ASL Professors with
Van Dykes Fund"
https://paypal.me/Lifeprint
so I can quit my day job and write blog posts for a living. If you don't
understand the thesis statement above do your homework and learn what the
individual words mean. Then think about it. See definitions below.)
Glossary:
Ambiguity: "the quality of being open to more than one interpretation;
inexactness."*
Integral: necessary to make a whole complete; essential or fundamental.
Polysemy: the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.
Preserve: maintain (something) in its original or existing state.
Pun: a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact
that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings."*
Temporary: lasting for only a limited period of time
References:
"ambiguity." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 4 Nov 2019 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ambiguity>.
"integral." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 4 Nov 2019 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/integral>.
"polysemy." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 4 Nov 2019 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/polysemy>.
"preserve." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 4 Nov 2019 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/preserve>.
"pun." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 4 Nov 2019 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pun>.
(Source: "temporary." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 4 Nov 2019 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/temporary>.)