for flyfinn:
It's not easy to translate a french play on word joke
so the sentence goes like this:
"Nils! on t'a demandé de préparer la piste.. pas d'inventer la croix damée"
the first part, easy but not funny:
"Nils, we asked you to prepare the runway/the pist.."
(ski pist, aircraft runway and track in french is the same word: piste)
second part:
"pas d'inventer"
not to invent
(that was easy)
the joke:
"la croix damée"
ok, this will be tough.
"la croix" = the cross
of course it's the swastika cross.
then "damée".
"damer" in french means prepare a ski pist with a machine. There must be a word like this in english but don't know.
So, swastika cross in french is "croix gammée"
the joke is between :
"croix gammée"
"croix damée"
in english it would then be:
"Nils, i told you to prepare the track, not to invent the swastika cross prepared with a machine to prepare ski pist"
hmm
not so funny
Nikko
[This message has been edited by Nikko (edited 01-18-2003).]