Sunday, August 13, 2006

I have what? Something written on my forehead?

When I was in Almaty, Kazakhstan in May, I missed the next to the last week of my Russian class back in Austin. I looked for some small souveniers to take back to my classmates. While checking out at the grocery store, I spied packs of gum, labeled "Хубба Бубба" (Hubba Bubba) -- I had to get some to share back home. Hubba Bubba bubble gum has been around for a long time, and to see it transliterated into Russian for some reason seemed really funny to me. I bought several packs of gum and brought it back home.

I didn't really try to read the rest of the package, but my Russian instructor, Joe Liro (aka Professor Pancake) noticed written on the package the following: Наклейка внутри. The word "внутри" means "inside." Hmm . . . Something is inside the package beside the gum, but what was it? The word "клей" means "glue or paste" -- something "sticky" -- aha! Наклейка is a "sticker"! And here is a scan of the sticker that was inside my pack of Hubba-Bubba. The little guy in the sticker is asking, "I have what? Something written on my forehead?" And that is what is written on his forehead. Do you find this humorous? I do! If you do, congratulations, you have not lost the sense of humor you had as a child! I'm told that women tend to lose it and men tend not to, which explains why men find find slapstick humor like The Three Stooges funny more often than do women.

I had one other pack of Hubba-Bubba. That sticker had a kid with his head down on his school desk apparently asleep and the conversation bubble over his head said, "Я не сплю, я думаю."

What's written on your forehead?

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