Wednesday, June 23, 2010

First Joke in Quechua

I am always interested in discovering the type of humour of any country I visit. Joaquín claims that much of Andean humour is smutty and shared the following joke with me:
(If smut is not your type of humour, stop reading here!)

An old woman's husband died on his way to the store. They carried his body home, cleaned it and prepared it for burial. When they were getting ready to bury him, the old woman exclaimed, "Orqopuaychis chaypi, phakinmanta, piernas chawpinpi, ukhunpi!" (Please remove and take out what is between his legs!)

Everyone was confused.

Someone asked "Imata nisanki?" (What are you saying?)

She repeated, "Orqopuaychis chaypi, piernas chawpinpi, ukhunpi!" (Please remove and take out what is in there, in between his legs!")

A member of the town said to her in Spanish, "Ahhh, Señora, mira, con un poquito de tiempo...puedes encontrar otro..." (Ahh Maam, you know, look, with a little bit of time, you can always find another one...)

The old lady interjected, "Mana, Mana. Ahinata manañapuni tarisaqchu!" ("No, no, one like that, I will definitely never ever find!")

Everyone was scandalised.

But they agreed that he was, afterall her husband.

So they stepped aside.

She approached his body.

And proceeded to remove...

...

a small sack of money from his crotch.

In Andean culture, people bury their dead with the person's favourite, most important things such as money, food, drink, jewelry etc. Even today, people have found cadavers from Pre-Incan times with pieces of gold hidden in their clothing. Also, in Cochabamba, just as women hide their money in their bras, so too do men hide their money in their crotches. So take your mind out of the gutter! The Señora was thinking of something else...

Incidentally, Doña Petra has demonstrated for me on several occasions how to put my money in my bra before heading to school everyday. But I have told her not to worry. I am a professional and I know what I'm doing.

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