Hallo zusammen, ich war vor ein paar Wochen in Prag und war total begeistert. Habe dort eine Postkarte gekauft und gehofft, dass jemand den Witz erklären könnte, da Google Translate nicht sehr hilfreich war.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1v06zrr
Von ProfessionalBrief581
6 Kommentare
It does not make sense in English as the proverb is a bit different.
English proverb: The early bird catches the worm.
Czech proverb: The early bird hops very far.
Postcard text: 7.5 cm, the same as in the evening. Don’t tell me that the early bird hops very far.
„Ranní ptáče dál doskáče“ is an idiom Czechs use to express the benefits of getting up early. Similar to „The early bird catches the worm“ in English. The rest is a joke of somebody taking it literally „7 1/2 cm same as the evening.“
The English version of this saying is „early bird gets the worm“. In Czech it is „morning bird jumps farther“. That is the context.
As for the text itself, it says „7.5 centimeters, just like in the evening. (Don’t) let anyone tell me again that the morning bird jumps farther!“
It is kind and naive humor. Nice souvenir! Beats Soviet-style felt hat 12 out of 10 times.
„7 and half centimeters just like in the evening. I won’t let anyone tell me that morning bird jumps further distance!“
Punchline relies on idiom I totally butchered when trying to translate. It is supposed to mean that a bird who wakes up early (metaphore for person who wakes up early) will manage to do more things in a day than a bird who wakes up late. The joke is that this idiom is taken litterally and the bird didn’t actually go further just because it woke up earlier.
BTW the postcard was printed in 1983-1985.
Bonus knowledge for you, if you don’t like getting up early like me – the night owls here usually say „Ranni ptace dal doskace, a taky driv chcipne“
Which is „the early bird jumps farther, but also dies sooner“ 💀