Silly German pun

[pne]

…ich frage mich, wieviele Amerikaner am 3. November zu ihrem Telefon gegangen sind und verzweifelt auf „Wahlwiederholung“ gedrückt haben…

Comments

[isabeau.livejournal.com]

(dude, I actually *got* that.)

(okay, so I had to use a dictionary to check a couple of words, but still. yay!)

[pne.livejournal.com]

Wow! I didn't think non-Germans would get the two meanings in the pun. Go you!

[isabeau.livejournal.com]

I had to cheat and look up wahlwiederholung, wahl, and wiederholung, just to make sure, but. Yeah. proud of myself. *grin*

Puns are fun.

[denial-land.livejournal.com]

BWHAHAHA... it's sad how a silly little thing like this can actually amuse me so much <_<;;

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

<*snerk*>

You shouldn't post such things before the caffeine has taken effect, dear. I nearly dropped my coffee.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

So I'm guessing:
Wahlwiederholung can mean either "vote repetition" or "redial"?

Wahlwiederholung

[pne.livejournal.com]

Very close, yes; I'd translate it as "repeating the election" ("Wahl" = election, while for me, "vote" is the single vote a person casts rather than the whole arrangement), and it's the normal word for "redial".

Similarly, "wählen" can be either "to vote (in an election/for a person)" or "to dial (a number on a telephone)", both meanings deriving from the basic meaning, "to choose". ("Wahl" can also be "choice", e.g. "Du hast keine Wahl" = "You have no choice".)

Re: Wahlwiederholung

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Hm, yes, "repeating the election" was the concept I had in mind, but my translation machine was set to literal, I think. I often find that I can understand a concept from German or another language I'm learning, but I can't think of the right English equivalent.