埃及文化的幽默是对社会各种抑制的旁敲写照

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译文:喜剧王国：埃及笑话与幽默
译者：wally law
时间:2008-10-05



埃及笑话和幽默为我们了解埃及的社会和政治提供了捷径——或者可以说它们是对社会的各种抑制的旁敲写照。《中东问题》的撰稿人，开罗的作家兼编辑
Catherine Manfre，对开罗的日常幽默作了一下回顾。



Mubarak在地狱



埃及总统Hosni Mubarak死后去了地狱，迎接他的魔鬼说， “因为你领导一个国家多年之久，我允许你自己选择一个房间，在那里你会为你的来生
而受到折磨。”

Mubarak穿过一条两边有门的走廊，打开了第一扇门，并询问在那里有受什么样的酷刑，门口的人说： “你将会挨8个小时的火烤， 8小时的热油煮和
另8个小时的开水煮。”



想想他应该去其他地方碰碰运气，Mubarak打开走廊上的每扇门，但都得到类似的答复。



他来到最后那扇门。门口的人说，他将在一台外表恐怖的机器上被折磨12小时，然后在一个燃烧的油缸里呆上另12小时。Mubarak告诉他这听起来很恐
怖，他想还是去第一扇门好了。


该名男子斜过身来并低声说，“不，先生，这是埃及人的房间，油的供应从来没有准时过，我们的酷刑机器也从来没有工作过。”



埃及地狱外的幽默之道



政治性的谈论基本上是被禁止的，通货膨胀正在上升，社交活动的机会又很少，这样一来，以埃及的现状为题来写和笑话、讲笑话是很多人对待现实生活的一种方
法。它并不是化悲痛为力量，但至少它减轻了痛苦。



许多埃及笑话以人们感到无能为力的政治和经济状况为嘲笑对象。是否取笑了自己和国家会使事情变好？大概不会，但如果你觉得对改变生活无能为力，笑可以是
一个很好的痛苦缓冲剂。



佛罗里达州选举的埃及版本



埃及是一个民主国家，这如地球是在一星期内建立的一样正确：各种文本都是这样写的，但与现实却有很大出入。阿拉伯埃及共和国在其半个世纪的近代史中共有
三个总统：Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, 和 Hosni Mubarak。自Anwar Sadat于1981
年遇刺以来Mubarak总统一直执掌政权，虽然看起来国民大多数都不认同他，认为他没为国家做过什么，但他似乎总是得到很大比例的选票。

埃及总统Mubarak曾会见俄罗斯总统普京。普京问Mubarak， “你怎么总能赢得99％的选票？我真愿我以前也能赢得这类百分比。”
Mubarak回应， “下一次你们选举时，告诉我，我会派人来帮你。”



俄罗斯大选来了，Mubarak派了一些顾问去俄罗斯帮助普京当选。结果出来了： Mubarak得了99％的选票。



不可避免的岳母



也许安于现状不是人的最佳选择，但自嘲是对生活不要太严肃的一种文化的写照。在这样一个地方，家庭是大多人的社交中心，就业机会仅常提供给少数人和特权
阶层，人们的交际圈不会比家庭大很多 ，他们的笑话也一样，其中一些是熟悉的，普遍的埃及主题。


一人在与他的朋友聊天，并询问他过得怎样，朋友说他今天非常高兴。这个人问他为什么，他朋友说：“我岳母昨晚死了。”



翻译的迷失



许多埃及的人口集中在开罗和地中海城市亚历山大，开罗人口更是近年来爆炸性增长到约2千2百万人，埃及人口大约是7-8千万。城市和乡村的差别非常大，
这两个城市以外的居民几乎没有什么基础设施或发展。

那些生活在埃及上部或南部的人被下部的人称为Sayyidi。关于这些人的陈腔滥调有众多的笑话。其中很多是关于他们更部落化倾向的生活方式和缺乏教
育。

幽默是埃及文化一很大特点，但许多来访的人可能不解其意，因为这么多的幽默植根于方言中，甚至能讲流利英语的埃及人有时也拒绝翻译笑话。

自我反思并用这些的结果来制成幽默，这可能是社会能力中的社会学分析。我不知道这是什么分析，所以我只会坐下来、倾听、并开怀一笑。

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原文:State of Stand-Up: Egyptian Jokes and Humor
发现者:sunyinguk
来源:http://middleeast.about.com
发布时间:2008-10-03
类型:转载

Egyptian jokes and humor provide a short-cut to insights about
Egyptian society and politics--or an end-run around the society's
various repressions. Middle East Issues contributor Catherine Manfre,
a writer and editor based in Cairo, runs down the state of everyday
stand-up in Cairo.

Mubarak in Hell

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt dies and goes to hell and is greeted
by the devil. The devil says to him, “Since you were a leader of a
country for many years, I’ll allow you to choose which room you’re
tortured in for the rest of eternity.”

Mubarak walks down a corridor with doors on either side, opens the
first door and inquires what type of torture he would endure. The man
at the door says, “You’re tortured for eight hours with burning
flames, eight hours of hot oil and eight hours in boiling water.”

Thinking he should try his luck elsewhere, Mubarak opens each door on
the corridor and finds similar replies.

He comes to the final door. The man says he will endure twelve hours
of torture on a terrible looking machine, followed by another twelve
hours in a burning tub of oil. Mubarak tells him that sounds terrible,
and he thinks he’ll just stick with the first door he opened.

The man leans in and whispers, “No sir, this is the Egyptian room, the
supplies of oil are never delivered on time and our torture machines
never work.”

Humor’s Way Out of Egypt’s Hells

While political expression is largely prohibited, inflation is on the
rise, and little chance for social mobility, creating and telling
jokes about conditions in Egypt is one way many people cope with the
realities of life. It’s not exactly making lemonade from lemons, but
at the very least it dulls the bitterness.

Many Egyptian jokes poke fun at political and economic conditions that
most feel they can do little to change. Will poking fun at themselves
and their country make things better? Probably not, but if you feel
like you’re powerless to change your life, laughing can be a welcome
relief.

Egypt’s Version of Florida Elections

Egypt is a democracy in the same sense that Earth was created in a
week: it says so on paper, but the reality is very different. The Arab
Republic of Egypt has had three presidents in its half-century modern
history: Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak
has been in power since Sadat’s assassination in 1981, and while it
seems that most don’t agree with him and think he does little for his
country, he always seems to get a large percentage of the vote.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is meeting with President Vladimir
Putin of Russia. Putin asks Mubarak, “How do you always win with 99%
of the vote? I wish I won with that type of percentage.” Mubarak
responds, “Next time you have an election, let me know and I’ll send
my people to help you out.”

The Russian election is coming up, and Mubarak sends some advisors to
Russia to help Putin in his election. The results come out: 99%
Mubarak.

The Inevitable Mother-In-Law

Perhaps resigning oneself to existing conditions is not optimal, but
poking fun at life is reflective of a culture of not taking life too
seriously. In a place where family is central to most people’s social
sphere, and job opportunities are abundant only for the few and the
privileged, people’s boundaries do not extend too far from home…and
neither do their jokes, some of which adapt familiar, universal themes
to Egypt.

A man is talking to his friend and asks him how he is doing. His
friend says he’s very happy today. When the man asks him why, his
friend says, “My mother-in-law died last night.”

Lost in Translation

Much of the Egyptian population is centered in Cairo and the
Mediterranean city of Alexandria, with Cairo’s population exploding in
recent years to around 22 million people; Egypt’ population is around
70-80 million. The dichotomy between city and country is vast, with
little infrastructure or development for the local population
extending outside of these two cities.

Those living in Upper or southern Egypt are referred to as Sayyidi by
those in Lower Egypt. There are a multitude of jokes that reflect the
stereotypes about this group of people. Many jokes focus on their more
tribal village way of life and lack of education.

Humor is an enormous part of Egyptian culture and is probably lost to
many visiting the country since even Egyptians fluent in English
sometimes refuse to translate jokes because so much of the humor is
rooted in the language.

There is probably a sociological analysis of a society’s ability to be
self-reflective and use the outcome to produce humor. I’m not sure
what that analysis is, so I’ll just sit back, listen, and laugh.