MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO Master´S Thesis

MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH LEXICAL AMBIGUITIES AND

WORDPLAY BASED ON THE SITCOM HOW I MET YOUR

MOTHER

Master´s Thesis Brno 2016

Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Martin Němec, Ph.D. Hana Křepelková

Declaration

I declare that I worked on my master´s thesis on my own and I used only the resources mentioned in the thesis.

I agree with storing my thesis in the library of the Faculty of Education at the Masaryk

University Brno and making it accessible for study purposes.

Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci zpracovala samostatně a použila jen zdroje uvedené v seznamu literatury a internetových zdrojů.

Souhlasím, aby byla práce uložena na Pedagogické fakultě Masarykovy univerzity v Brně pro studijní účely.

Brno 3th March 2016 ......

Hana Křepelková

Acknowledgment

I would like to express my gratitude to Mgr. Martin Němec, Ph.D. for supervising my master´s thesis. I would like to thank him for his time and support as well as for providing inspiring ideas, useful advice and instructive sources.

Abstract

The diploma thesis focuses on the matter of translation of English lexical ambiguities. It studies the Czech translation of wordplay, set phrases, idioms, proverbs or sayings that are often employed in order to achieve a humorous effect. The research is thus based on the popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The aim of the thesis is to study whether the translators manage to transform those phenomena into Czech, what techniques there are used in order to translate the "untranslatable" and also to assess if the comical effect may be retained. Since such renderings are often not thorough enough, the paper proposes more accurate alternatives. The research method is realized through a careful examination of each episode. Furthermore, several phenomena are evaluated: whether the Czech equivalent is sufficiently apt and apposite or whether the meaning of an utterance is more convenient to be changed and why. According to the data reported by Delabastita (1997), Nornes (1999) et al., it is analysed whether the translator transferred the wordplay directly, whether it was explicated, compensated for by more natural linguistic devices, completely changed, or simply omitted. The goal of the paper is to facilitate the process of translating phrases with a double meaning as it occurs frequently in this popular sort of series.

Anotace

Předmětem diplomové práce je překlad anglických dvojsmyslů. Zabývá se tedy českým překladem slovních hříček, ustálených slovních spojení, idiomů a rčení, jichž je často užíváno pro dosažení komického efektu. Výzkum tedy vychází z populárního sitcomu Jak jsem poznal vaši matku. Cílem mé práce je zjistit, zda jsou čeští překladatelé schopni přenést tyto jevy do mateřského jazyka, jaké techniky jsou používány, aby bylo přeloženo zdánlivě nepřeložitelné.

Práce dále hodnotí, zdali zmíněný komický efekt může být zachován. Jelikož překlad dvojsmyslů občas není zcela přesný, v textu jsou navrženy vhodnější alternativy. Výzkumná metoda spočívá v pečlivém průzkumu každé epizody sitcomu a je zhodnoceno, zda je český

4 ekvivalent vhodným překladem nebo je na místě raději českou verzi změnit a z jakého důvodu. Na základě poznatků různých expertů (Delabastita, 1997 či Nornes, 1991) analýza zkoumá, zdali jsou jednotlivé slovní hříčky přeloženy přímo, je-li jejich význam vysvětlen, je- li pro vystihnutí dvojsmyslů užito přirozenějších jazykových prostředků, dále je pozorováno, zda jsou slovní hříčky od základu změněny, či vynechány úplně. Práce si klade za záměr zjednodušit překladateský proces těchto jazykových jevů, jelikož právě slovní hříčky tvoří

často nedílnou součást oblíbeného žánru, jakým je situační komedie.

Key words translation, ambiguity, wordplay, pun, double meaning, homonymy, homophony, polysemy, paronymy, comical effect, original, preservation of the pun, translative method

Klíčová slova překlad, dvojsmysl, slovní hříčka, dvojí význam, homonymie, homofonie, polysémie, paronymie, komický efekt, originál, zachování slovní hříčky, překladatelská metoda

Content

1 Introduction ...... 9 1. 1 The subject of the thesis ...... 9 1. 2 Subtitles as up-to-date research material ...... 9 1. 3 Goal of the analysis ...... 10 1. 4 Methodology ...... 11 1. 5 Structure of the thesis ...... 12 2 Wordplay analysis ...... 14 2. 1 Definition of wordplay ...... 14 2. 2 Wordplay, pun and double entendre as distinctive terms...... 15 2. 3 Types of wordplay ...... 16 2. 4 Further distinction: paradigmatic and syntagmatic puns ...... 17 3 Translating puns ...... 18 3. 1 Puns and the difficulty of translation ...... 18 3. 2 Wordplay based on phonetic factors ...... 20 3. 3 Identification techniques and methodology ...... 20 3. 4 Modes of translation: Direct copy, explanation and omission, abusive subtitling .... 22 3. 5 Foreignisation, neutralisation and naturalisation ...... 23 3. 6 Play with literal and figurative meaning ...... 23 3. 7 Deviation from the original ...... 24 3. 7. 1 Change of image ...... 24 4 Translators´ benefits and obstacles ...... 27 5 Subtitles: Limitations and obstacles ...... 29 5. 1 Reduction due to space and time ...... 30 5. 2 Technical and linguistic restrictions ...... 31 6 Summary of hypotheses ...... 33 7 Analysis of wordplay in practice ...... 35 7. 1 Situational comedy as a resource ...... 35 7. 1. 1 How I Met Your Mother ...... 35 7. 2 Direct copy, change of image, explanation, omission, abusive subtitling ...... 36 7. 2. 1 Direct copy ...... 36 7. 2. 2 Change of image ...... 46 7. 2. 3 Explanation ...... 52

7. 2. 4 Omission ...... 54 7. 2. 5 Abusive subtitling ...... 60 7. 3 Cultural reference ...... 64 7. 3. 1 Foreignisation ...... 64 7. 3. 2 Naturalisation ...... 66 8 Discussion and findings ...... 69 8. 1 Evaluation of the methods of direct copy, change of image, explanation, omission and abusive subtitling ...... 69 8. 1. 1 Direct copy ...... 69 8. 1. 1. 1 Direct copy and preservation of pun ...... 72 8. 1. 1. 2 Substitution of comical pun by comical non-pun ...... 74 8. 1. 2 Change of image ...... 74 8. 1. 3 Explanation ...... 77 8. 1. 4 Omission ...... 78 8. 1. 5 Abusive subtitling ...... 81 8. 2 Cultural reference ...... 84 8. 3 Taboo language ...... 88 8. 4 Further wordplay phenomena ...... 88 9 Conclusion ...... 91 10 References ...... 95 10. 1 Primary source ...... 95 10. 2 Secondary sources ...... 95

1 Introduction

1. 1 The subject of the thesis

In the thesis, I focus on an analysis of translation of English plays on words into

Czech. In the research, I intend to observe if it is feasible at all to transfer ambiguity, which is commonly heavily reliant on the source language, to another language. The purpose of my thesis is to collect a number of illustrative puns, evaluate their Czech translation, to study possible translative patterns and, given the assumption that the translations might occasionally contain at least minor lexical and semantic imperfections, I am to discuss how the translator ought to treat the wordplay and what could be employed as a more accurate or convenient translation. On the basis of those vivid examples, the thesis presents pragmatic translative approaches when coming across various wordplay.

1. 2 Subtitles as up-to-date research material

The analysis draws the examples of wordplay from an American situational comedy

How I Met Your Mother, a guarantee of rich research material. The study is based on the sitcom subtitles, which enables one to simultaneously observe the original puns and their

Czech versions.

The major reason for the choice of English subtitles as a resource is their topicality; the current era is characteristic of audiovisual media expansion and internet downloading and the Czech audience, always labelled as "dubbing-oriented", has been gradually increasing in the need for foreign programmes in a subtitled version, usually for learning purposes or linguistic authenticity.

The evidence for growing preference for subtitles is e.g. frequent occurrence of subtitled films in terms of foreign cinematography or great popularity of fansubbing, which

9 stands for creating subtitles for films or series by fans instead of professionals who make licensed official versions. The internet provides numerous web sites with amateur subtitled material and due to its easy and free accessibility, an increasing number of virtual customers are using the unofficial subtitles. In fact, it is thanks to fansubbing that subtitles have become so visible and popular.

This fact demonstrates the necessity for the subtitlers to be at least superficially familiar with the translation principles. This study looks into various translating strategies and approaches and may thus serve as an approximate guide to the specific area of wordplay, which, as the thesis repeatedly points out, represents a highly problematic part of translation.

Various plays on words are usually an integral part of sitcoms and as this genre gains in popularity, it is imperative to provide their decent translation.

Moreover, there are not as many works dealing with this subject as it would deserve and if so, they tend to be fairly descriptive. Also, they usually have one term in common -

(un)translability. More importantly, they focus mainly on written genres. It may be explained by the fact that the academic circles do not take the study of humour seriously (Chiaro 69).

The arguments above, however, clearly prove that the academic study of translation of these particular phenomena requires more attention.

1. 3 Goal of the analysis

The principal objective of the research is to investigate a troublesome matter of wordplay translation, i.e. to study the way of rendering various ambiguities, usually caused by usage of homonymy, homophony, polysemy or paronymy. Since the ambiguous words, phrases or idioms are exploited for their comical effect, the aim is to ascertain whether the desired outcome can be achieved in Czech at all, given the often insurmountable diversity between the source and the target language, and how. The goal is therefore also to identify

10 situations where various puns occur and to relate them to the translative methods that are likely to suit those situations.

1. 4 Methodology

Alhough the thesis attempts to deduce some universal conclusion from the examination of collected data, the result concerning the field of translation study cannot be truly generalized. Due to the aim to study the translation of concrete puns in detail, the thesis uses a qualitative research method.

The study procedure is as follows; first, the theoretical section discusses the reference literature. The gathered data are applied to the puns occurring in the sitcom and it is observed whether the word untranslatability, often associated with wordplay, is indeed appropriate. The focus is on employed translative methods, which are discussed later, their frequency and efficacy.

To be more specific, all the relevant puns from the 208 episodes of the sitcom How I

Met Your Mother (except for those considered too offensive, obscene or those following the same pattern as the puns already noted down) are recorded in the table according to the method applied by the translator. The tables hence contain the puns rendered by the method of direct copy, change of image, explanation, omission or abusive subtitling. The puns based on a cultural reference are divided into separate tables according to the method of foreignisation, neutralisation or naturalisation. Generally, this distinction shows which puns have been preserved in the target language, which have been ignored, it also demonstrates those puns that have been retained, but provided with an explanation, or those adapted for the target audience (all are described in more detail later). Each pun is explicated and its context is described if necessary. The next column displays their official translation and the last one assesses the wordplay and possibly proposes an alternative.

The final part evaluates the translations and the suitability of the used methods overall, it discusses various procedures of wordplay rendering and confronts the eternal dilemma over the formal equivalence and preservation of a punning effect. Each section is again provided with illustrative examples from the sitcom that demonstrate the (in)convenience of the used method. If another translation is suggested, it is supported with a valid argument.

1. 5 Structure of the thesis

Initially, the thesis thoroughly defines the wordplay, it deals with various terminology concerning the subject and presents division of plays on words. Therefore, a reader encounters the most substantial expressions like wordplay, pun, double entendre, played or player. Then, the substance of ambiguity is introduced and phenomena like homonymy, homophony, polysemy or paronymy are distinguished. After the gist of the wordplay is discussed, the puns are related to the difficulty of translation. It is shown why puns are often regarded as untranslatable, certain complications like a radical shift from the written to the spoken form are presented. The following part is devoted to the necessities concerning the translator and the techniques that may be applied in terms of pun identification. Another section is crucial for the analysis as it deals with several methods of pun translation. Furthermore, the puns built on a cultural reference are focussed on separately. As the previous text lays great emphasis on the mutual exclusion of preservation of the original pun and retention of the comical effect, the translative method based on changing the source language is looked into in particular. It is reflected on to what extent it is acceptable to deviate from the original version for the sake of the humorous effect. Afterwards, the focus is shifted more towards the phenomena that the translator usually faces and that may represent both an advantage and an inconvenience when rendering wordplay. Hence, the text discusses the issue of a match of subtitles with the visual, the consideration of non-linguistic factors or potential linguistic competence of target viewers.

Since the wordplay translation is studied through the English subtitles, it is necessary that the matter of subtitling be given space, because they impose certain restrictions upon translation.

The next part is oriented practically; after introducing a resource material, an

American situational comedy How I Met Your Mother, it presents a considerable number of puns, recorded in the tables, divided according to the method of translation. All the puns are explained, evaluated and alternatively substitued with a more fitting variant. In the end, the puns are assessed as a whole and the final part summarises the significant findings about the pun translation, the possibility of transfer of humour and ambiguity into another language, the efficacy of the methods and the struggle between the formal and comical equivalence. It also evaluates the performance of the translator, discusses certain renderings in particular and justifies the suggested translations. The thesis thus addresses the question of compatibility of

English and Czech as for translation of wordplay.

2 Wordplay analysis

2. 1 Definition of wordplay

Above all, it is vital that wordplay be thoroughly defined; Delabastita states that it is

"communicatively significant confrontation of at least two linguistic structures with more or less dissimilar meanings (signifieds) and more or less similar forms (signifiers)" (128). The following definition is more convenient for the purposes of the thesis. It describes wordplay as "the use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings, or the use of two or more words of the same sound with different meaning, so as to produce a humorous effect"

(Delebastia 57). In other words, a person using a play on words profits from the multiple meaning of a word or from expressions that sound at least similar, but their meaning differs, so as to make other people laugh. But there are various purposes of usage of wordplay, for instance to conceal taboo. Wordplay is also remarkable by its peculiarity. In the sitcom How I

Met Your Mother, which will later provide an overview of different sorts of wordplay, the characters are proof that wordplay affect the way a speaker is perceived (Zirker, Winter-

Froemel 1).

To provide more general definitions, wordplay may be appositely described as a phenomenon that playfully questions the common way a language functions and it creatively profits from the limits of the language (Zirker and Winter-Froemel 6). The authors even describe it as a "riddle" and to find its solution, one has to consider all the possible meanings and ambiguities of the expressions involved. Wordplay is typical of its creative employment in a wide range of use and the reason for it being so variable in use is that it is always influenced by the speaker's and hearer's knowledge (Zirker and Winter-Froemel 10).

2. 2 Wordplay, pun and double entendre as distinctive terms

Comparing various works dealing with lexical ambiguities, experts usually do not make a distinction between the terms wordplay and pun and this study treats the expressions likewise. Nonetheless, it is to the point to demonstrate the findings of the authors who do distinguish the two words. For instance, Hannond and Hughes (qtd. in Tigges 60) describe a pun as an ambiguous sentence that is built on the same sound of two differing words. To make their definition more evident, they use the following sentence: "The excitement is in tents."

Obviously, the pronunciation of the final part is identical with the adjective intense. Wordplay, on the other hand, is regarded as a result of an ambiguous sentence containing homonyms and the meanings creating the wordplay are supposed to be etymologically linked.

There are other authors who do not arbitrarily interchange the words pun and wordplay. For example Landers declares that "not all word plays are puns" (109). According to his interpretation, wordplay is a more superordinate term.

The Macmillan Dictionary provides a fairly general definition - wordplay is described as "clever or funny use of words". It refers to various stylistic phenomena as alliterations

(usage of the same sound at the beginning of each word in a sentence), malaproprisms

(replacement of an expression by an incorrect one which is similar in pronunciation), also coinages (basically neologisms, often created accidentally) or even hypercorrection (an incorrect usage of grammar or pronunciation caused by a desire to remain correct) (Landers

109).1 A pun, on the other hand, is accurately described as a playful linguistic expression. The

Macmillan Dictionary defines it as a "humorous use of a word that has two meanings, or of words with the same sound but different meanings".

In terminology regarding wordplay, there are also mentioned two relevant expressions distinguishing the two senses of an ambiguous word. The common, ordinary sense is referred

1 The definitions of the mentioned types of wordplay are available in The Macmillan Dictionary. 15 to as "ludé (played)", whereas the unusual and unexpected one is called "ludant (player)"

(Guiraud, qtd. in Attardo 136).

If the terms wordplay and pun should be distinguished, this study focuses of all the wordplay primarily on puns and since they are considered to be spoken jokes that are usually interpreted aloud (Attardo 109), the audiovisual resource has been found more convenient than a literary text.

Another expression the definition of which is very similar to that of a pun is a double entendre, which is also a word or a phrase containing two different meanings. The nuance that distinguishes a double entendre from a pun is that one of those meanings is offensive due to its sexual subtext, and that makes the word or a phrase humorous.

2. 3 Types of wordplay

On the basis of either phonological or polysemic aspect, several types are distinguished. There is homophonic wordplay that is perhaps the most relevant for this analysis of spoken communication. Here, the double meaning is produced by words whose spelling is different, but whose pronunciation is identical. Equally important is so called homonymic wordplay which describes expressions interchangeable both in written form and in pronunciation. Then, it is also paronymic wordplay that appears in the analysis occasionally. This appellation stands for words that may appear identical at first glance, but are not quite the same in spelling nor in pronunciation. There exists also homographic wordplay, which is used in written communication as it represents words with the same written form, but dissimilar pronunciation. However, the occurrence of homographic wordplay is unlikely in the audiovisual translation and is thus irrelevant to this research.

2. 4 Further distinction: paradigmatic and syntagmatic puns

Attardo investigates the term pun even further and he distinguishes two kinds -

"paradigmatic and syntagmatic puns" (115-116). What they have in common is the involvement of two senses of an expression creating a pun, which is called "a string". The paradigmatic puns are characteristic of only one element being present (referred to as "the uttered string") and the other one is to be detected by the hearer on the basis of his or her linguistic knowledge. Attardo presents a sentence "His sins were scarlet but his books were read." As only one sense of the homophonic /red/ is actually present, it makes the word a perfect example of a paradigmatic pun. Contrariwise, in terms of syntagmatic puns, neither of the linguistic elements is absent. Here, a very instructive example is a collocation "the wrath of grapes", which refers not only to Steinbeck´s famous novel, but also to a hangover. Another type of wordplay that Attardo mentions, and which might also pose a problem for a translator, is zeugma. The use of a word twice in a sentence, but each time with a different meaning is apparent in a sentence ˝He left a house and a good impression.˝

3 Translating puns

3. 1 Puns and the difficulty of translation

Now, as the essence of wordplay has been commented on, it can be looked into from the translation standpoint. Basically, the concept of ambiguity is referred to as problematic, as the possibilities of apt translation are fairly limited. In general, humour has always presented a disturbing aspect when it comes to translation and due to the linguistic complexity, divergent tastes in humour and cultural diversity, it is sometimes described as "acrobatic language"

(Chiaro 63). As a result, as much as the role of puns is significant, it is frequently underestimated or even ignored. Often, as stated in the introductory section, wordplay is even connected with a word untranslatability (Delabastita 182). Crisafulli in his article describes a general attitude that it is in vain to carry out research on wordplay translation as it is impossible to preserve both semantic and lexical equivalence in the original and target language (259-276).

Certainly, it is highly complicated to find a word in Czech that has identical semantic ambivalence as its English equivalent. The reason is that a polysemous word in the source language is very unlikely to be polysemous in the target language as well. Moreover, even though one finds an equivalent applicable for wordplay, it may not carry the same stylistic or emotive meaning.

Therefore, it is rarely possible to pick a pun and simply translate is with a similar pun which exists in the target language. It can happen, but it is usually a result of two things; first, it requires coincidence and second, the translator needs to successfully assess whether the author of the English pun and the Czech reader share the cognitive environment and the corresponding translated version will be efficacious. Nonetheless, it is not demanded to necessarily achieve an equivalence according to some experts. Translation is by its very

18 nature imperfect and it is a principle of relevance that matters (Crisafulli 267). The main concern ought to be successful communication decoded and appreciated by the target reader.

In fact, the translator is usually expected to adapt the Czech version to a certain extent in order to preserve the humorous effect. To reach translatability, one has to actually bear in mind the contextual meaning of the word which creates a pun, not only the function of a sign element being used. Then, it is more likely to discover some permitted translation shifts.

From a more general viewpoint, some authors as Catford see the major problem in the shift from the spoken language to the written version (53). Allegedly, the graphological components can never truly capture the phonological aspect of the original. Hence, even the best conditions cannot lead to an accurate translation. Moreover, the puns and the jokes in general are often based on the sociolectal and dialectal features and especially the dialectal aspect is impossible to depict. In short, the language automatically captures the culture of a certain nation, in this case of the Americans, and the subtitler has to decide whether it is more convenient to adapt the language for the target audience in order to produce a familiar atmosphere or simply to let the readers grasp the foreign culture.

Basically, all the experts involved seem to agree on complexity of pun translation.

Landers, too, concedes that most of the puns are simply impossible to translate (110).

However, even if it is a challenging task, he considers finding a perfect equivalent for the original word or phrase in the target language highly pleasant and thus worth trying.

Nevertheless, he points out that the translator cannot expect to succeed in properly rendering every witticism. It is implied that if certain wordplay does not provoke a proper reaciton, it does not really have to be caused by a wrong translation; it can simply be a result of too wide a cultural difference (Schauffler 37). To sum up, even though the pun is not transferred into the target language, Landers encourages the translator to maintain at least the tone.

3. 2 Wordplay based on phonetic factors

As noted in the previous section, occasionally, the wordplay is created on the basis of a dialect or a different accent, which means that the translator is supposed to deal with different grammar, vocabulary, syntax and the most troublesome aspect, pronunciation. However, to convey those linguistic features into a different language, plus to express the difference through the titles, seems, again, impracticable. Landers is very definite about this issue; since there are no linguistic devices in the target language to capture a culturally determined dialect, he advises not to even try to translate it (117). This method is obviously employed in practice.

In the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, there is a fairly frequent occurrence of African

American English or British English, which are to create a comical effect. For instance, in the eight episode of the first season, Marshall utters in the British accent: ˝Oh, hello, governor. Oh it's like that, innit? Cheerio.˝ Leaving aside the pronunciation, the sentence is still purely

British; there are typically British expressions as governor or cheerio. Innit is an informal form of a question tag typical of the British as well. Although it is these features that create the wordplay, the utterance is rendered in a usual way: ˝Haló, guvernére. Takhle to je, ano?˝

There is even no mention of the presence of the British accent in brackets.

3. 3 Identification techniques and methodology

What also makes translation of wordplay extremely challenging is its uniqueness.

There is no universal manual that would provide the most accurate way of rendering different kinds of wordplay. A translator may frequently occur a phenomenon that his colleague never comes across.

A professional subtitler should not neglect to gain a second opinion, ideally from someone who masters both a source and target language, but even a person incompetent at the foreign language may be able to evaluate a Czech translation, provided that he or she

20 possesses a sense of style and can thus assess the level and intelligibility of wordplay.

Furthermore, due to lack of guidance on wordplay translation, it is necessary that the subtitler have a considerable talent for rendering and natural sense of linguistic particularities in both languages.

It is beyond doubt that apart from the innate qualities, the translator must also possess considerable knowledge of English language to identify the presence of wordplay in the first place. Sometimes, the translator is given notice about a forthcoming pun, whereas other times, there is no hint of wordplay to come. In fact, Attardo talks about presence of "specific announcement, non-specific announcement or no announcement at all" (130).

To recognize the ambiguity, it is necessary to think about all the signified (meanings) that the signifier (form of a word)2 may have. In other cases, one needs to assess the phonetic aspect of a linguistic element and take into consideration all its possible interpretations or the expressions phonetically similar. If the mentioned methods do not reveal any pun, it is also the graphic form of a word that should be focused upon. Attardo also points out that the context must be taken into account as often, the pun is based on large segments of utterances, not just words (132).

Once the translator identifies the pun, he or she needs to correctly decide which sense is being punned upon and in the last part, he or she is obliged to ensure that the target hearer also detects both meanings of the expression involved.

Based on the part devoted to subtitling, it is assumed that they do pose an obstacle both for the trnalsator and the audience, but should be considered to be a genuine translation.

2 The terms signifier and signified were invented by F. De Saussure. 21

3. 4 Modes of translation: Direct copy, explanation and omission, abusive subtitling

When coming across a play on words, the translator has several options. According to

Delabastita (12), one of them is called direct copy, which means that the wordplay is simply rendered to the target language without being explained and it is up to the readers whether they get its meaning or not. Another type is pseudo-wordplay, which is basically the opposite - the original is translated through explanation, usually placed in parentheses, so that the reader grasps both the literal and connotative meaning (Catford 93-95). However, this type ought to be applied only occasionally as it automatically disturbs the smoothness of the titles and the reader is deprived of the real effect of the wordplay. When there is a double meaning that appears impossible to render and the translator does not wish to use the previous type, the omission of the wordplay can take place. Delabastita refers to this technique also as non translation (211). There are further ways of dealing with puns, it is worth mentioning for example usage of rhetorically related devices like e.g. alliteration or rhyming as compensation for untranslatability of a pun or transforming a comical pun into a comical non-pun; the rest is not that relevant to the research.

Speaking about omission, there is a somehow opposite approach that should be shortly introduced. It is called abusive subtitling. In fact, abusive means violent, but this abusiveness towards the original is regarded as positive and creative (Nornes 17). The term signifies that the translator puts an additional linguistic phenomena in the subtitles that do not occur in the original version to compensate for the loss. Abusive subtitling is considered to bring the audience closer to the source language than domestication.

Some researchers have come to a conclusion that the most frequent method for translation is the direct one and whether the comical effect is lost or not is mostly irrelevant for the translators. In fact, the technique of direct transfer of puns regardless the result has

22 allegedly become prominent in the modern mass media and it is not only acknowledged, but sometimes even recommended by translation experts (Delabastita 211). This issue is looked into and possibly questioned later in this research.

3. 5 Foreignisation, neutralisation and naturalisation

Other authors, as for insance Fong and Au, deal with a similar division, but they discuss it from a different viewpoint; they state that if the wordplay stems from the cultural reference, it is essential to proceed on the basis of either foreignisation, neutralisation or naturalisation. However, all the three methods frequently co-occur (101-102).

Foreignisation preserves all the cultural references, i.e. customs, names of places, institutions, movies and others. If neutralisation is used, the cultural references are maintained, but explicated, in order that the audience is not deprived of the genuine character of the pun. The third option, naturalisation, means that the imprint of the original is eliminated. Nonetheless, the authors state that this one is not that used as the most common is the combination of neutralisation and foreignisation.

It is up to the subtitler to decide which method is the most suitable for a particular utterance, but mostly, there are two major decisive aspects - whether it is possible to substitute the pun with one available in the target language or whether there is a chance for the target audience to decode the wordplay.

3. 6 Play with literal and figurative meaning

To reach as accurate a rendering as possible, the translator ought to categorize the expressions with a double meaning. Zirker and Winter-Froemel state that usually, it is a play with a figurative and literal meaning (8), which means that either there is a metaphor that is literalized or an expression/a phrase is used in a literal way, but it carries also a metaphorical

23 meaning. There is also described so called metonymic wordplay and the term signifies that an expression/a phrase is supplemented with further metonymic significance. According to

Newmark, the wordplay stemming from interchange of literal and figurative meaning is the simplest for the translator (217).

3. 7 Deviation from the original

A number of authors as Crisafulli or Newmark believe that the final translation should reflect the major purpose; if the wordplay is used mainly in order to amuse, one can replace the original pun with another one, using words that have a completely different meaning, but ingeniously capture the essence (217).

There is another legitimate reason for preferring efficacy to fidelity towards the original. If the pun is based on linguistic or cultural reference that makes sense only in the source language, the translator is allowed to make so called change of image, which means that the wordplay is substituted by a completely different pun that achieves a proper effect in the target language.

To sum up, in translation, one has to bear in mind accuracy and preserving smoothness. Nevertheless, it is hardly acceptable to remain accurate for example when rendering rhymed plays on words as the wit lies in rhyming. Another example are idioms that lose their idiomatic essence if being translated literally. Thus, it is imperative to sacrifice the accuracy to some extent.

3. 7. 1 Change of image

As implied above, the translator ought to reflect on the primary intention of sitcom screenwriters (and expectation of the audience watching a sitcom), which is undoubtedly to hold to the comedy genre, and the translator´s work should only serve this purpose. Such

24 reflection indeed leads to the acceptability of wordplay change.

When the sitcom translator is to maintain the humorous effect, it needs to be born in mind that the idea of humour varies between different cultures (Schauffler 37), which must be naturally reflected in its rendering. Anna Jankowska ("Translating Humour in Dubbing and

Subtitling") supports this argument by claiming that humour has to travel across linguistic and cultural barriers. Evidently, many experts believe that it is even required to realize the full potential of humour and wit that is to be found in the target language.

However, Schjoldager, Gottieb and Klitgård provide a contradictory argument by saying that when the viewers are exposed to the foreign series (or any other form), they expect the foreign culture to manifest itself (61). This fact thus implies that by adapting wordplay to the target audience, the subtitler deprives the viewers from the genuine experience of a different culture identity.

The arguments above clearly prove that the translator frequently faces a dilemma when deciding between foreignisation and naturalisation (by some experts also referred to as domestication).

To sum up, the final translation must, among other restrictions, take into account the gap between the English native-speaking audience and the target viewers, which should not be excessive in terms of perception of the sitcom, plus potential comprehension of the Czech speakers, who may hence find the divergence between the two versions negative. On the other hand, the maintenance of wordplay when following foreignisating strategies is most probably doomed to failure. And in most of the cases, by trying to achieve both formal fidelity and humorous effect, one reaches only dichotomy (Schauffler 10). Therefore, the subtitler needs to invent an indeed creative solution.

In order to form a clearer idea on whether the more convenient strategy is to preserve the original wordplay or to transfer humour, which is usually incompatible, as already

25 demonstrated, the translator may profit from the study of Prof. Dr. Svea Schauffler, who was in charge of a study on this particular issue; for an English short film, two different versions of German subtitles were created, (the official) one minding the equivalence between the source and target language, the other modifying all the puns necessary to keep the humorous effect. Both versions were presented to the German-speaking audience and their reactions and reception were being recorded in a questionnaire. There was also the audience consisting of

English native speakers who were screened a non-subtitled version so that it could be assessed to what extent their perception differed from the one of German speakers.

The study proved that the version prioritizing comical effect in subtitles was perceived more positively by the spectators, regardless their level of English, which means that even those who were able to follow the original wordplay did not find the unofficial version somehow disturbing. On the contrary, the German viewers with more advanced level of

English allegedly enjoyed the wordplay even more. Surprisingly, some viewers received the version with official subtitles in a negative way. Furthermore, the reception of German viewers was not markedly different from the one of native English audience (Schauffler 173-

174). The results of the study clearly show that the translator should serve a purpose of retaining the character even if it means losing the formal equivalence.

4 Translators´ benefits and obstacles

When creating wordplay different from the original, the translator needs to keep in mind that the titles must frequently correspond not only with the verbal, but also with the physical context. While sometimes, the image can provide helpful support when translating is too complex, often, it represents an insurmountable constraint, as the wordplay must match the visual, otherwise it creates utter nonsense. For example, in the episode called Canning

Randy, Robin is forced to quickly invent a false name and, inspired by a check and a pepper pot lying on the table and clearly seen by a viewer, she says a name "Bill Pepper". The Czech translation uses a name "Angrešt Pepřenka" but as there is no visible gooseberry nor does it indicate a real name as the word bill, the translation becomes rather illogical.

Furthermore, it is also the non-linguistic factors of an utterance that become rather two-edged. They may serve as a hint in terms of understanding particular wordplay, which is supported by Gottlieb who says that "the non-verbal factors create the basis of much wordplay in television and may indeed act as a part of the solution" (207). However, they may pose a restriction when it comes to rendering. Wordplay is often accompanied by a change of voice quality, specific diction, facial expression, gesture or for example laughter (which is, as for sitcoms, artificially added in the background). This automatically leads a viewer to the effort to retrospectively detect some kind of joke. Hence, when the subtitler intends to omit the wordplay, it may not be possible for those reasons.

Another aspect that the translator may take into account when rendering plays on words is the viewers that do comprehend the original wordplay (which might be a frequent phenomenon since knowledge of English language is nowadays fairly wide-spread in Czech).

On the one hand, it gives the translator a certain advantage as he may depend on competence of most of the viewers in terms of understanding the original puns. This corresponds with the

27 argument of Schauffler who states as a reason for retention of the original in many cases the fact that the translator relies on the viewer's knowledge of English and the subtitles serve only as a guide (8). But on the other hand, if the subtitles differ from the original, this sort of audience may observe the translation process, compare the source utterance to the rendered one and find the modified translation incorrect. Gottlieb speaks about "hardcore subtitling countries", which may be for instance Scandinavia, which consider the original and the subtitles to be so-called "diamesic twins" and which often criticize the difference between the spoken and written version (5-6). If the difference is detected by the viewers, the author refers to an authenticity problem. From a different point of view, provided that the changed wordplay is of a certain quality, the audience may appreciate the effort and the creativity that was put into the translation.

5 Subtitles: Limitations and obstacles

Now that the wordplay has been discussed and it has been described how it needs to be handled when translating, another relevant issue has to be covered, given the source material of the thesis, and that issue is subtitling.

Subtitles are a key factor in the perception of foreign audiovisual programmes. Nornes even talks about murder by “incompetent” subtitle (17). He adds that every turn of a phrase, even every punctuation mark is decisive when it comes to the viewing experience of the foreign spectator. Sometimes, the popularity of subtitles is undermined by the viewers

(usually those who can understand both the source and the target language) because of its distractive impact, which is caused by inevitable division of viewer´s attention between the picture and the text. Nevertheless, there are still considerably more users who appreciate

English subtitles, apart from its other benefits, as a highly convenient didactic aid, which is reasonable since English is a second language for most of the Czech learners. That is a sufficient motive for monitoring their quality.

When the translator renders wordplay or basically any other linguistic phenomenon contained in subtitles, it requires a different procedure than translating a text; in fact, there are such tight restrictions when making subtitles that it is not even considered to be a translation by some. Often, this phenomenon is referred to only as an adaptation (Diaz Cintaz and

Remael, qtd. in Schauffler 16).

Primarily, the spoken language takes the written form, which is already a substantial change as the spoken discourse is typical of repetition and redundancy and the written language is generally characteristic of a more formal style (De Linde 9-20). Some authors see this distinction as problematic. They claim that since the subtitles represent the spoken discourse, the translator ought to suppress the stylistic system of the written language in order to preserve at least some of the oral flavour (Kovačič 126).

Then, there is the issue of synchronization with the sound and image. Talking about the sound, there is another aspect of spoken language that ought to be reflected and that is intonation. An experienced subtitler has to include it in the transcription as sometimes, the intonation can cause that the phrase takes on the opposite meaning of what it says when being on the paper (Reid, qtd. in Delabastita, 1997). What the person writing subtitles has to deal with as well is "dirty language" that appears even more abusive when it is being read. Also, given the limited space and time, the final dialogue is usually considerably reduced.

Nonetheless, when looking at the definitions of translations that are broader, some experts believe that subtitling is just an altered form of a translation as it still has to relate to the original (De Linde 9-20). Subtitling can be therefore called an audiovisual translation.

Moreover, Pollard claims that subtitling should be professionalized and occur at the same level as translation.

5. 1 Reduction due to space and time

As implied in previous paragraph, sometimes, (not only) wordplay may be reduced in the subtitled version because of spacial and temporal restrictions. Here, two types are distinguished (Ivarsson and Carroll, 1998); total reduction, which represents omission of a certain part, and partial, meaning paraphrasing. Of these two types, omission, in other words deletion, is undoubtedly more effortless. Some may see reduction as disruption of the original version, but according to some authors, the subtitler does not need to capture the exact words of the speaker, it is the message behind them that is the major concern. Mostly, those two forms of reduction occur together; the parts that are found unnecessary for the reader´s understanding are eliminated and the rest of the message is rephrased and thus shortened.

However, the text may not remain coherent and there is a considerable risk of losing the meaning, especially in terms of wordplay. Therefore, it is imperative that the subtitler not omit

30 anything that plays a significant role later in the story and thereby is necessary for understanding. Also, some may tend to omit the repetitious parts, but it needs to be borne in mind that the repetition might be intentional and its omission could change the atmosphere of the utterance. Nonetheless, up to 40% of the spoken discourse is either rephrased or omitted in the subtitled version (Díaz-Cintas, 2003).

If the necessary part for understanding wordplay is preserved, as already mentioned, the following phenomena can be omitted in the subtitles: interjections, tag questions, overlaps, addressing, words that are obvious due to the visual support etc.

5. 2 Technical and linguistic restrictions

Even when the subtitler intends to preserve the original as much as possible, there are certain principles that should be respected on the professional level, and those principles are - as it is evident from the previous paragraph - mostly technical. That is to say that it is not sufficient to only transfer the form and the meaning into a different language. In fact, the technical constraints are often considered more important to some professional subtitlers than the correspondence with the original. To have a clearer idea why the subtitles sometimes differ from the original spoken version, the technical restraints are now further described.

As it has been already mentioned, there are some limitations in terms of time and space. More precisely, there can be only up to two lines and neither can consist of more than forty characters. As for time, a single full line ought to appear on the screen for three seconds, if there are two full lines, it should be two seconds longer. No matter how short the line is, it must always remain on the screen for at least a second and even the longest subtitle must disappear after seven seconds. The subtitles must change in the fairly regular tempo, otherwise it might cause the reader´s confusion. The subtitler also has to ensure that every line is coherent as for syntax and semantics, which means that for example prepositions must be in

31 the same line as their objects, predicates should share the same line with their complements etc.

However, Mary Carroll (1998), among others, does put emphasis on the linguistic aspect of the subtitles. She stresses that all the cultural references, idioms and plays on words must be of superior quality. Moreover, a professional subtitler ought to be provided with a list of all the atypical references contained in the spoken version so that they can be properly dealt with. It is also the register that needs to be reflected. As for restrictions, Carroll states primarily the linguistic ones; every subtitle should be an individual syntactic unit and the complex units ought to be replaced by the simple ones as they are shorter and more readable.

But still, the style and the function of the original must be evident.

6 Summary of hypotheses

On the basis of the gathered data, the author anticipates that the puns will be characteristic of their humorous purpose, variability and peculiarity, which might pose a challenge for the translator. The subtitler will have to deal with ambiguity mostly caused by homophony, homonymy, polysemy or paronymy. It is essential to correctly assess which sense is being punned upon and differentiate the played and the player. It is believed that the concept of ambiguity is vastly problematic as for rendering and, due to the anticipated diversity between the original and the target language, it will be hardly ever easy to preserve both semantic and lexical equivalence. One has to count with the diversity in culture and taste of humour, some puns thus will not produce any considerable humorous effect in Czech.

Given to what has been discussed, is very unlikely to come across a Czech pun that will produce the very same ambiguous effect as its English counterpart, including the same stylistic and emotive meaning. That is why it is not required that the translator should necessarily achieve an equivalence. The translation of the puns will be most probably imperfect, among other reasons owing to the shift from the spoken to the written discourse.

However, what matters is that the puns be decoded and appreciated by the target viewer. Both the translator and the viewer must take a down-to-earth approach as for pun translation, because even the ideal conditions usually do not lead to an accurate translation. The subtitler is required to focus at least on the tone of the wordplay. It is also assumed that when attempting to transfer the pun into Czech, the translator will bear in mind the whole context, not only the function of the key expression. This should ease the whole process of translation.

Speaking about translative methods, the direct copy is supposedly the most frequent regardless the preservation of the comical effect, unlike the method of explanation, which should occur only occasionally. The translator´s skills will manifest themselves also when

33 observing the usage of rhetorically related devices that may ingeniously compensate for the lack of suitable expressions in Czech. When considering what has been said about the method of omission, the translator ought to be certain that there is nothing like the visual or non- linguistic factors that would reveal the missing pun. The method of abusive subtitling appears to be a convenient compromise between the foreign and the domestic. The puns built on a cultural reference have been described to be most frequently dealt with through the combination of neutralisation and foreignisation.

Contrariwise to what has been said about direct copy above, the sitcom translator is assumed to keep in mind the primary purpose of the wordplay, which is to amuse. Hence, the method of change of image should be accepted whenever necessary, despite the described scepticism. The translator´s task in such situations is to depict the basic message of the pun and to provide a creative translation.

7 Analysis of wordplay in practice

7. 1 Situational comedy as a resource

When choosing a base for the wordplay analysis, it has been assessed that puns occur the most frequently in comedy genres and are usually presented orally, that is why an audiovisual resource has been considered more convenient than a literary one. As a result, a situational comedy was found a highly appropriate source material.

A situational comedy, or simply a sitcom, is indeed characteristic of its richness in terms of wordplay; a sitcom usually consists of more than a hundred of episodes, which is a guarantee of colourful language.

To provide background information, a sitcom is a television show approximately twenty minutes long that has been broadcasted since the first half of the 20th century, originally in the US and GB. It is typical of a specific setting like an apartment, a public house or a workplace. Humour (and basically the whole show) is based on dialogues of the characters, commonly a group of friends or family members. The sitcom is often recorded in the studio in front of live audience. However, the laughter is sometimes added artificially to sitcoms in order to produce even more comical effect or to support a weak joke.

7. 1. 1 How I Met Your Mother

The sitcom that has been chosen to provide a broad range of wordplay is How I Met

Your Mother, an American show that was first broadcasted by CBS in 2005, in Czech republic in 2009 by Prima Cool and Prima Love. The last episode was screened in 2014. The stations broadcasted both a dubbed and a subtitled version. How I Met Your Mother consistently received a high rating and both the show and some of the actors were awarded several prizes.

The sitcom brings the audience to 2030. Ted Mosby, the main character, tells his two children a story about his life in New York. Retrospectively, the viewer meets Ted, a 27-year- old architect, who desperately seeks a long-lasting relationship. He shares an apartment with his two college best friends, Marshall Eriksen, a lawyer, and his life partner, a kindergarten teacher Lily Aldrin. The three of them spend most of the time in a bar called MacLaren´s with their friends Robin Scherbatsky, a Canadian TV news reporter, and Barney Stinson, a manipulative womaniser. The story is also tangled due to a love triangle among Ted, Barney and Robin. Ted´s narration slowly but surely leads to the day he finally meets the mother of his children.

7. 2 Direct copy, change of image, explanation, omission, abusive subtitling

What follows are extracts from the sitcom containing wordplay. They are divided into seven tables according to the method of translation, each one is in chronological order and includes the English puns, identification of the puns, their translation, its analysis and a possible alternative.

7. 2. 1 Direct copy

Season, Quotation from the Explanation of the Official Analysis of the episode sitcom situation and/or the translation translation, suggested wordplay alternative S01e04 - Oh, no, Ted, your The adjective is used - Někdo ho polil This is considered to be blazer! in place of a noun. nádherou. a very apt translation, - What, what, what? realized through a - Somebody spilled switch from an adjective gorgeous all over it. to a noun in Czech as well. Moreover, it gains somehow metaphorical meaning. S01e05 - Well, boys, looks like There is a play with - Cože? The literal translation it's just the three of us. sound - the final and Sebeplácnutí? sounds slightly clumsy, What's that? Self-five? initial consonant but it is the most (high fives himself) correspond. convenient one there is.

S01e05 - But just know that The pun is created by - A víš, co bude The direct copy is this Victoria Secret a similarity between přilepené k acceptable by virtue of party is on a yacht. Barney´s name and a jachtě? of the resemblance And what will be barnacle - a sea „Barnacle“. between the word sticking to that yacht? creature that sticks barnacle and the name. The "Barnacle." firmly to rocks and to However, the reason of the bottoms of ships. ambiguity is hard to decode for the audience. Therefore, it is suggested to use a similar existing expression describing a sea creature, adapt the word and add the genus name, so that it is clear that it stands for a sea animal, i.d. barnakuda obecná. S01e05 (Barney dressed as a Mr. Goody-Goody - No tak, koho Given the costume of devil) -Come on, Ted, refers not only to the budeš the man concerned, a who you gonna listen costume of the man, poslouchat? Mě, more accurate to? Me, or Mr. Goody- but also to him nebo pana translation would be: Goody over there? convincing Ted not to Dobráka „...nebo toho svatouška (referring to a man urinate off the roof, támhle? támhle?“ dressed as an angel) unlike Barney. S01e07 So which is it, a The expression refers ... Myšváb would be more cockroach or a to an animal whose - Je to appropriate due to the mouse? It's a cock-a- species is difficult to švábomyš. match of the final and mouse. identify. initial consonant. S01e07 - Should I be worried? Ted´s name is used as - Buď v pohodě. The verb ztedovat is a - Oh, just play it cool. a verb to describe „Neteduj“ kvůli smart choice, the usage Don't Ted out about it. behaviour that is tomu. of the perfective aspect - Did you just use my typical of him. … is clever compensation name as a verb? - „Tedovat“ for the absence of - Oh, yeah. We do that jako moc o všem phrasal verbs in Czech. behind your back. přemýšlet. - "Ted out," to - „Ztedovat“, overthink. moc o něčem - "Ted up" to přemýšlet s overthink something katastrofickým with disastrous výsledkem. results. S04e01 - What's up, Turd? Turd is an offensive - Jak se vede, The choice of the Czech - It's Ted! expression for an Trotle? equivalent of the word unpleasant person. - Jmenuju se turd is perfect since it is Ted! also an insulting appellation sounding similar as the name Ted.

S04e01 - I love them, Lily, and The idiom is used - Fifleny tu byly Za těžkých a lehkých they love me. Bimbos also literally, za každých okolností is both a direct have always been referring to slim and okolností. Za and apt translation. there for me, through corpulent women. těžkých i za Closer equivalent to thick and thin. lehkých. Hlavně thick crust would be Mostly thin. za lehkých. „Béčko tlustý maso B-man don't do thick Béčko špeky nerad.“ crust. nerad. In order to preserve the word těžký, it can be translated as „Béčko těžkou váhu nerad.“ S05e05 (Robin is treating The play is based on - Místo toho, To vidím only works in a Barney´s eye.) the double meaning abych byla žena sense of I understand, - Instead of being a of a phrase I see, bez země, budu but it cannot be said To woman with no which also means I žena se dvěma. vidím na levé oko. It is country, I'm going to understand. - To vidím. hence better to say Jo, be a woman with two. - Rozumíš tomu? vidím. - I see. - Ne, už zase - You understand? vidím na levé - No, I can see out of oko. my left eye again. S05e15 - Don! You're wearing Robin is using a word … Although the wordplay pants. duck which the whole - Kachna jedna. based on the rhyme is - Well, look at that. episode is based on not preserved in Czech, - Ah, duck. instead of a swear the translation also word. implies a certain curse, so it is acceptable. S05e21 - Robin? Do you There is a double - Robin, nechceš The direct translation is wanna move in? meaning of the verb se přestěhovat? may be found rather - Well, um it it it's kind move in which … clumsy, but the choice of of soon, but sure, I signifies an actual - Ne, myslel a verb is not perfect in would consider movement and jsem tím, jestli the original version, moving in here, just let occupation of a se nechceš either. me think about it. residence. přestěhovat na - No, I meant do you gauči, abych si want to move in on mohl sednout. the couch so I can sit down. S05e23 - Kiss him, kiss him... The word kiss is an - Polib ho! The translation is direct (narrator) - Um, Uncle obvious substitution - Strejda Barney and it has a relevant Barney didn't say for a swear word. neřekl „polib“. effect, even though the "kiss". … word kiss does not ...Kiss him! - Pane, musíte represent only one (cinema worker) - Sir, odejít. expression in the Czech you need to leave, Okamžitě. version. now. - Tohle je - This is outrageous. neskutečný. Kdo Who the kiss are you? do polibku jsi?

… … - (Barney leaving the - Polib si. Stejně screening room) Kiss ten zpolíbenej this! Kissin' movie's film končí. over anyway. S06e01 - Well, that guy is The ambiguous - Ten chlap je The translator preserves cheesy, and if you adjective cheesy lacinej, a jestli the original meaning and think he's not cheesy, creates a pun as it si myslíš, že ne, it works fairly well. then you're cheesy, signifies either tak jsi tak too, and now I want something/someone lacinej. A já something cheesy. lacking style or a mám teď chuť Who´s feeling nachos? flavour. na něco lacinýho. Kdo si dá nachos? S06e01 - I don't have to take Robin is referring to - Tohle nemám The translator found an this. her friends criticizing zapotřebí. Ale absolutely accurate But I do have to take her and to her fries tohle jo. equivalent. this. and coke, using the phrase with double meaning. S06e07 (The group is The double entendre - Tady ta Even though the allusion watching a lady in a is based on francouzská is clear, the translation Halloween costume homonyms: pokojská asi might be even more apt, walking home in the turndown service - nikomu postel for instance: morning.) the bed linen is neustlala. - Tady ta francouzská - Looks like that turned down for pokojská nějakou postel French maid didn't sleeping spíš rozestlala. turn down somebody's turn sb. down - not bed. accept an offer S06e08 (Robin is taking some The quote contains a - Děkuji! Pro něj The translator chooses a refreshments and she wordplay: nic, už je suitable prefix, so it is holding a dead stuffed - someone přecpaný. expresses the double penguin) - Uh, a-thank who has eaten a lot meaning. you! Oh, none for him. and is full; also used He's stuffed. for a dead animal filled with some material in order to look alive S06e11 - So, who's the eye Eye broccoli is - Tak kdo je ta Eye candy would be broccoli? supposed to be the brokolice? rendered as pastva pro (Barney is referring to opposite of eye candy oči. However, there is no an unattractive girl.) and it represents fitting contrary someone or expression for that, the something direct translation is unappealing to look hence acceptable. at. Moreover, brokolice does imply something unappealing

and it might be considered as an opposite to krasavice. S06e22 - Excuse me waitress, Lily is teasing a - Promiňte, Even though the Czech I'll have a mojito! And woman who intends číšnice, dala version is slightly you'll have a no-seat- to occupy their bych si mojito. A clumsy, it depicts the ho. favourite spot in the ty si dáš meaning and it is an bar. nesednu-si-to. obvious wordplay. S07e01 - Who wants hot Lily is teasing - Kdo si dá The translation is wings? Barney, because he is kuřecí křidélka? satisfactory, but as - I'm in. scared to call a - Já jo. zbabělý kuřátko is not a - Or maybe we should woman he likes. - Nebo by možná very common just pour hot sauce on The wordplay profits stačilo polít collocation, the whole Barney, since he's a from the polysemous Barneyho ostrou dialogue is better to be total chicken. word chicken, omáčkou, když slightly changed with - I did not chicken out. signifying not only je takový focus on the wings: the meat, but also zbabělý kuřátko. - Kdo si dá křidýlka? someone not brave - Já nejsem - Já. enough to do žádnej zbabělec. - Nebo bychom si mohli something. dát ta Barneyho, aby nemohl Noře zase uletět. - Já z toho ale nechci vycouvat. S07e02 (A man talking to Thare is a play with - Omlouvám se, The translator tries to Marshall over the the homonyms to že jsem se maintain the pun, but phone is in the marsh.) swamp (to be neozval dříve, topit se v práci jako v - Sorry I didn't get swamped with work) ale topil jsem se bažině sounds odd. back to you sooner, but and a swamp. v práci jako v There should be more I've just been bažině. Což je common collocation as: swamped. Which is The second pun is srandovní, - ... , ale byl jsem funny, 'cause I'm based on the protože teď zaplavený prací. Což je literally standing in a homophones croc opravdu stojím v srandovní, protože jsem swamp. (short for crocodile) bažině. právě opravdu ... and crock (something … zaplavený (v bažině). - I love the work you that is hard to - Vaše práce je Also, ani za krokodýla is guys do. believe). obdivuhodná. not typical collocation, - That's a croc. - Ani za therefore, it is perhaps -No, I mean it. krokodýla... more convenient to omit - No, no, there's a - Ne, opravdu. the mention of a crocodile about five - Ale ne, asi dva crocodile and substitute feet away from me. metry ode mě je it with a more vague krokodýl. reaction like: - To snad ne. - Opravdu, myslím to vážně. S07e05 - … until those greedy Marshall, an - … dokud si ti This is a very apt sons of parents realize environmental nenasytní rendering, the translator that I'm the baddest lawyer, is trying to zmatkysyni found an expression

mother nature lover ease the language and neuvědomí, že zmatkysyni that not only around. avoid swear words. jsem ten největší is an obvious milovník matky modification of a swear Země. word, but it also makes sense just as the original collocation. The second expression is more difficult to adapt to Czech, so just the basic meaning of the wordplay is preserved, the reference to the swear word is omitted. S07e12 (Ted is holding a The wordplay is - Pane bože, Czech coincidentally romper suit with a based on linking of Robin, podívej provides an absolutely maple leaf on it.) two words with na to. fitting adjective, so the - Oh, my God, Robin, matching syllables. Kanádherný. translation is perfect. look at this. O Cana- dorable! s07e15 - Best housewarming The pun is caused by - Bezva Even though Czech does party ever. homophones abuzz kolaudačka! not provide an adequate Everybody's abuzz. (meaning filled with Všichni bzučí expression with a double excitement) and a blahem. meaning, the translator buzz (standing for a succeeded in rendering continuous sound of the original sentence an insect). directly while producing a different play on words that depicts the meaning of the original pun. s07e16 - Well, I propose we Lily and Marshall are - Takže Despite a slight order a bottle of wine. supposed to keep navrhuju, modification of the Not propose. secret that they know abychom sentence, the pun is Suggest. about Robin´s požádali o láhev preserved. However, in boyfriend proposing vína. Ne English, the verb her. However, they požádali. propose itself evokes are making awkward Poprosili. engagement as it references to it. This requires no object, one is based on a unlike the Czech multiple meaning of translation, where the verb propose. požádat does not necessarily refer to the issue of a wedding. Hence, to approximate to the original, it is convenient to include the whole collocation and to possibly adapt certain parts of the sentence:

- Takže, co kdybychom požádali o ruku vína? O trochu. Ne o ruku. s07e16 - I'm gonna go to bed, The pun lies in a - Jdu do postele, This is one of the cases but you guys think double meaning of ale myslíte, že where the Czech tomorrow we can stop the sentence "I do" bychom těch translation, although with all the marriage which represents the manželských absolutely fitting, does talk? long form of an řečí mohli zítra not produce as - I do. answer plus the nechat? significant an effect as in - I do. phrase used in the - Ano. English - ano is a wedding ceremony. - Ano. considerably more frequent expression than I do in English and therefore does not necessarily arouse thoughts on a wedding. Hence, the answer might be slightly more expressive: - Jdu do postele, ale zítra už byste těch manželských řečí mohli nechat, berete? - Ano, beru. - Ano, beru. s07e18 - In a city of eight The pun is made (…) The direct translation is million people, you through the word - Možná je to unacceptable in this happened to walk into destiny, signifying osud. case, because Osud the club where she not only someone´s - Ne, Osud teď cannot stand for a name. works? fate, but also a maká v Melon Although it is of a - Maybe it's destiny. feminine name. Patch. slightly different - No, Destiny strips at meaning, there is a The Melon Patch. possibility to use an expression karma, as it can function also as a name. s07e23 - He said the bus is The wordplay lies in - Říkal, že ten The official translation full of hot college the polysemous autobus bude avoids expressions that seniors. character of the word plný sexy holek z would imply both (Later on the bus full senior which also vysoké. attractive girls and the of old people) represents a student aged. The proposed - Okay, maybe he in the last year of - Dobře, možná version includes words didn't say "college." his/her studies. neříkal „z like starší, poslední Or "hot". vysoké“. Ani ročník that do evoke old „sexy holek“. people, too: - Říkal, že ten autobus bude plný sexy starších studentek posledního ročníku.

- Dobře, možná neřekl „sexy“. Nebo „studentky“. s08e11 - Guys, I told you, I The group is talking - (…) Hoďte ji This pun is one of the am done obsessing about everyone za hlavu. few where the direct about Patrice. Just having someone who - Hoďte ji do copy does not interfere drop her. they are obsessed jámy. with preservation of the - Drop her in a pit. with and who they pun. Apart from hodit, want to throw and the verb drop has in keep in a pit. Czech another ambiguous equivalent: - Pusťte ji z hlavy. - Pusťte ji do jámy. s08e13 (Exhausted Lily is Initially, the - Promiň, The translation is not talking about her preposition in seems nespala jsem wrong, but it does not baby.) to be used for už... od ledna. produce the same effect. - Sorry, I haven´t slept expressing the It might be intensified in...January. number of days for by either removing the which Lily have not dots after the preposition slept. However, since od in order to evoke an the preposition is idea of a a shorter period used also when of time, or by a slight referring to months, it change: creates wordplay. - Promiň, nespala jsem celý... leden. s08e19 - My son, for many The utterances refer - Synu, po The Czech translation years this apartment to so called Fortress mnoho let byl does not produce such has been my Fortress of Solitude, the tento byt má effect. However, it of Barnitude. sanctuary of Pevnost seems to be the best (...) Superman in the Barnoty. (…) option there is as the - Soon, this place will comic books. Brzy se z tohoto word samota does not become your Fortress místa stane tvoje share common sounds of Soli-Ted. Pevnost Tedoty. with the two names. s08e21 - Hello, Captain? The Captain is - Lily, doufám, Although the idiom is - Lily, I hope you're characteristic of using že nevoláš, abys not used in Czech, its not calling to harpoon various phrases and smetla vlnou náš meaning is perfectly our big move to Rome. metaphors velký přesun do understandable and it (...) concerning his Říma. can be therefore - I'm sorry, the ship passion - boats. The (…) translated directly. has sailed. joke thus lies in him - Je mi líto, ale Nonetheless, due to the - What's that mean? not grasping the tahle loď už fact mentioned above, significance of the odplula. the pun does not have a mentioned locution, proper effect. which he takes literally. s08e21 (phone call, Marshall Marshall is - (…) Zrovna Even though in Czech, is piling up cards to equivocating so that pracuju na the collocation is used

build a house) he does not have to velkém projektu. rather in the simile - Lily, hey, I can't reveal to Lily that his Je to úplný bortit se jako domeček z really talk. I'm company has no domeček z karet. karet, the translation working on a big clients. He is using a preserves the ambiguous project right now. house of cards in both mode - it does evoke It's a real house of literal and figurative fragility of the project, cards. sense (a plan which although it is meant can easily fail). literally. s08e21 (phonecall) Marshall, a lawyer, - (…) Mám Since krabice is usually - Hey, baby, I can't intentionally uses a plnou krabici not used for transport of talk right now. I'm word case věcí, co musím beers, it requires a more working on a big case. ambiguously. In fact, vyřídit. accurate expression, e.g. he is referring to a basa. Given Marshall´s case full of beers profession, the word (clearly seen by a may be used in a sense viewer). of a prison: - … teď nemůžu mluvit, hrozí nám tu basa. s08e22 - A bachelor party is a Barney is expecting - Rozlučka se In the sitcom, a very man's bro mitzvah! his male friends svobodou je common expression bro (…) (bros, which is an mužova brach is translated as kámo. - Written in He-bro. informal form of micva! The pun lies in address) to make his (…) employing this night special. Hence, - Napsané particular word, but in he is using modified brach-brejsky. Czech, its usual Jewish terminology equivalent is (originally bar incompatible with the mitzvah, Hebrew). Jewish terms. Under the circumstances, Brach is a convenient substitution, but brach- brejsky might be modified more accurately. Given the sound match, it is more logical to say hebrachsky. s08e23 - Let's Go Italy? Ted decides what his - „Vzhůru do Due to the quotation - Triangle. friends, moving to Itálie“? marks, it is - Triangle? Italy, should take - Trojúhelník. distinguishable when - Let's go Italy. with them and what - Triangle? Let´s go Italy is a title should go to the - Vzhůru do and when it is meant "Triangle" (the Itálie. literally. However, Bermuda Triangle is Czech is not able to a place in front of preserve the pun made their house, where by double meaning of everything the word triangle. disappears). Hence, it is perhaps The wordplay reasonable here to state

includes a travel an English translation of guide Let´s Go Italy the word trojúhelník in and a musical brackets so that the instrument triangle. readers grasp the joke. s09e01 - Oh, wow, you have Barney and Robin, - To zní opravdu Although the word certainly piqued my who are about to get incestnantně. interesantní is hardly as incest. Interest. married, fear that Interesantně! common as its English they might be related. counterpart, it is the only The wordplay is expression that sounds caused by Barney´s similar. slip of the tongue. s09e03 - And I just hate the An architect Ted is (…) The Czech translation is thought of leaving you, obsessed with the - Měl bys jít dál. a perfect choice - it is Empy, but my gut tells Empire State meaningful both as a me my future's in Building who he goes response of a building Chicago. talk to. When a (although expressed What do you think? policeman commands through a metaphor) and - You need to move. him to stop, Ted as a reaction of the - Oh, my God, r- thinks it is the policeman. really? building responding, (policeman) - Yeah, which is caused by I'm sure. You can't just multiple meaning of stand there talking to a the verb move. building and petting it. s09e05 - Hey, man, it was Marshall, upset not to - Kámo, bylo This pun is impossible great having you at have gotten a super, že jsi byl to maintain. The our wedding. (…) You wedding gift from na naší svatbě. translator at least were not wedding Ted, is dropping (…) Na nic jsi smartly changes the absent. You were hints. The pun is tam nezapomněl. previous sentence so that wedding present. caused by a double Byl jsi svatební it corresponds more with meaning of the word dar. the hint. However, as present, which is used there is no ambiguity in as an adjective, but the Czech translation, indicates a noun. the pun loses its effect. The sentence might be improved by the word úplný svatební dar, which emphasizes that this collocation is used as structural metonymy. s09e05 (during poker game) The verb fold has a - Říkejte mi This pun represents one - Well, call me Akira double meaning - not Akiro Jošizawo. of the few that can be Yoshizawa. (puzzled only does it mean to Nejslavnější rendered directly, looks) World's most bend a piece of paper, světový because the word has the famous origamist? I but in poker, it origamista? same double meaning in fold. signifies laying down Skládám. both languages. the cards. s09e07 - And now I'm Ted is warned to - A teď se Do dna is a direct copy,

rewarding myself with protect his drink as odměňuji which is desirable, but it some of the inn's finest there is a dove above nejlepší brandy, might be substituted by brandy. him. It is a double jakou tady mají. a more colloquial - Bottoms up. meaning of the - Do dna. expression Kopni to, - Well, thank you. phrase bottoms up - Díky. which indicates even - No, no, that's a that causes wordplay. - Ne, to bylo more clearly that the warning. The dove's First, it is an old- varování. Ten glass should be emptied about to... fashioned phrase holub ti tam... before its content is which accords with a polluted. Nonetheless, more usual word the link to the bird is cheers. The second unfeasible to preserve. meaning refers to the dove flying above the drink. s09e24 - Ask me if the The wordplay is - Tede, zeptej se The translator managed Abominable Snowman based on the mě, jestli mi to retain the pun without called. modification of the volal sněžný noticeably changing the - Has the Abominable phrase not yet as the muž. original. However, if one Snowman called? former word shares - Volal ti sněžný should feel disturbed by - Not yeti. common sounds with muž? a rather nonsensical the word referring to - A yetto. reaction „A yetto“, the a wild creature. whole pun could be built on the collocation sněžný muž (there is no important context that would forbid it): - Tede, zeptej se mě, jestli mi smí brnknout sněžný muž. (...) - Jasněže může.

7. 2. 2 Change of image

Season, Quotation from the Explanation of the Official Analysis of the episode sitcom situation and/or the translation translation, suggested wordplay alternative S01e05 (Barney meets a girl Lei - a wreath of - Co musí muž This is considered to be dressed as a hula girl.) flowers (in the udělat, aby a very apt translation, - So what does a fella Hawaiian islands) dostal věneček? even though it has a have to do to get lei'd Get laid - an impolite - Jo, protože slightly different around here? Yeah. expression for having mám na sobě meaning. - Right. 'Cause I'm an intercourse věnec. wearing a lei. S01e05 (Barney is dressed as a The pun is based on - Co to děláš? This is a highly clever

penguin.) paronyms: - Ukazuju ti translation, the author - Victoria Secret party, Flip off - give a finger palec. found a different way of now, let's go. Flipper - a wide flat expressing that Barney - I'm staying. body part like an arm is hiding his middle -Fine! that some sea animals finger. - What are you doing? such as penguins, (Barney is showing his dolphins, and seals hand, invisible in the use for swimming costume.) - I'm flippering you off. S05e07 (Marshal is asking The pun is based on - Tak co máš? The translator found a Lily about a dvd with the double meaning - Kulový. different, yet perfectly a suggestive content.) of the word squat: - ...Viděl jsem tě fitting expression that - So what'd you get? - mainly American, jednu brát. depicts the double - I got Squat. informal expression - Jo, jmenuje se meaning of the original - ... I thought I saw meaning nothing to „Kulový“. word squat. you take one. - a position in which - Yeah, I did. It's called one is squatting on Squat. their feet S05e14 - How do you know The saying - Myslím, že The subtitled version is he's going to call? figuratively signifies hočička pozná, completely different, but - (…) But I think someone´s attraction. když se jí chce very apt as it keeps the Mama knows when a chlapeček dostat figurative mode. dude's digging the pod sukýnku. show. S05e15 - I was embarrassed It is polysemy that ... The mention of the mug about my behavior cases the wordplay: - Hele, co tam is omitted so that the right here at Mug - a cup and máš napsáno. wordplay can be Channel... um... It someone´s face - Jasně. Vlastně preserved. The starts with a one. ne, podívej se, translation still - Uh Twelve. I mean, co mám napsáno corresponds with the just look at your mug. tady! visual, so it is (Robin pointing at satisfactory. Don´s mug with number 12 on it) - Right. Well, no. You look at this mug. (Don is pointing at his face.) S05e21 (Drunk Ted is calling The pun is created by -Ahoj, Robin. Tedvídek is a perfect Robin.) modification of the Tady Tedvídek. adaptation. The - Hey, Robin. Teddy name, which is linked Nechceš se following question is bear. Need a little to the play with the trochu pomazlit? also successfully honey? word honey that has ambiguous, but in a also a suggestive different way than in the subtext. original. S06e11 - Oh, Jupiter, what are Scene - Ancient - Jupitere, jaké Even though the your plans for me? Rome, Barney and se mnou máš meaning is maintained,

(Barney is looking at Robin are both plány? the translation is Robin.) - And I ancient gods, Robin - A já myslel, že unnecessarily changed thought Pompeii was is looking attractive. Pompeje byly too radically, although it smokin'. The pun comes from pecka. is possible to preserve the double meaning the original: of the word smokin´- - A já myslel, že a girl is informally Pompeje byly plné žáru. said to be smoking hot, plus it is a reference to a volcanic eruption in Pompeii. S06e17 - You should call her. The play on words is - Je to krásné The translation is neither - Call her? She had a based on the rhythm stvoření, co corresponding nor nice face, her booty and rhyme. zadečkem mě rhymed (stvoření and was in place, but uhání, avšak uhání). The length of Barney don't chase. Barney není k verses is also different. mání. An alternative: - Měla hezkej ksicht, zadek jak má být, Barney však nelovit. The infinitive nelovit is used intentionally, to preserve the non- standard verb form don´t chase. S06e19 - Oh, I actually think What is significant is - Já si náhodou The Czech version is not he's quite intelligent the use of a word dog myslím, že na to, perfect as psanec for what he is. that has also an co je, je velice signifies rather an - And what is he? informal meaning inteligentní. outlaw, even though the - He's a dog. describing a man who - A co je? base of the word is the - What? You saw him takes pleasure in - Pes. same. Another hitting on someone? having multiple - Cože? Viděli suggestion: - No, I didn't say, "He partners. jste ho někoho - Já nemyslel pes jako a dawg." I said, "He's balit? samec. a dog." - Já neřekl, že je A word samec has a psanec. Já řekl, figurative meaning že je pes. describing a womanizer. S06e19 - We hope our nosiness The pun is built on - Jo, snad se ti z The translation, doesn't give you homophony of the našich otázek although changed, both "paws".(Robin´s words paws and nebudou ježit preserves double boyfriend is discreetly pause. chlupy. meaning and depicts the being made fun of for give sb pause - when situation. acting like a dog.) there is something surprising or worrying that makes one think more carefully about certain things

S06e19 - How did you meet? There is a play with - Jak jste se The translator´s version Tell us the "tail". homophones tail and poznali? Dej is excellent, except for - Yes, how did you tale, also whisker and nám nějaké the last sentence that has "whisker" off her whisk her. vodítko. a slightly different feet? Shed a little light Whisker - hairs - Ano, jak si tě meaning. Suggestion: on the matter. growing on the face přivázala k - Hoď nám kost, ať tomu (Robin´s boyfriend is of an animal obojku? Klidně porozumíme. discreetly being made Whisk her off her feet nás trochu fun of for acting like a - make someone fall nakrm. dog.) suddenly and completely in love with them Then, there is a multiple meaning of a verb shed: Shed - lose hair (about an animal) Shed light on - idiom meaning clarifying something S06e19 - Did you send her an The pun is created by - Napsal jsi jí, Ušít boudu is of a rather e-mail, or did you homophones collar nebo jsi na ni negative sense. "collar"? and call her. ušil nějakou Nebuďte na něj jak na - Guys, just stop Collar - a piece of boudu? psa is acceptable, but hounding him. leather or plastic that - Nebuďte na něj perhaps too direct, the (Robin´s boyfriend is a dog wears around jak na psa. joke lies in never really discreetly being made its neck mentioning the word fun of for acting like a Another phenomenon dog. dog.) is homonymy: Another possible To hound - to follow translation: someone in a - Napsal jsi jí, nebo jsi determined way in na ni prostě udělal psí order to get oči? something from them - Lidi, přestaňte na něj Hound - a dog štěkat. S06e19 - We don't want your The pun is based on - Přece na něj It is possible to preserve new guy to "flea". homophones flee and nebudeme the primary sense utéci, (Robin´s boyfriend is flea. štěkat. there is still a discreetly being made connotation with dogs, fun of for acting like a even though the double dog.) meaning is not maintained. - Přece nechceme, aby nám utekl. S06e19 - When Nora gets back The pun stems from - Až se Nora The author found a here, I'm blowing the the literalisation of vrátí, tak to celé perfect pharse that, in whistle. the idiom: odpískám. spite of having a - Just make sure it's Blow the whistle - to - Hlavně to different meaning, still not a high-frequency tell someone about neodpískej na fits the context and

whistle, because we something wrong that vysoké frekvenci, preserves the wordplay. don't want to torture someone is doing ... Robin's boyfriend. (an allusion to Robin´s boyfriend acting like a dog) s07e22 - Oh, Yobin. Ted, trying to banish (…) Due to mentioning the - No, Robin. And for his feelings for - Ne, naši Robin. letter "i", the sentence the rest of the night, Robin, talks about his Robin s měkkým cannot provoke every time I looked at date with a girl "i". misunderstanding and her, I just saw Robin's named Robyn (who - Naše Robin je the following reaction is face. they call Yobin to rozhodně měkké thus illogical. - Well, I should hope distinguish between nemá, příteli. Furthermore, given the so. them). The pun plays singular in the first - No, our Robin. Robin with the homophones utterance, the reaction with an I. I and eye. requires the singular, - Uh, our Robin has too: two eyes, my friend. - Ne, naši Robin. Robin s měkkým. - Naše Robin ho rozhodně měkký nemá. s08e17 (Lily is admiring a It is a reference to an - Ten obraz by se Despite the effort to painting with an elephant from a Walt vám líbil, i create a play on words, elephant on it.) Disney movie plus it kdybyste na něj this one is rather - You'd have to be a evokes an adjective neviděli přes nonsensical. If the real Dumbo dumb, which is an vlastní chobot. intention would be to not to enjoy this informal expression Chápete? maintain the presence of painting. Get it? for stupid. Protože je tam wordplay against all Cause he's an slon. odds of no well-known elephant? elephant with an ambiguous name, the translator might build it on a familiar collocation like e.g. sloní paměť: - Tenhle obraz si navždy bude pamatovat i ten, kdo nemá sloní paměť. Chápete?(...) s08e18 - Why couldn't the art The joke is based on - Proč neměl Again, to keep the play dealer pay his rent? relatively prodejce umění on words, the pun had to (…) paronymous words peníze na be changed and this - Because he ran out Monet (its phonemic nájem? Protože represents a very of Monet. character) and money ten byt inventive way of (its graphic renoiroval. translation that is also character). based on the paronym (renovovat). s08e18 - The first painting I The artist plays with - (…) Dalo by se This is a slightly ever sold, I used the the name Vincent van říct, že jsem si modified translation, yet

money to get my car Gogh. Van is used in ho sám s- very apt and fixed. You might say I a sense of a car and monetoval. understandable. Another used it to make my van then, the phonetic possibility might go. aspect of the last involve a car brand name Gogh is Picasso. stressed. s08e19 - Uh, can somebody The wordplay - Nemohli byste The translation indicates get this lady a involves the phrase této dámě dát certain play on words, storefront 'cause she containing a word dalekohled? but unlike the original, needs to mind her own business, which is Potřebuje si totiž there is no ambiguity. If business, mm-kay? used both in a hledět svého. the original version is to figurative and literary be changed, the pun my sense, the latter is be preserved through the referred to by the polysemous character of word storefront. the verb plést: - Může někdo té dámě vzít jehlice, protože by se měla přestat plést do cizích věcí. s08e22 - Man, my bachelor The word incredible - Člověče, moje The translator found a party was incr - wait is played with; as its rozlučka byla fitting expression the for it and I hope you're second part is edible, nád... Počkejte second part of which hungry, 'cause the it is introduced by a si na to... A can represent a separate second half of this reference to hunger. doufám, že si word. Other possibilities word is - edible! rádi hrajete, might be e.g. bá-ječný, protože druhá obdivu-hodný, gig- část slova je... antický or vyni-kající. herná! s09e08 - Oh, well, I kind of Lily becomes upset (…) Za obřadní Given the absence of a feel like playing some over every comment síní je kurt. word with the identical tennis. Maybe we reminding her of - Síň! connotation, the should reserve a court. Marshall´s judge translator was obliged to - Court. career. The pun is find a different word created by a double that matches both this meaning of the word context and the judicial court, which is not environment, which only an area for naturally requires a playing tennis, but slight change of the also a place used for meaning. Síň is a trials. considerably apt choice. s09e08 - Or I could go out to Again, Lily cannot - A nebo bych Although the original is the driveway and eat withstand a single mohla jít k completely changed, the some gravel. mention evoking akvárku a sníst translation provides (Lily is getting upset.) Marshall´s new job. pár skalár. another expression - Wait. Sorry. Did you The pun is based on - Počkat. typical of a judge, plus say gravel or gavel? the paronyms gravel Promiň, říkala there is a similar word - Gravel.Why would I and gavel, the latter jsi skalár, nebo that might remind of say gavel? being a hammer used talár? that expression.

- Gavel. by a judge. - Skalár, proč Altogether, the modified bych říkala sentence fits the context talár? as it may also imply a - Talár! bad flavour. The translation is thus found successful. s09e08 - I mean, sometimes Lily makes herself - Někdy bych ho Even though the being with him is a enraged when she nejradši translator managed to real trial. utters a word falling odsoudila na find an expression - Real trial. into judicial doživotí. odsoudit which is a legal terminology. Odsoudila! term used also Trial - a difficult figuratively, the phrase experience and also a odsoudit někoho na court process doživotí is not common in a figurative sense, nor does it fit the context. It is reasonable to change the Czech translation, but with regard to the context (Lily must compromise on staying in New York): - Někdy jsem odsouzena k životu plném kompromisů. Odsouzena!

7. 2. 3 Explanation

Season, Quotation from the Explanation of the Official Analysis of the episode sitcom situation and/or the translation translation, suggested wordplay alternative S01e05 - Make you a drink? The double entendre - Ty jsi ale The translator deals with - You certainly are a is based on the okouzlující the situation through charming devil. ambiguous adjective čertík. direct explanation, (Barney is pointing at horny. - Také jsem which is found his horns) „horny“ inevitable in order to - I'm also a "horny" (rohatý/nadržen preserve the wordplay. devil. ý) čertík. s03e04 - She's so cute, and The homophones but - Pokaždý tam Czech is not capable of she's so smart. But her and butt create an není nějaký retaining the pun and last boyfriend had to ambiguity. "ale". Co třeba substituting it with a get a restraining order ta Jamie, ta different pun, which against her (…). holka, co tě s ní would require rendering - Hey, you know what? Lily seznámila? of the conjunction "but"

Not every setup has a - Pokud se in a different and "but". What about, nepletu, tak probably more complex um, Jamie, that girl měla obrovský way, is not worthy, that Lily set you up "ale". Její because the occurrence with? She was really obrovskej zadek. of someone´s "but" is nice. (butt). frequent in this episode. - If memory serves me, Since the explanation is she had a huge "but". very simple, it seems to Her huge butt. be the best option. S05e10 (Barney is wearing It is a play with - Ahoj. The pun is presented dungarees, looking homophones hey, a (hay=seno) through the method of like a farmer.) friendly salutation, - On tě nezdraví, explanation as there is - Hey. and hay, dried grass jen ti říká, čím hardly any way to adapt -(Robin) He is not used for feeding krmí své koně. it in Czech. saying hello, he is just animals. telling you what he feeds his horses! S05e16 - Oh, you are totally The play is based on - Má tě na háku If the method of on the hook. the usage of suffixes - jako nikdy. explanation should be - Ted, don't feel bad. ey and -er, which … omitted while We've all been there. distinguish actors and - Já jsem zažila preserving the wordplay, I've been on both sides recipients of action. oboje. Byla jsem the phrase you are on of it. I've been a Hooker means a na háku i jsem the hook might be hookey and a hooker. prostitute. na háku někoho translated as šlapou po Move past it, guys. I've měla . (hooker = tobě: been a little bit loose, šlapka) Nechte - Někdo šlapal po mně i but money never to být lidi. Byla já jsem šlapala. Nechte changed hands. jsem na tom toho lidi, byla jsem špatně, ale trošku promiskuitní, ale peníze v tom peníze v tom nikdy nikdy nebyly. nebyly. S05e18 - Nothing sexier than a The pun is created by - Není nic Here, the explanation is man in a fine cravat. the polysemous word rajcovnějšího perfectly reasonable. - Except for a woman tie: než muž s However, the sentence who appreciates a fine - a cravat kvalitní „Nenazveme to cravat. - a draw kravatou. vázankou?“ should - How about we just - Až na ženu, hence be substituted call it a tie? která kvalitní with „Takže je to kravatu dokáže remíza?“. ocenit. - Nenazveme to vázankou? (tie=remíza) S06e03 (Marshall to Barney There is a usage of - Jaký byl sólo Fly solo is an actual after he is refused by homophones so low let? A tím expression, but sólo let three women) and solo, also a „sólo“ myslím, makes no sense in this - How was flying solo? double meaning - že jsi letěl tak context. The English And by "solo", I mean something that flies nízko (so low), explanation in the titles

so low that you got low is easy to be shot že tě sestřelili. can be avoided here, it shot down. down, plus it is a seems better to slightly familiar expression: change the utterance and Shot down - when a substitute the wordplay man is refused by a with another one while woman, often preserving the meaning. publicly For example: Jaký to je, jít s prázdnou? A tou prázdnou myslím tvoji kapsu, kde není žádný číslo. s08e11 - That's a knee. Barney is jinxed, - Koleno. (ney) As the sketches are - It's a beautifully which means he - Krásně clearly visible to a drawn knee, so? - cannot talk until nakreslené viewer, the wordplay That's a barn. Oh, someone says his koleno. No a? needs to be maintained. knee barn, right. name aloud. He - Stodola. (barn) The pun cannot be therefore sketches a Ney-barn, no jo. skipped since the whole knee and a barn and scene is built on it, the tries to make only possibility is Marshall say those therefore its explanation. words together.

7. 2. 4 Omission

Season, Quotation from the Explanation of the Official Analysis of the episode sitcom situation and/or the translation translation, suggested wordplay alternative S01e02 - You keep going to the This is a play with a - Pořád chodíš The Czech version is same bar. You're in a match of the graphic do stejnýho completely changed rut. And I am a rut- form of the word rut baru. Pořád ten since it is not possible to buster. I'm going to and the phonological samej stereotyp. adapt such complex bust your rut. form of the Zničím tvůj wordplay. Therefore, the - It's not a rut, okay? expression routine. stereotyp. best option is obviously It's a routine, and I - To není to ignore it. like it. stereotyp, jo? - Ted, what's the first Dělám to tak syllable in "rut-tine"? vždycky a rád. - Tede, jakej je význam slova „ničitel“? S01e05 - You're going as my The wordplay makes - Letos jdeš jako Czech does not provide wingman. Flight suit use of Barney´s můj the possibility to up. catchphrase „Suit up“ „wingman“. Do preserve the wordplay. - No thanks. I'm and an actual leteckého However, the more sticking with the expression flight suit. oblečení. natural sentence would

hanging chad. - Ne, díky. be: Zůstávám u - Nahoď letecký oblek. „Visícího Chada“. S01e05 (Lily is talking like The word ours is - Žádnej jinej There is no /ar/ sound parrot.) supposed to imitate kostým není tak indicating a parrot. By a - None of these other the sound of a parrot. dobrej jako slight modification of costumes even come nááááš! the original sentence, close to ourrrs! the wordplay can be preserved, for example: - Máme nejlepší kostým z tohohle barrru! S01e08 - Ted loves you. PMS - premenstrual - Ted tě má rád. The author omits the - So what's he PMSing syndrome - Tak co se nám allusion to Ted acting about? snaží naznačit? like a woman. The more accurate alternative may be: - Tak proč se chová, jako by to měl dostat? S04e01 - (Lily) Robin just The wordplay is - Nebrala to. As there is no mention needs to see this new realized through Nechal jsem jí of a male voice, Lily´s side of you. homophones mail and vzkaz v hlasové reaction makes no sense. - (Barney) So just call male, indicating schránce. Hence, it may be her up? Barney´s nervous - Hlas to byl, ale changed into: - Just call her up. tone. ne mužský. - Hlas to byl, ale ne tvůj. - It's (high-pitched or it may be expressed mumbling) Hi, Robin. directly: (hangs) She wasn't - Nebrala to. Má tam there. I left a voice hlasovku. mail. - Jo, hlasovku od nějaké - You left a voice, but ženské. it wasn't male. S05e04 - I'm not the sexless turndown service - ... The translator choses to innkeeper. hotel service - Což je zvláštní, omit the wordplay and - Ted, that girl had no providing cleaning protože většinou substitutes it with the intention of ever the room; the bed je to hostinský, word laskavost, which hooking up with you. linen is turned down kdo prokazuje gives the impression of Which is funny, for sleeping laskavost. a different wordplay, but because usually it's turn sb. down - not it makes no sense. The the innkeeper who accept an offer pun can be focused on offers turndown the girl fleeing in the service. morning. (about a girl who stays - Což je zvláštní, protože overnight at Ted´s většinou je to hostinský, place and in the kdo tě vypakuje z morning, she flees) pokoje. S05e05 - Sugar snap pea? This is an obvious - Cukrový The wordplay is - Pea... That reminds play with hrášek? omitted, which is

me, I have to pee. homophones pea and - Hrášek... To mi acceptable as the pee. připomíná situation is supposed to záchod. be absurd. The wordplay can be preserved, though. Alternative: - Hrášek máčený v cukru? - Máčený? To mi připomíná, že musím močit. S05e07 - Hey, Barney, I'm, uh, There is a multiple - Barney, The translation bases the I'm chatting up this meaning of the povídám si tam wordplay on the phrase girl over there, and I expression wingman: s jednou holkou dotáhnout to do konce could use a little help - a man who helps a potřeboval and the multiple landing the plane. another man, in the bych trochu meaning of the word - Sorry, Ted, I'm my sitcom used regularly pomoct to wing is ignored: own wingman tonight. in the context of dotáhnout do More suitable (eating chicken wings) seducing women konce. translation: - a special kind of a - Promiň, Tede, - Barney, ladím tam pilot (reaction on the budu rád, když jednu holku a phrase lend the plane) to dotáhnu do potřeboval bych pomoct - someone who is konce s tímhle toho ptáčka lapit. eating chicken wings křidýlkem. (Czech saying Když ptáčka lapají...) - … Dnes večer mě zajímá akorát tenhle ptáček. S05e18 - Anyway, next thing The pun lies in the - Nicméně, The author simply omits you know, I get her usage of an idiom během chvilky the idiom. It can be at back to my place. Seal with rhythm and jsem ji dostal k least substituted with a the deal. rhyme. Its sobě domů. phrase with figurative significance is to meaning, but the rhyme come to an and rhythm are difficult agreement, usually in to preserve. E.g. business. „Dokončit zakázku.“ S05e19 (Lily is making fun of The wordplay is - Víš, jak ho The wordplay is Marshall who got based on the chytili, že? omitted, but podle ocasu mugged by a monkey.) polysemous word: - Podle ocasu. is rather illogical (more - You know how they Tail - a part at the logical would be za caught him, right? back of an animal, ocas). It is perhaps more - There was a tail on also a person sent to apt to refer to the him. follow a criminal famous movie Ace Ventura: - Nasadili na něj Zvířecího detektiva. S06e17 - How did we meet? The pun is based on - Jak jsme se In the target language, it ...(Ted tells his story.) the play with poznali? is slightly modified (waitress) - Actually, I homophones meet ... through "..jsem se chtěla

said, "How's your and meat. - Vlastně jsem zeptat", instead of meat?" se chtěla zeptat, "zeptala jsem se", in - Oh. A little cold. jaké je jídlo. order to avoid dealing - Gee, wonder why. - Trošku with homophones. studené. However, it might be - Božínku, proč better to use a question asi. "Jak jste si pochutnali?" as it is similar to "Jak jste se poznali?". S06e19 - So, Scooby, we were To vet - to check - Scooby, jestli The translation makes thinking if you're somebody´s character chceš být s no striking allusion to going to be hanging Vet - short for Robin, měli dogs. out with our Robin, veterinary surgeon bychom si tě Proposed alternative: you should be properly trochu vyšetřit. - Scooby, jestli chceš být vetted. s naší Robin, měli (Robin´s boyfriend is bychom si tě trochu discreetly being made očuchat. fun of for acting like a dog.) S06e21 (in the car) The verb to drift - Jak ses stal In Czech, the usage of a - How did you become creates a pun with its tímhle? Sice verb must be avoided to this? I mean I love my double meaning: svůj život preserve the ambiguity, life, but I´m not sure I - to move aimlessly zbožňuju, ale because the father is on like loving it. Sure, from one activity to nejsem si jistý, first-name terms only strip clubs... another jestli se mi líbí, with Barney. (Barney´s father) - - to slide (about a car) že ho zbožňuju. Suggestion: You´re drifting. Jasně, strip - To stačí! - Hey, I´m trying to kluby... … open up to you... - Ujíždí vám to! - Ne, paní Perkinsová, - No, Mrs. Perkins, - Snažím se ti to stačí, brzděte! you´re drifting! Go on, otevřít... Pokračuj, Barney. Barney. - Ne, paní Perkinsová, ujíždí vám to! Pokračuj, Barney. S06e24 (The group is talking The wordplay is - Jediný soud, The translator ignores about opening their based on polysemy: kam přijdete a the wordplay, but by own theme bar styled get served - give obslouží vás. changing the meaning, as a courtroom.) someone a written the paradoxical - The only court where demand to come to character of the pun can you show up, then get court be captured: served. get served - be - Bude to jediný soud, provided with food or kde se ukážeš a teprve drink pak něco šílenýho spácháš. S07e07 (Kevin, Robin´s The wordplay is built - Chceš jít? The translator obviously boyfriend, is not on the polysemy: - Jasně. wants to preserve the

comfortable with date - an arranged - Vážně? original so that the Robin spending so meeting between two Úžasný! Je to following sharp reaction much time with her people who might rande! of Kevin makes sense, exboyfriend Ted. He is have a romantic but the phrase „Je to listening to their relationship rande!“ does not sound conversation.) it´s a date - a natural. It might be - You want to go? common phrase substituted with a - Sure. expressing making an slightly different phrase, - Really? Awesome! appointment still indicating a close It's a date! relationship between Ted and Robin, e.g.: - Večer je náš! s07e15 - Hey, isn't it nice to The pun is built on a (…) The direct copy in the finally have a night multiple meaning of - Ale pane, tohle target language causes off? the expression warm, je kolaudačka the loss of the pun. - It is. But tonight is which is contained in našeho domu. Given the context not that night. We're the collocation - Řeknu ti, (Marshall and his going back to the housewarming party, matka Země employer are trying to office in 45 minutes. signifying throwing a taky zrovna prevent the Earth from - But, sir, this is our party in a new home, pořádá forthcoming housewarming party. and global warming. kolaudačku. destruction), a certain -You know, Mother play on words may be Earth is also having a created, e.g.: "housewarming" - Ale pane, právě party. pořádáme večírek na přivítanou. - A matka Země zrovna pořádá večírek na rozloučenou. s07e22 - Whoa, she got you Ted brings Lily, who - Páni, ona vám The translator decides to the red stroller? Looks is expecting a boy, a koupila červený omit the pun. Despite an like I just blew her out blue stroller. The golfáč? To jsem obvious effort to find a of the water. wordplay is therefore jí pěkně similar idiomatic phrase based on the vyšplouchl in Czech, this one is not homophones blue and rybník. accurate. It is perhaps blew. more convenient to preserve the allusion to the colour: - Páni, ona vám koupila červený golfáč? Až uvidí můj, zmodrá vzteky! s09e07 (Ted after putting a The play on words - Je to pryč. As is seems extremely letter to the postbox) takes advantage of the difficult to effectively - Mailed it. similarity between the modify a form of words words mail and nail. poslat or vhodit, this pun Nail it - to complete a evidenly requires an task successfully omission. The translator uses a convenient, fairly vague phrase.

58 s09e08 - Keep talking, Robin is wearing a - Jen povídej The pun is omitted, but Loretta. I've been blouse of her dál, Loretto. the direct translation is waiting all morning to adversary, mother-in- Celé ráno unacceptable here as the ketchup. low, and she čekám na kečup. sentence makes no sense intentionally soils it then. It seems legitimate with ketchup. to take advantage of the There is wordplay visual and find a word built on homophones of multiple meaning ketchup and catch up which captures the (catch up with - talk situation, e.g. a verb to someone after a pokecat that means to long time to learn chat and also to stain in about their life). the figurative sense: - Jen povídej dál, Loretto. Celé ráno chci… pokecat. s09e09 (During a basketball The ambiguity is - Rozhodčí, In spite of the original game) caused by the phrase potřeboval bys being changed, there is - Hey ref, check your miss a few calls, brýle. Myslím, no ambiguity in the voicemail, I think you which refers to the žes byl párkrát Czech version. missed a few calls! referee overlooking úplně vedle. Moreover, být vedle several disputes implies incorrectness, during the game. The not inattention. Also, figurative meaning potřeboval bys brýle is a uses the word call as rather hackneyed phrase an act of telephoning. and the original pun is considerably more inventive, plus it includes sports terminology. Therefore, it is perhaps more apt to change it for instance into: - Hej, rozhodčí, přines si mop, protože tomuhle se říká nečistá hra!

7. 2. 5 Abusive subtitling

Season, Quotation from the Explanation of the Official Analysis of the episode sitcom situation and/or the translation translation, wordplay suggested alternative S05e19 (Lily is making fun of The pun lies in the - Co když je v Not only is there no Marshall who got word swing - gangu? Doufám, mention of karate in mugged by a monkey) swinging is a typical že neumí karate. the original, but it - What if he's in a gang? movement for does not make any I hope he doesn't do a monkeys, sense, either, as there swing-by. swing-by means a is no reference to a short visit. skill typical of monkeys. Suggested translation: - Snad se jí nebude chtít šplhat až do posledního patra. S06e05 (Zoey asks Ted about a The sign profits - Chceš „GNB má This is a very good protest sign) - Do you from the matching GNB - solution, it avoids the want "GNB puts the sounds in the words generálního play with words of douche in fiduciary“...? fiduciary and největšího matching sounds and douche. blbce“...? creates a different catchy phrase through a frequently used modification of an abbreviation. The meaning is maintained.

S06e07 - Hey, Professor Brosby, The appellation - Profesore Since there is no you gonna come get Brosby is a Paráku,nezajdete fitting expression that beers with us later? combination of s náma pak na would combine with … Ted´s family name pivko? the name Mosby, the - You're the coolest, and a word bro … translator cleverly Professor Mosby. (brother), used to - Jste nejlepší, reacts on Ted´s - Well, hot dog. address people in a profesore Mosby. costume of a hot dog. (during Halloween, Ted friendly way. - A taky k sežrání. This way, the is wearing a costume of The word hot dog is appellation is also a hot dog at his lecture) a play on words: familiar, which is the - a costume major aim - to imply - hot meaning that Ted is on popular, good and friendly terms with dog signifying a man his students. The second sentence is also an ingenious

way of wittily referring to the costume. S06e19 - We're just trying to The pun lies is a - Jen se chceme The translation is too make sure he's not a double meaning of ujistit, že nemá divergent, moreover, heel. the word heel: vzteklinu. this phrase is usually (Robin´s boyfriend is - used for ordering a not used. If it is, it discreetly being made dog that is walking indicates an agressive fun of for acting like a with someone to person. dog.) follow close behind Suggestion: their heels - Jen se chceme - a low and ujistit, že z tebe despicable man neudělá čubku.

S06e19 - So, moving from There is a play with - Stěhování z Psina is not suitable Canada, that transition homophones: Kanady, to musela as it has a positive must have been pretty Ruff - the fur that být psina. sense. "ruff". grows around a Alternative: (Robin´s boyfriend is dog´s neck - Stěhovat se až z discreetly being made Rough - informally Kanady, to tě muselo fun of for acting like a difficult dostat na všechny dog.) čtyři. s07e15 - Well, the bees escaped There are two - Včely proletěly The translator created their enclosure, but no homophones bee and ochranný plot, ale a very inventive reason to "bee" be. není důvod si z translation in which concerned. toho dělat vrásky both the meaning and „v čele“. the pun are preserved. Another possibility might be: - (…) ale není důvod se rozvčelovat. s08e21 - I'm moving to Rome Here, it is the - Stěhuji se do Despite the and I'd like you to come expression carry on Říma a chci abys translator´s effort to with me. Carry on. that causes a play on jela se mnou. maintain the link by (...) words - it is used as Potřebuji tě po substituting „Carry - It's only for a year. a phrase of the ruce. on“ by „Potřebuji tě Carry on. Captain by which he (…) po ruce“, the reader (...) invites sb. to react - Je to jen na rok. is unlikely to grasp -Also, I need your advice and also as an Potřebuji tě po the connection with on purchasing some adjective carry-on, ruce. the word příruční. luggage. denoting bags (...) The pun thus seems - What kind? allowed to keep on - A taky potřebuji reasonable to be - Carry-on. the plane. poradit s výběrem omitted. příručního zavazadla. - Jakým? - Příručním. s08e21 (phonecall) Marshall, indeed - (…) Musím si to The translation rather

- I can't talk right now; I having a plate full of tady všechno suggests a trouble got a lot on my plate. hamburgers in front vyžrat. that someone must of him, is using the deal with. It is idiom in the literal perhaps more apt to way. render the idiom as follows: - Teď nemůžu mluvit, mám toho plno naloženo. s08e21 (phonecall) Marshall, watching - (…) Práce na mě The Czech version - Now's not a good time, his colleague lítá ze všech stran. does not correspond Lil. We got a lot of balls juggling, is using the entirely with the in the air right now. idiom literally. visual. As there is no Figuratively, it convenient idiom, the means to try to do traslation needs to be several different more vague to things at once. preserve the correspondence, e.g.: - Pěkně to tady teď lítá. s09e01 - Aw, they'll look so cute Barney is secretly - Vypadají Here, the translator next to the ring bear. planning on having a roztomile vedle invented probably the - Yeah. Wait, you said baby bear carrying toho nosiče prstů. most acceptable and ring bear-er, right? the wedding rings. - Jo. Počkat, řekl creative play on The pun is made jsi nosič prstenů, words there is. Since through the že jo? no convenient paronyms bear and paronym or word bearer. with a multiple meaning seems to be available in Czech, the potential presence of a dangerous creature is referred to by something that bites, which is ingenious. s09e05 - Let me know if you In a poker game, - Pak mi dejte There is no similar want to get some dinner Robin wins James´s vědět, kdybyste ambiguous phrase in later. wedding ring. The chtěli jít na večeři. Czech, the translator - Oh, we'll give you a phrase give sb. a - Neboj, určitě ti thus very aptly builds ring, just not this one. ring is thus used dáme. Ale ne the pun on the only literally. tenhle prsten. utilizable word dát. Should the reaction be even more accurate, it would have to be lengthened e.g. in the following way: - Určitě ti dáme. Co

ti ale nedáme, je tenhle prsten. s09e06 - Reverend? More like Barney is - Otec? Než se As the word reverend Never-end. commenting on vykecá, tak bude is inconvenient for Reverend presenting praotec. any kind of wordplay a long list of the in Czech, it is restrictions in his reasonable to find its church. synonym that can create a pun. The translator´s version is considered to be a very smart and creative choice. s09e06 - Oh, wow I'm totally... The wordplay stems - Páni, jsem úplně The translator the twisty metal thingy? from the expressions v... ta věcička na succeded in finding - You're screwed. screw (a piece of myši? an absolutely fitting metal used for - Jsi v pasti. equivalent of the attaching two things word screwed, which together) and is corresponding screwed (finding even in the level of oneself in an formality. If it was insoluble situation); intended to preserve Marshall cannot rather the first part of recall the adjective, the sentence, the he thus helps himself original could be with the word of a modified as follows: similar form. - Jsem z toho totálně... ta kovová věcička, co se strká do zámku? - Sklíčený. s09e08 - And for Robin? She's The English - A pro Robin? Za The translator, unable gonna be your daughter expression for a 33 hodin to bude to preserve the pun, in 33 hours. son´s wife evokes tvoje dcera. cleverly profited - Daughter-in-law. the fact that she is - Snacha. from the syllablic - Making it illegal for not a blood relative. - Takže se k ní match of the two you not to treat her like a The pun is thus built musíš snachžit words and invented daughter. on the play with the chovat jako k completely different words in law and dceři. and satisfactory illegal. wordplay. Another possible translation might be: - ...tvoje dcera. - Ale jen na papíře. - Budeš tedy mít černé na bílém, že je tvá dcera. s09e10 - Lot of pretty paintings Ted is trying to - V tomhle hotelu The translator found

in this hotel. I like how imply that he knows je hodně the closest and the they've been... framed. the man he is talking vyšívaných most apt expression to is guilty of a obrazů. Líbí se mi, with a hidden "crime" and attempts jak to na ně meaning and the to produce false někdo...ušil! context was adapted. evidence. That is Ušít is a very expressed by the inventive choice. word frame(d), Another possibility which describes not might be a verb only a border of a narafičit: picture, but also an - V tomhle hotelu je effort to make sb. plno krásných hodin. seem guilty. Koukal jsem hlavně na-rafič-ky.

7. 3 Cultural reference

7. 3. 1 Foreignisation

Season, Quotation from the Explanation of the Official Analysis of the episode sitcom situation and/or the translation translation, suggested wordplay alternative S01e01 - So, Gatsby, what are It refers to Great - Tak co, Gatsby, Provided that the work is you going to do when Gatsby and Gatsby´s co budeš dělat, well-known and thus the Robin shows up? love for Daisy. až Robin přijde? reference is clear, it does not need to be changed. S01e05 - … but nobody Hanging chad - a - ...nikdo si už The expression hanging remembers what the small piece of paper nepamatuje, co chad is dealt with fairy hell a hanging chad intended to be to „Visící Chad“ well - it is too is. punched from a je. complicated to explain - What a sad ballot; the expression ... Ted´s costume, thus chad commentary on our is linked to the is made into a name and national attention presidential election its reference is simply span, that we could in 2000 in USA. passed over. forget such a turbulent time in our political history. S01e05 - Trust me, by the end Barney is convincing -… tvůj „Chad“ The quotation marks of the night, your chad Ted to join him and už nebude properly depict the will not be hanging. go to the Victoria's viset.“ double meaning, so it Secret Halloween can be copied directly. party. S01e05 - Hey, Chad, how's it The wordplay is - Čau Chade, jak There is no set phrase in hanging? based on the se visí? Czech that would fit - Hey, word play, reference to the - Hej, slovní hra, with the context.

funny. hanging chad (viz. vtipný. Therefore, the above) and a phrase translator´s choice is How's it hanging? - a understandable. very informal way of saying How are you? S01e05 - What be a pirate's Here, the words with - Arr-gyle. Argyle sweater is an favorite kind of an /ar/ sound are - Arby´s. international expression, sweater? used intentionally, to whereas Arby´s is barely - (Lily dressed as a imitate the sound of known for Czechs. parrot)Arr-gyle. a parrot. However, the wordplay - And what be a Argyle sweater - is still fairly obvious. pirate's favorite fast sweater with a food restaurant? diamond design - Arr-by's. Arby´s - a common - (Marshal) You would fastfood in the US think it would be Arby's. But, actually, it's Long John Silver's. S06e11 - I'm Huey Lewis, and It is a quotation of a - Já jsem a Huey The translator chooses to you just heard the singer who ends his Lewis to hlavní render the wordplay news. concerts with this zpráva jest. directly and it is sentence, the News is evidently the best option a band. At the same as it is impossible to time, it indicates a adapt the wordplay in broadcaster´s closing Czech and the phrase. explanation would be too complicated. S06e19 - My part of Canada's Both puns are based - Musela to být Not the book, but the pretty different from on double meanings „Neuvěřitelná movie based on the story New York. of expressions that cesta“. is well-known also for - Oh, I bet it was an are also proper - Z jaké části Czech audience, the "Incredible Journey". names: Kanady jsi? reference is thus - What part of Canada "Incredible Journey"- - Z Labradoru. understandable. is that? Speak. a children´s book The reference to the - Labrador. about three pets Canadian region is also (Robin´s boyfriend is Labrador - dog clear. discreetly being made breed and region in fun of for acting like a Canada dog.) S07e07 (Marshall invented a The wordplay is - Nazval jsem ji The Czech name for board game for Lily.) based on the Šplhání po Chutes and Ladders is - I call it Chutes and reference to popular liliích. Hadi a žebříky, but the Lilies. board games Chutes - Myslela jsem, game is also known as - I would've guessed and Ladders and že Monopolily. Žížaly, which is more Monopo-Lily. Monopoly. - Jo, to by bylo convenient for the sake - Yeah, that would've lepší. of wordplay. However, been better. hardly anyone knows the board game and it might

not make sense to the readers, plus, it would have the same effect as Monopolily. The translator´s version is thus better. s09e07 - Courtney Dove, no! I A magician Barney - Courtney Both personages are already lost Kurt Coo- named his doves Holubice, ne! Už internationally known, bain! I can't lose you after Kurt Cobain, a jsem přišel o so their names can be as well. front man of the Kurta Vrku- used. Coincidentally, the band Nirvana, and baina! Nemůžu Czech onomatopoeic his wife Courtney ztratit i tebe. expression referring to a Love. Both names dove is also applicable. are modified, the However, as for the first puns are obviously name, the wordplay is based on fusion of unfeasible to transfer to two words (coo is a Czech. The direct sound that doves translation or, possibly, make). an omission are therefore the only options.

7. 3. 2 Naturalisation

Season, Quotation from the Explanation of the Official Suggested translation episode sitcom situation and/or the translation wordplay S01e01 - My name is Rufus, There is a reference - Jmenuju se This is a fairly good and that’s the Trufus. to a similar quote Standa a tohle je translation, the reference from Do the Right ta moje sranda. is not that known, it is Thing, a 1989 film by therefore preferable to Spike Lee. change it, also in order to preserve the rhyme and rhythm. S01e03 - Step into my web. Barney, while - Nech se zlákat. There is neither any tempting Ted, uses a rhythm or rhyme, nor well-known aphorism does it have an indicating an offer allegorical meaning. It that obviously lures seems more apt to sb. into a trap, which translate it as „Lapne se is characteristic of muška do sítě?“ or rhyming and rhythm. „Chytneme ptáčka?“ as a reference to a Czech saying „Když ptáčka chytají,...“.

S01e09 (Thanksgiving in a Barney makes an - Heather se In Czech, domorodí strip club) allusion to the převlékne za Američané does not - Plus they do this appellation Indian, poutnici a Misty sound politically correct. thing: Heather dresses which is often se převlíkne za The suggested up as a pilgrim, and considered Indiánku a translation is : Misty dresses up as an controversial. sdílejí spolu - Omlouvám se, původní Indian, and they share pokrm. americkou obyvatelku. a meal together. - Ale Barney. - Oh, Barney. - Omlouvám se, - I'm sorry, Native domorodou American. Američanku.

S04e01 And Robin continued A word news in a - V 11 hodin se The author found a to uphold the high common dozvíte different, yet fairly well journalistic standards broadcaster´s phrase šokující... done alternative, where of Metro News 1: is substituted by an rozkousnutí. the word rozkousnutí is - Is your favorite expression tooth. supposed to be a brand of dental floss substitution for poisoning your entire rozlousknutí. family? Tune in at 11:00 for the shocking tooth. S04e01 - Coming up next, is Here, to make a - Zůstaňte s Kopeček informací is a your local ice cream reference to the ice námi a dozvíte clever way to express man actually driving a cream man, the word se... kopeček the link to the news. roving meth lab on news is replaced by a informací. wheels? Stay tuned for word scoop - a spoon the full (sighs): scoop. used for serving ice cream. S05e05 - Look who's back Wishing well is a term - Podívejme se, Even though the Czech from the wishing well. from European kdo se vrátil od counterpart of wishing - It didn't work, I'm folklore, a place studny wells is different in still here. where it was thought splněných přání. terms of history, that any spoken wish - Nefungovalo tradition etc., the method would be granted. to, pořád jsem of naturalisation is the tady. most effective one as the ambiguity is clear. S05e14 - What really Truthy McGee - a - Jsi spokojenej, As Truthy McGee is an happened? fake name, McGee is Sherlocku? obvious play on words -I had lunch at a used for a person of a with a hidden meaning, Staten Island Chili's particular only imitating a real and talked to a drunk characteristic, which name, there is a need to hairdresser. Are you is in this case substitute it with another happy, Truthy someone who proves metonymical word of an McGee? their point identical quality, understandable for Czech audience. Sherlock is therefore

perfect. s09e20 (Marshall is talking to Marshall and Lily - Dobré ráno... Even though the effect is his baby.) named their child Sedmikrásko. not that significant as - Good morning... after a plant in which Sedmikráska does not Daisy. Lily had hidden her stand for a feminine pregnancy test. name, there is hardly a better option; the plant is clearly seen by the viewer, so the baby cannot be given any real name evoking a different flower, as e.g. Růženka.

8 Discussion and findings

What follows is a more detailed analysis of the puns that have been observed and recorded in the tables. Each section is evaluated separately and the most striking examples are examined. On the basis of those illustrative puns, the concrete approach of the translator is studied and it is assessed whether the translative techniques are (in)convenient and why.

Furthermore, it is the occurrence of individual methods of translation that is compared.

Overall, the analysis aims to compare and contrast the general tendencies and the tendencies of the sitcom subtitler and some of them are investigated, questioned and possibly substituted with different ones, providing supportive arguments. It might be necessary to look up a particular utterance in the table for specific context.

8. 1 Evaluation of the methods of direct copy, change of image, explanation, omission and abusive subtitling

8. 1. 1 Direct copy

The analysis shows that, as the previous research predicted, most of the puns are indeed transferred into the target language directly. However, the experts, whose study was included in this work, strongly argue that the translators prioritize the direct copy regardless of whether the humorous effect is retained or not. In fact, there is a number of cases that support the statement, but the analysis of the sitcom shows that the major reason of this translation technique being the most frequent is the ability of the translator to find an adequate equivalent in Czech, which more or less depicts the original wordplay and does not lose the punning effect. When there seems to be no satisfactory solution to pun translation, the subtitler does not hesitate to sacrifice either the meaning or the ambiguity. Nevertheless, in

69 most cases, there is an indisputable effort to keep the comical character, which should be, as many experts claim, the main concern.

There happen to be (very rare) situations when the target language surprisingly provides an expression that is even more fitting for a given pun than the original one. For instance, a man dressed in a costume of an angel is called "Mr. Goody-Goody" (s01e05). In the official translation, the appellation is rendered as "pan Dobrák". However, "svatoušek" is a considerably more convenient word, because not only does it reflect the costume, but it is also a more apt expression since the word dobrák rather depicts a kindly and selfless person.

The theoretical part mentions Crisafulli´s belief that translation is by its nature imperfect and the translator should focus at least on the principle of relevance. The author of the sitcom subtitles obviously follows these instructions; hardly any utterance is rendered in the way so that it achieves an absolutely equivalent effect in Czech, even when the translator has most probably found the best option. Contrarily to what has been stated in the previous paragraph, Czech usually does not possess necessary linguistic constructions that could depict the real substance of the pun. Nonetheless, the sense of the pun is usually recognizable and the principle of relevance is retained. As an example, there is a usage of the adjective cheesy

(s06e01): "Well, that guy is cheesy (...) and now I want something cheesy. Who´s feeling nachos?" The word is directly rendered as laciný, which might be acceptable also in the second sense (player), because it automatically creates a connotation of the word nachos as cheap mexican food. Nevertheless, the final punning effect is not as dramatic as in the original and therefore may not provoke an appropriate reaction.

Another example is the pun based on the word chicken (s07e01):

"Who wants hot wings? (…) Or maybe we should just pour hot sauce on Barney, since he's a total chicken."

"I did not chicken out."

"Kdo si dá kuřecí křidélka?"

"Nebo by možná stačilo polít Barneyho ostrou omáčkou, když je takový zbabělý kuřátko."

"Já nejsem žádnej zbabělec."

Here, the translator had two possibilities; to find a different expression for a meal that is likely to be served in the bar and ordered by the group and the second meaning of which would refer to Barney´s cowardice in terms of commitment. The second option was to preserve the original, and in order to retain also the punning effect, it was necessary to provide the word with a connotative adjective.

The subtitler evidently opted for the latter possibility. The original remains unchanged, so does the approximate essence of the pun, but the effect is, again, rather negligible, because the expression kuřátko simply does not evoke lack of courage. The suggested translation builds the pun on the word wings, as this version contains a larger degree of ambiguity: "Kdo si dá křidýlka? (…) Nebo bychom si mohli dát ta Barneyho, aby nemohl Noře zase uletět."

One more example where the translator has to cope with the fact that the punning effect will never be as significant as in English is the double play with a multiple meaning

(s08e23):

"Let's Go Italy?"

"Triangle."

"Triangle?"

"Let's go Italy."

A (bermuda) triangle, standing for an area in front of the house, is a fairly frequently used expression in the sitcom and the subtitler must therefore preserve the commonly

71 employed translation trojúhelník. By contrast, a triangle referring to a musical instrument simply has to stay triangl in Czech. Despite the ambiguous "Let´s go Italy", which is cleverly rendered as "Vzhůru do Itálie" in both ways, the whole play on words is an irrefutable proof of the fact that translation of wordplay is often bound to be imperfect.

There are also cases where the audience detects presence of wordplay, but cannot decode what it is based on. It is believed that such situations only cause the viewer´s confusion and do not produce a required effect. Therefore, it is sometimes advisable to prefer the change of image to direct transfer. A perfect example is Barney´s following utterance:

"But just know that this Victoria Secret party is on a yacht. And what will be sticking to that yacht? The "Barnacle"." (s01e05) The Czech version uses the original word, because the

Czech equivalent for the creature is svijonožec, which is inconvenient, and given the fact the expression is still indicative of a certain wordplay - there is an obvious similarity between the key word and Barney´s name. However, hardly can anyone decipher the ambiguity. As an alternative solution, it is recommended to find and adapt a Czech term for any sea animal that reminds of the name, e.g barakuda. Since this particular animal is not well-known, it may be provided with a common genus name, like barnakuda obecná.

Whether the ambiguity is kept or not hinges on the translator, on his or her determination to follow the source version and an amount of effort to seek the most convenient linguistic possibility. But as stated in the theoretical section, it is sufficient when the subtitler transfers at least the tone of the pun, which the sitcom translator accomplished.

8. 1. 1. 1 Direct copy and preservation of pun

It has been stated that due to linguistic diversity, puns that may be directly transferred into the source language also with their punning effect are fairly rare. The reason is that polysemous words, homonyms or homophones in English hardly ever have their identical

72 counterpart in Czech. However, there are several cases which were effortless for the translator; e.g. the verb drop in the pun "Just drop her." "Drop her in a pit." (s08e11) may be rendered directly: " Hoďte ji za hlavu." " Hoďte ji do jámy." The suggested translation mentions the expression pustit which has the same effect. The verb drop is evidently one of the few a double meaning of which can be found in its Czech equivalent.

It is also a verb fold that has identical polysemous character in both languages. This example of syntagmatic pun is remarkable, because one of the senses falls into specific poker terminology in both languages: " Well, call me Akira Yoshizawa. World's most famous origamist? I fold." (s09e05)

A striking example is collocation "house of cards" (s08e21) that shares a figurative meaning with the target language. The analysis has proven that this phenomenon is rather scarce.

Czech is a highly complex and varied language, which represents both an advantage and an inconvenience in terms of rendering. It may be illustrated on its usage of variable prefixes that create slight nuances amongst words with an identical root. That is why e.g. the translation of the ambiguous word stuffed does not produce the same punning effect as the original expression, even though the Czech cpát is polysemous, too. It can be observed in the sentence said by Robin who is offered refreshments while holding a dead penguin: "Uh, a- thank you! Oh, none for him. He's stuffed." (s06e08) As seen in a (highly felicitous) translation "Děkuji! Pro něj nic, už je přecpaný.", there is an obvious degree of ambiguity, but the semantic divergence caused by the prefixes pře- and vy- decreases the final punning outcome.

8. 1. 1. 2 Substitution of comical pun by comical non-pun

The theoretical section mentioned the option of direct transfer of wordplay which loses is punning effect, but remains comical. The analysis has proven that such possibility is employed when there is absence of convenient ambiguous expression, but Czech can compensate for the loss by other linguistic rhetorical devices like alliteration or various figures of speech. This phenomenon is evident in the utterance which makes allusion to a house full of bees: "Best housewarming party ever. Everybody's abuzz." (s07e15) The translator took advantage of a match of the two initial letters plus equipped the verb bzučet with a metaphorical meaning that is uncommon, yet patently obvious: "Všichni bzučí blahem." Again, Czech does give the translator considerable scope for creativity, he or she just needs to profit from it.

8. 1. 2 Change of image

It follows from the theoretical part that the so-called change of image represents the most controversial translative method. However, the analysis leads to acknowledgement that certain puns simply have to be transformed, firstly, because the primary aim of the sitcom is to entertain the audience, and secondly, because there are numerous scenes that are closely based on various wordplay and that is why they are just impossible to be ignored. Moreover, the study described earlier proves that the change of image is received positively by most of the viewers. In the sitcom, many cases of modified puns were found, but the analysis shows that the modification was mostly necessary not only for the sake of the humorous effect, but also because if only the played (the common meaning) was preserved, the whole utterance would not make any sense. The following "witty" remark of an artist alluding to Vincent van

Gogh may demonstrate the necessity of a wordplay change: "The first painting I ever sold, I used the money to get my car fixed. You might say I used it to make my van go." (s08e18)

Given the context, the pun is absolutely unacceptable to be omitted; it provokes Marshall´s offended reaction, because his own joke about the famous painter was not, unlike this one, well received. The direct translation is inapplicable, either, as the punning sentence in its literal sense only repeats what has been already said. The third option is explanation, which has been described as the least satisfactory solution. Hence, the only practicable method is the change of image, which is perfectly depicted it the official translation: " (…) Dalo by se říct,

že jsem si ho sám s-monetoval."

There is a question, though, to what extent it is acceptable to change the original wordplay. The study shows that it depends on the complexity of the linguistic play. The table presents a number of puns that include whole sentences, so, as it has been already stated, they are inevitable for both the translator and the viewer. The most demonstrative is this dialogue

(s09e08):

"Or I could go out to the driveway and eat some gravel."

"Wait. Sorry. Did you say gravel or gavel?"

"Gravel. Why would I say gavel?"

"Gavel."

This pun is set in a broader context, where the translator is obliged to employ judicial terms, because they always preceed Lily´s angry reaction. The pun is based on two paronyms, so it means that the subtitler needs to find a judicial expression that closely resembles to another word. Then, the context must be modified so that the word fits into it. The subtitler dealt with the complicated pun as follows:

"A nebo bych mohla jít k akvárku a sníst pár skalár."

"Počkat. Promiň, říkala jsi skalár, nebo talár?"

"Skalár, proč bych říkala talár?"

"Talár!"

The wordplay is obviously absolutely different, but the final punning effect is very creatively preserved.

An interesting phenomenon is the pun that is changed in an unusual way - a figurative phrase is rendered literally in order to achieve a required effect. To outline a situation, Robin´s boyfriend behaves like a dog and there is a great number of puns that are directed towards this fact:

"When Nora gets back here, I'm blowing the whistle."

"Just make sure it's not a high-frequency whistle, because we don't want to torture Robin's boyfriend." (s06e19)

It has been said that an interchange of a literal and figurative meaning should be the easiest for the translator. However, the peculiarity of this pun is caused by the phrase blow the whistle, which signifies giving away something secret. The translator smartly changes the meaning of the first part by using the verb odpískat (which has a different meaning but still depicts the situation), so that the pun included in the second part could be maintained:

"Až se Nora vrátí, tak to celé odpískám."

"Hlavně to neodpískej na vysoké frekvenci, (…)"

The last wordplay is indicative of the fact that the subtitler sometimes cannot restrict himself to the original, otherwise the pun cannot reveal itself in the target language. Evidently,

76 complex puns require the change of image and they represent a very challenging task for the translator, his success should be therefore appreciated.

8. 1. 3 Explanation

It has been discussed that the method of explanation should not be applied frequently mainly due to disturbing natural course of the subtitles. In addition, a frequent use of this method may be reflective of the translator´s incompetence. The study shows that the puns are indeed explicated only provided that the pun cannot be neither preserved nor changed (e.g. when it must correspond with what is happening on the screen). It also becomes evident that the explanation is preferred when the pun is based on one simple homonym, homophone or a word of a double meaning, so it requires only a short note in brackets. Also, by virtue of this effortless solution, the viewers are not deprived of the original comical experience.

As recommended, the usage of this method is rather rare in the sitcom. Only one of the puns mentioned was found really inconvenient, because there is also a possibility of the change of image:

" How was flying solo? And by "solo", I mean so low that you got shot down." (s06e03)

" Jaký byl sólo let? A tím „sólo“ myslím, že jsi letěl tak nízko (so low), že tě sestřelili."

This is a fairly complex pun as it takes advantage of the homophony of the collocation fly solo and the phrase fly so low, and both a literal and figurative meaning of the phrase shot down. However, even though the first pun is explained, it does not clarify the latter one and the result is nonsensical. Therefore, the sentence would require either two explanations, which is probably inappropriate, or a complete transformation. That is why an alternative translation

77 suggests a different wordplay that still depicts the situation: " Jaký to je, jít s prázdnou? A tou prázdnou myslím tvoji kapsu, kde není žádný číslo."

Mostly, the method of explanation is truly used as the last option. Often, the

(otherwise more convenient) possibility of omission must be excluded, because there are puns that draw viewers´ attention due to the visual. For instance, what becomes inevitable is the dialogue in the 11th episode of the 8th season, where Barney draws a picture of a barn and a knee which phonetically stand for his name. The pictures are visible, so the translator cannot use different words, and even if he intended to, only the first part would be realisable.

8. 1. 4 Omission

One of the most frequent phenomena when dealing with puns is omission. This method is supposed to be employed when the pun is too complex to be preserved in the target language and the translator prefers to retain formal equivalence to changing the image.

Assessing the cases where the pun was omitted, questions are sometimes raised whether the translator ignored it deliberately or it was not decoded at all.

It is believed that there are several puns where the word untranslatability seems accurate. Sometimes, a pun is built on homophones, paronyms or polysemous expressions which are so specific that only one sense can be transferred to Czech. The following dialogue proves that it is frequently inevitable to ignore the wordplay:

" You want to go?"

" Sure."

"Really? Awesome! It's a date!" (s07e07)

The key word date, which causes agitation, cannot have the same effect in the target language, because Czech simply does not provide a fitting expression. The translator deals with the situation through direct translation "Úžasný! Je to rande!", but not only is the pharase deprived of the punning effect, but it does not make sense in the context. It is recommended to completely change the sentence so that it sounds more natural, e.g. "Večer je náš!"

Often, the subtitler chooses to retain only the played, i.e. the usual sense of a word, or a phrase, which fulfils at least one condition - accuracy. However, there are puns that do not require change of image, it is only paraphrasing that may save both the formal equivalence and the punning effect. The fact may be illustrated on this utterance:

"But, sir, this is our housewarming party."

"You know, Mother Earth is also having a "housewarming" party." (s07e15)

The official translation is direct:

" Ale pane, tohle je kolaudačka našeho domu."

" ...matka Země taky zrovna pořádá kolaudačku."

Given to what follows the pun, the translation is acceptable, because the word

"kolaudačka" receives a hint of irony (which highlights the discussed importance of the context). Nonetheless, if the expression is paraphrased, the translator may create a pun that does not necessarily allude to global warming, but clearly indicates that the planet is endangered:

"Ale pane, právě pořádáme večírek na přivítanou."

"A matka Země zrovna pořádá večírek na rozloučenou."

There are utterances where the loss of wordplay is considered tolerable, because even the direct translation carries a slight touch of humour, and provided that the viewer does not understand or perceive the spoken version, the word or a phrase just merges to the original.

But again, preservation of the formal equivalence and playful and ambiguous translation are not always mutually exclusive. The following sentence, depicting a scene where the group plans to open a bar styled as a courtroom, may serve as an example: "The only court where you show up, then get served." (s06e24). The official Czech version is "Jediný soud, kam přijdete a obslouží vás." The translation is fairly reasonable - it does not deviate from the original and it indicates uniqueness of the bar. The preservation of the pun may seem too complicated at first glance. However, sometimes one reaches a more substantial effect by applying the player instead of the played, e.g.: "Jediný soud, kam přijdete i bez předvolání." If the translator wishes to preserve the chronological order of the utterance, another variant is change of image, which usually leads to the retention of ambiguity: "Bude to jediný soud, kde se ukážeš a teprve pak něco šílenýho spácháš."

The analysis demonstrates examples of omission where there is no need for one, because the Czech language provides linguistic devices that can compensate for absence of required homophones or polysemous words. It has been observed that the translator often prioritizes the employment of a played over a slight change of the pun. That is evident for instance in the sentence "Whoa, she got you the red stroller? Looks like I just blew her out of the water." (s07e22), which is rendered directly: "To jsem jí pěkně vyšplouchl rybník."

However, the major purpose is the play with colours, which should not be neglected by the translator, and more importantly, Czech is characteristic of metaphors that use various colours to suggest emotions, that is why a more convenient translation is "Páni, ona vám koupila

červený golfáč? Až uvidí můj, zmodrá vzteky!"

As stated in the introduction of this section, if the subtitler decides to omit the wordplay, it is usually for the sake of the formal equivalence. However, in the analysed subtitles, there have been found utterances that lack both. It may be demonstrated on the sentence containing a fairly complicated pun: "Hey ref, check your voicemail, I think you missed a few calls!" (s09e09) The translation is very loose, and it is questionable whether such rendering is acceptable, because in addition to its sloppiness, it contains semantic imperfections: "Rozhodčí, potřeboval bys brýle. Myslím, žes byl párkrát úplně vedle." It is advisable to take into consideration an imaginative character of the original wordplay and also the context and visual that might provide a broader spectrum of translation possibilities.

Bearing those rules in mind, the alternative may be as follows: " Hej, rozhodčí, přines si mop, protože tomuhle se říká nečistá hra!"

8. 1. 5 Abusive subtitling

In the sitcom translation, there is fairly widespread occurrence of abusive subtitles.

The translator often experiments with the qualities of the Czech language and takes advantage of its grammatical or morphological potential, and also of the visual to preserve the substance of the pun. The viewer is thus not deprived of the original, he just receives it through a different, understandable way. That is the difference between the abusive subtitling and the change of image, as the latter might be seen as contamination by some, whereas the former represents a place where the domestic encounters the foreign. In other words, the abusive subtitling adds to the translation certain linguistic elements that do not occur in the original, but lead to its basic meaning.

A situation, where the translator benefits from the visual and figurative devices in the target language is the following dialogue, where Ted is wearing a Halloween costume of a hot dog, so the ambiguity lies in a multiple meaning of both words: "You're the coolest, Professor

Mosby." "Well, hot dog." (s06e07) The translation contains a very apt figurative phrase which is both ambiguous and alludes to the costume, even though in a slightly different manner:

"Jste nejlepší, profesore Mosby." "A taky k sežrání."

Another vivid illustration of the wordplay the sense of which can be maintained owing to linguistic stretch and ingenuity of the translator is the utterance referring to a very talkative priest: "Reverend? More like Never-end." (s09e06) Of the available synonyms like reverend, kněz, páter, pastor or otec, the subtitler has chosen the most convenient one that is formable in terms of required wordplay and the translation is following: "Otec? Než se vykecá, tak bude praotec." This is an example of a perfect intralinguistic paraphrasability (term used by

Attardo, 1994).

What should be also highlighted as an ingenious translation, given the preservation of a comical allusion, is the one of the utterance "Well, the bees escaped their enclosure, but no reason to "bee" concerned." (s07e15) To depict the gist of the pun, which lies in the word včely, the subtitler was forced to overstep the boundaries of words and he managed to find a variant that includes the word and, moreover, does not change the context: "Včely proletěly ochranný plot, ale není důvod si z toho dělat vrásky „v čele“."

A translation that cannot be left out when discussing clever utilisation of linguistic potential deals with this sentence: "Lot of pretty paintings in this hotel. I like how they've been... framed." (s09e10) Not only did the author of the translation manage to preserve a relatively insignificant word as a painting, he found a key ambiguous expression that corresponds with the verb frame and perfectly fits the context: "V tomhle hotelu je hodně vyšívaných obrazů. Líbí se mi, jak to na ně někdo...ušil!"

On the other hand, there are translations that did not achieve the desired result. To provide a vivid example, there is a situation where Lily is teasing her husband about him

82 being mugged by a monkey: "What if he's in a gang? I hope he doesn't do a swing-by."

(s05e19) The ambiguous swing-by has no adequate equivalent in Czech, there are therefore several options. The first is to retain only the so-called played and to omit the pun. This possibility would represent the method of a switch from a comical pun to a comical non-pun, because the utterance itself has a touch of irony: "Snad nepřijde až k nám domů." The second option is replacing the original with a completely different wordplay that makes allusion to a monkey. The translator could in this case benefit from e.g. a Czech phrase cvičená opice: "Co když je v gangu? Na takovou krádež musela být pořádně cvičená." This possibility is obviously not the best choice. The most convenient is an abusive translation, meaning a pun that captures the essence of the original, i.e. dangerousness of a monkey. That was obviously an intention of the translator, but the result is neither ambiguous nor related to monkeys: "Co když je v gangu? Doufám, že neumí karate." In fact, there is another way of keeping the ambiguous character while not deviating too much from the original: "Snad se jí nebude chtít

šplhat až do posledního patra." Climbing is an activity typical of monkeys and the couple indeed lives on the top floor, so this version is found more fitting that the official translation.

Furthermore, there are translations that are considered unsuccessful for deviating from the original, because they do not respect minor semantic nuances that occur between them and their original counterparts. The question is whether the translator did not find the distinctive elements significant enough, or they are a result of inattention or possibly lack of knowledge in the target language.

This situation may be illustrated on the equivocal idiom "I can't talk right now; I got a lot on my plate." (s08e21) Marshall is pretending over the phone to be busy while actually having a full plate in front of him. The aim is therefore to transfer ambiguity. The context cannot be changed due to the visual, so the pun in the target language must relate to food.

"Musím si to tady všechno vyžrat." does fulfil the essential requirements, but, as described in

83 one of the previous sections, there is always a number of viewers who demand accuracy and who, owing to their knowledge of English, may find the deviance from the original rather negative. The meaning of the Czech sentence does not evoke a lot of work, but rather facing up to a problem. The suggested translation "Teď nemůžu mluvit, mám toho plno naloženo." is more vague and therefore corresponds more with the original.

Since it is highly unlikely to find an English and a Czech idiom with identical figurative and literal meanings, vagueness often appears to be the key to its translation, otherwise it may become inaccurate. As an example may serve the following utterance:

"Now's not a good time, Lil. We got a lot of balls in the air right now." (s08e21) The idiom is, again, ambiguous, because it refers to a man juggling. The subtitler rendered the sentence as

"Práce na mě lítá ze všech stran.", but because of the subject, the utterance loses an equivocal effect. Moreover, it does not correspond with the original since Marshall is using ambiguity so that he does not have to lie to his wife. It is thus suggested that the sentence be rendered as

"Pěkně to tady teď lítá." as it depicts the actual situation and it indicates dynamic and lively atmosphere at work. Evidently, the translator has to observe even the subtle nuances to achieve the most approximate translation there is.

To summarize what has been discussed, even though the result of translation is a pun

(which should be sufficient as the translator may base its work on the premise that the major aim is to entertain), it is desirable to chase accuracy if possible and one ought to always search for a more precise expression.

8. 2 Cultural reference

If the puns based on a cultural reference used in the sitcom are assessed, it can be observed that the method of foreignisation is employed approximately to the same degree as naturalisation, in fact, they often co-occur. However, there is no record of the method of

84 neutralisation. It means that the wordplay, which relates to typically American (or possibly

English and Canadian) culture, is either preserved or simply ignored, the explanation of such wordplay never takes place. Not employing this method is found justifiable, because explaining a pun built on a cultural reference, albeit by parahprasing, is too complex, given not only the time and space restrictions of subtitles that have been mentioned, but also due to possible disturbance of smoothness of the subtitles. The other two possibilities are therefore considerably more convenient.

The illustrative example is the 5th episode of the 1st season, which contains a number of puns based on the collocation hanging chad. The Czech viewers are very unlikely to know the term, which refers to an American presidential election 16 years ago. On the other hand, the pun cannot be completely naturalised, because first, the pun is too specific and second, too much attention is payed to the expression ("… but nobody remembers what the hell a hanging chad is." "What a sad commentary on our national attention span, that we could forget such a turbulent time in our political history."). Therefore, the pun is translated directly - "Visící

Chad". Also the rest of the puns concerning the expression is maintained (e.g. "Hey, Chad, how's it hanging?" translated as "Čau Chade, jak se visí?") and although the effect is not as marked as in the original, foreignisation combined with naturalisation is the most proper procedure.

An interesting case of naturalisation is the translation of the utterance "Are you happy,

Truthy McGee?" (s05e14). One would expect that when the pun based on a cultural reference is changed in order to be more understandable for the target audience, it would be adapted to

Czech culture. However, the question is rendered as "Jsi spokojenej, Sherlocku?". To express someone´s qualities of a detective, there is hardly any personage in Czech culture that would fit into the context this perfectly and usage of Sherlock, or possibly Columbo, as an appellation for a person trying to solve puzzles, is rooted in the Czech language, too. The

85 research thus shows that the translator does not have to limit his linguistic possibilities only to the target language, because it is knowledge and linguistic conventions of the target viewers that are decisive.

In contrast to the successful translations employing the methods of foreignisation and naturalisation, there are utterances the translation of which moderates the punning effect, e.g. the following wordplay (s01e09):

"Plus they do this thing: Heather dresses up as a pilgrim, and Misty dresses up as an Indian, and they share a meal together."

"Oh, Barney."

"I'm sorry, Native American."

In order to grasp the meaning of this play on words, the viewer must be aware of the attitude towards the term Indian, which some American citizens are not comfortable with.

Barney is being admonished about his inappropriate comment, but he ascribes the reproof to the given word. To transfer the utterance to Czech so that even the unaware audience grasps the pun, the translator must use a word that sounds politically correct. The official translation

"Omlouvám se, domorodou Američanku." is therefore not appropriate; just the word domorodý has a negative connotation, because it may be suggestive of a primitive bushman.

The expression "původní americká obyvatelka" is considered more contrastive to the word

"Indiánka" and thereby more convenient.

Furthermore, if the original contains puns that are based on a literal, musical or cinematographical piece of work, the translator needs to decide whether an average viewer will decode it or whether the knowledge of Czech audience does not reach that far and it is

86 necessary to adapt it. To provide two diverse examples, the following utterances may be compared:

"So, Gatsby, what are you going to do when Robin shows up?" (s01e01)

"Step into my web." (s01e03)

The first sentence refers to Fitzgerald´s novel that is so well-known that the ambiguous allusion to Robin is abundantly clear and thus possible to be transferred directly.

The second sentence, on the other hand, represents a phrase from a poem The Spider and the

Fly, written by an English poet Mary Howitt. The poem itself is not well-known for Czech audience, which makes the line very unlikely to be grasped by the viewers. The official translation transfers the "message": "Nech se zlákat." However, the translator might try to retain more, either the rhyhm and the rhyme, or, since the line has become a set phrase in

English, its figurative character. One of the suggested translations provides a version that corresponds with the original, but is more expressive: " Lapne se muška do sítě?"

In the sitcom, one may occasionally observe that puns based on a cultural reference are simply ignored. For instance, the phrase "O Cana-dorable" (s07e12) includes two puns.

The major one lies in fusion of two words sharing common sounds, but there is another one - a reference to the national anthem O Canada. The wordplay is translated as "Kanádherný“, which shows that the cultural reference is omitted. Question is whether the translator in cases like this one ignores the pun intentionally (for example due to improbability of the Czech audience to decipher the ambiguity), or overlooks it himself/herself.

Evaluating the culturally based wordplay, the analysis of the sitcom does not confirm the statement that the most common is the combination of foreignisation and neutralisation, because this study manifests the frequent co-occurrence of foreignisation and naturalisation.

8. 3 Taboo language

According to experts, one of the multiple reasons for wordplay usage is concealing taboo language, which is proscribed in most of the programmes. This phenomenon is fairly frequent in the sitcom, where the pun is usually based on the swearword disguised in a similar, usually rhyming expression. The translator´s task is therefore to find Czech invective that not only fits the context, but is formable or can be replaced by different expressions, but not too different, so that the viewer will comprehend the allusion. The perfect example is the episode which is based on the word duck: "Don! You're wearing pants." (…) "Ah, duck."

(s05e15) Robin intends to curse, but she substitutes the expletive with the rhyming key word.

Unfortunately, such an ingenious wordplay is unfeasible to be conveyed in Czech. The translator cleverly uses direct copy ("Kachna jedna."), by which a certain effect is accomplished, too, the viewer understands the hidden meaning.

8. 4 Further wordplay phenomena

In one of the previous parts, zeugma is defined as a minor type of wordplay. It does not occur to any significant extent as a punning device, and if so, the ambiguity is ignored. It is indeed complicated to find equivalent words that improperly share the same phrase.

However, the translator may compensate for the loss by substituting the incorrect phrase by a correct one, by which he creates a certain connection between two words. It may be illustrated on Ted´s utterance: "I mean, you're crying." (coughing) "And contagious." (s09e06) The official translation does not reflect the wordplay: "Vždyť brečíš. A jsi nakažlivá." Obviously, zeugma is caused by simultaneous usage of be as an auxiliary and a full verb, which is not preservable. That is why it is suggested that one should make a slight modification - maintain

88 the verb be and unify the word classes of the expressions to produce at least some effect:

"Vždyť jsi celá uplakaná. A nakažlivá."

In the theoretical part, there are mentioned several other sorts of wordplay, like coinages, malaproprisms or hypercorrection. Of those, the most striking in terms of translation are undoubtedly coinages, in other words neologisms. The translator deals with some of them very smartly, for instance a translation of fictitious expressions "ted out", which means to overthink, or "ted up", described as overthinking something with disastrous results (s01e07), are despite the absence of phrasal verbs in Czech cleverly distinguished through a prefix - tedovat and ztedovat. The translator always makes an obvious effort to preserve both the substance and the ambiguity in the invented word, but sometimes, Czech just does not have apt lexical equipment to keep both. It can be observed on the collocation "Fortress of Soli-

Ted" (s08e19), which is catchy owing to a match of almost all the letters. "Pevnost Tedoty" is not characteristic of this feature, but the translator cannot employ any more apt expression without losing the substance of the pun. Therefore, the success in terms of coinage translation is quite coincidental.

It was also technical limitations that were taken into consideration when observing wordplay. The study did not show that there would be any direct connection between spacial or temporal restrictions and wordplay omission. If the translator finds apt linguistic devices for translating a pun, he usually manages to transfer at least its message, regardless the limitations, which has been described as the primary concern. As for linguistic restrictions, the syntactic and semantic coherence may reduce the punning effect. Sometimes, it would be convenient if an utterance was separated, because first, it would correspond with the moment of hesitation of the speaker, and second, the pun might be intensified by the moment of surprise caused by an unexpected finishing. The sentence "Sorry, I haven´t slept in...January."

(s08e13) demonstrates that if the whole utterance is in one line and read at once, the result of

89 the wordplay is not that marked. However, these conveniences are likely to be incompatible with the time limitations, which dictate the minimal duration of a title.

9 Conclusion

The study has proven that the method of direct copy should always be regarded as the first viable option. It is vital to realize that direct copy does not equal word-for-word translation; it represents a depiction of the genuine gist of the wordplay and often, the Czech language does possess convenient linguistic devices for those purposes. It only hinges upon the translators and their abilities, whether they are capable of finding the most felicitous expression(s). The Czech version hardly ever achieves the very same punning effect, but since

Czech is highly vivid and varied, it may be found as a fairly favourable target language in terms of translation.

The most vexed question throughout the study was the preservation of the original utterance, even if it leads to the loss of the comical effect. The research has manifested two opposing views, one prioritizing direct copy against all odds, the other putting forward the comical effect, which should be the major criterion, given the fact that the viewers of a sitcom expect to be amused. Very beneficial research by Schauffler has shown that the audience appreciates more when the subtitles retain the humour, no matter how they deviate from the original. This approach has been observed also in terms of the English-speaking audience that might possibly criticise the divergence between the source and target language. As it may be deduced also from the subtitles of How I Met Your Mother, one should opt for direct copy provided that the final utterance carries at least some degree of humour, may it result only in a comical non-pun.

It is relevant to conclude the procedure of the translator when he or she comes across a pun the direct copy of which is impossible. When such wordplay is too specific or complex to be transferred into Czech, there is a possibility of the method of explanation, which has been affirmed to be the least convenient, because it disturbs the viewer's experience. Another

91 option is to omit the pun, which is usually not desired, either, as the comical effect is deliberately reduced and because often, there are obvious visual allusions to the presence of wordplay and by omitting it in the subtitles, the translator misleads the audience. Omission is employed quite frequently in the sitcom and sometimes, it is found indeed inevitable, e.g. because the utterance is too brief for Czech to transform it figuratively or paraphrase it (the subtitle should approximately correspond with the original in terms of space and time).

However, there is a number of puns the omission of which is a result of lack of creativity or linguistic competence. Also, omission of puns should take place provided that the translator prefers retention of the original, but at times, the pun is ignored and the Czech utterance is still different. That is found to be the translator's misconduct. To sum up, when it comes to omission, one ought to take a cautious approach, the viewer should not recognize that there is a pun omitted at all. Therefore, when there are non-linguistic factors like e.g. laughter that are indicative of presence of wordplay, the translator should take into consideration another translative method. That may be abusive subtitling, which has been assessed as the most ingenious method. It does appear to be a compromise solution, because it preserves both the original and the gist of the wordplay, and thus the comical effect. The translator of the sitcom has repeatedly shown great ability to stretch the linguistic devices, so the subtitled version is perhaps unusual, but its ambiguous effect is achieved. The last translative possibility was given considerable space, because it represents the most contentious method. The change of image is used frequently in the sitcom and its usage has been found risky, but beneficial. In fact, it is suggested that some puns that have been omitted or explained be rendered through this method as well, because if the translator finds a fitting pun, it is likely to be received positively by the viewers, even when the pun is different from the original.

To summarize this section, if the Czech language provides devices that do not correspond with the original but are characteristic of ambiguity and can produce a punning

92 effect, the translator should prefer the change of image to the method of omission or explanation, because it may serve as satisfying compensation for the loss of the wordplay occurring in the source language.

If the puns built on cultural reference are to be encapsulated, the study leads to a conclusion that the translator needs to critically assess whether an average viewer will be able to decode the reference to the foreign culture or whether the meaning of the pun will be at least a little clear from given context (which may be slightly adapted to make the pun more understandable). Basically, the translator should work only with the methods of foreignisation and naturalisation, because neutralisation has been considered unsuitable particularly for the sitcom subtitles.

Overall, the translation of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother is regarded as satisfactory, the subtitler repeatedly managed to benefit from the linguistic potential of the target language, like e.g. diversity in terms of Czech synonyms, and created wordplay that more or less fulfilled the major conditions, which is preservation of the wordplay substance, retention of humour, respecting technical restrictions and observing smoothness of the subtitles. The analysis of the subtitles proved, however, how essential it is to alert to every linguistic nuance, because not only some viewers might demand accuracy, but the slight nuance may turn an utterance into nonsense. Also, the translator should set his or her priorities, because the major conditions mentioned several lines above are sometimes incompatible and the result of the translator's effort to transfer the original pun may result in an utterance very unnatural to the Czech audience. One simply has to deal with the fact that translation really is by its nature imperfect.

The research devoted to wordplay translation may be found beneficial, because it focuses on a genre that is nowadays highly popular, and the study therefore facilitates the process of rendering ambiguous plays on words from English to Czech that are so widely used

93 in this genre. It may help the translator elucidate to what extent it is advisable to guard accuracy and when it is proper to sacrifice it for more pertinent reasons. Moreover, some findings may be certainly applied on different genres, even the written ones. The study is also incontrovertible proof that subtitling, with its linguistic complexity, should be regarded as a legitimate form of translation.

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