On Eugenio’s fisherman joke
(Transcription of the original in Spanish and Catalan, followed by an English translation and commentary.)
¿Saben aquel que dice que era un pescador que tots els diumenges anava a Sant Carles de la Ràpita a pescar?
Un domingo, el tío llega a las seis de la mañana, prepara los aparejos, tira el anzuelo al agua… Y a los cinco minutos de haber tirado el anzuelo, se le presenta un tío al lado y se le pone a la izquierda, de pie.
Nueve de la mañana: el tío, amb la canya; al costat, el tío.
Una del mediodía: el tío, amb la canya; el payo, al costat.
Ocho de la tarde. El tío, amb la canya. El menda, al lado.
Lunes, ocho de la mañana. El tío, amb la canya.
El nota… al lado.
Una del mediodía.
Li diu el pescador al tío:
—¿Qué, a usted también le gusta la pesca?
—¡Qué va!: yo no tendría paciencia, oiga.
•
You know that one about the fisherman who used to go fishing in Sant Carles de la Ràpita every Sunday?
One Sunday, the bloke gets there at six in the morning, gets his tackle ready, casts his line into the water… And five minutes after he’s cast his line, some bloke turns up beside him and stands there on his left.
Nine in the morning: the bloke with his rod, the bloke beside him.
One in the afternoon: the bloke with his rod; the other bloke beside him.
Eight in the evening. The bloke with his rod. The other bloke beside him.
Monday, eight in the morning. The bloke with his rod.
The other bloke… beside him
One in the afternoon.
The fisherman says to the bloke:
‘So, you like fishing too?’
‘No way! I wouldn’t have the patience, mate.’
In view of the failure to post, on Twitter, the YouTube link together with my translation of the joke, I said a few days later that I wouldn’t have the patience to translate even a short text that had come up in connection with another intervention of mine on the platform (unrelated to the joke).
It was the lyrics to ‘Y qué mal bailas en la disco’, by Frank T featuring Guateque All Stars.
I didn’t translate them, indeed.
A few days later still, I turned up with my translation of Borges’s essay on Quevedo — which I had worked on over those days and which had obviously taken me more time and effort than translating the song’s lyrics would have done.
Eventually — needless to say — I would also translate and publish Frank T’s lyrics.
All of it without patience.