A native of Chalamazug
Once fell overboard from a tug.
He cried, “Ding-dong boller
Doo jango zong zoller,”
Which means “Glug-glug glug glug-glug glug.”
Once fell overboard from a tug.
He cried, “Ding-dong boller
Doo jango zong zoller,”
Which means “Glug-glug glug glug-glug glug.”
GrahamLester.com
ha ha. this is funny
ReplyDeleteThis is a comedic masterpiece. Here's why. The author sets up the limerick by prefacing the tale with the main character's ethnicity. The country the author cites is clearly made up, with a rather nonsensical name, which clues the reader in to the fact that whatever shenanigans this native gets into will certainly be of wacky proportions. The second verse is the inciting incident. Then native falls off a river-boat, giving the reader then next piece of important information: the native was on a boat, and has now fallen into water. The next two verses are the set-up to the joke, as the native cries out a seven-word sentence comprised of entirely nonsensical words from a fictional language. These two verses do three incredibly important things. Firstly, they establish that the land of Chalamazug has its own spoken language. Secondly, they prove that this language is entirely nonsensical in and of itself. Finally, the length of this sentence, as well as the obvious variety in spoken words, fool the reader into believing that this sentence has any intrinsic meaning. Then, there is the final verse, which is the punchline. This is one of the most perfect punchlines to one of the most perfect jokes. The punchline only has two words that aren't onomatopoeias; 'Which means...', acting as the overture to the next seven words that would complete the limerick. The words are revealed to be, “Glug-glug glug glug-glug glug,” which do two things to properly complete the joke. Firstly, the fact that the word 'glug' is repeated seven times matches the amount of words the Chalamazug native says in the third and fourth verses. Secondly the translation for this nonsensical string of words is revealed to be nothing more than the sound one makes when they are drowning. This is humorous for several reasons. Firstly, the nonsensical, yet complex, string of words the Chalamazug native shouts are merely the sounds a human makes when they have ingested copious amounts of water. This implies that the language of Chalamazug is not only nonsensical, but somehow replaces involuntary noises with its own spoken words. Secondly, the native chose to prioritize declaring his state of river-induced suffocation by shouting a completely nonsensical phrase, instead of declaring in his own language that he was drowning, potentially dooming himself to a watery grave (which is humorous in and of itself, because the native's folly would have been of his own accord). Finally, the utilization of such foolish words when detailing the native's language implies some ironic prejudice on the author's part, which only makes the deliver of this joke funnier, when considering the author's intent when writing this poem was to make a joke at the expense of a foreign culture, without actually making fun of a foreign culture.
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