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* dsandler wonders if the French are just not big on puns.

<dsandler> Jeff wondered, in an email to me and Gilles, if “zillions” was a word in French. I suggested “zilliards”. Hilarious!

<ctate> puns are very hard in a language with a small vocabulary like French

<dsandler> Except Gilles corrected me, “you’ve almost got it right — ‘milliards’ ”

<dsandler> ctate: That’s why my French puns are almost always en/fr cognate or soundalike puns

<dsandler> DiMaggio.

<ctate> right

<dsandler> Also, I think maybe the culture of the way the French language has been unnaturally preserved over the years (kind of like
Michael Jackson) lends Frenchspeakers to not really find it very funny
when you toy with the language.

<dsandler> “Hey! I made wordplay! You heard it twice!”

<dsandler> “I’m sorry, what?”

<dsandler> “Double-entendre! It’s hilarious!”

<dsandler> “Yeah, I think you’re using that word wrong.”

<dsandler> “PUT DOWN YOUR CHEESE AND LAUGH!”

<dsandler> etc.