The Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook sketch and courtroom scene from Monty Python's Flying Circus P.S. Yes, we know they're just speaking gibberish and it's not really Hungarian. We don't need any more smartypants commenters telling us that.
I have a friend who travels a lot for bicycle races and always memorises the phrase "my hovercraft is full of eels" in the native tongue of any country he intends to visit. Apparently it's been recognised as a python quote more than once by foreign cashiers.
This sketch is based on a very real and quite terrible Portuguese to English phrase book from 1855 called "O novo guia da conversação em portuguez e inglez". The author only spoke Portuguese, so he used a Portuguese to French phrasebook as a first reference, then used a French to English phrasebook to complete his translations. The result was so bad, it became infamous, and was popularized by Mark Twain as a kind of surrealist comedy.
@@mordechai-Mark Twain (1883). Introduction to The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English . p. 239. "Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect"
Stop, I'm a day too late and I don't possess the tools to actually stop you, so please just come back and turn yourself in! - When you live in a country where you're so afraid of guns that even police don't have them.
My favourite tiny detail: When Cleese says, “Drop your panties, Sir William; I cannot wait till lunchtime,” he looks at the police officer and then points at the tobacconist while looking at him, as if if clearly thinking he’s registering an official complaint.
It doesn't matter what the language is, anyone who has tried to use a 'words and phrases' book in a country where you don't speak the language can relate to this.
It was filmed in Dunraven Road near QPR FC, London. The policeman is first seen actually only a few yards from the tobacconists and he is twice seen running back to where he started near the end of Dunraven Road. The shop was on the junction of Dunraven Road and Thorpebank Road. The red postbox is still there today but the shop is now converted back to a house.
G0HZU , thank you. Good stuff. Got on street view and it looks pretty much the same. You can see the lighting for the stadium in the background in both the last exterior shot of the clip before the camera pans to follow him to the store entrance and on street view when viewed from the same spot.
They did. There was an anniversary programme where Micheal went round putting temporary blue plaques up in various filming locations. It's probably on youtube somewhere.@@Bjowolf2
@@Bjowolf2 Michael Palin did a documentary recently where they did exactly that. It is also where John Cleese buys a paper before starting the silly walk.
@redsquirrel1086 yes I am aware of that I meant that to be a joke. But literally some of them are silly to the point of not being funny. Cleese acknowledged that himself...obviously not every sketch a comedy troupe writes is going to hit the mark.
There's a bit on QI where they're talking about the language Esperanto and one of the sentences they translate back into English is "my hovercraft is full of eels". Suddenly it makes sense *why* they'd pick that phrase, well played QI Elves.
These days it's one of the standard nonsense phrases used as example text for translations, along with 'my postillion has been struck by lightning'. Entertainingly, that last phrase was apparently invented by Punch in 1916, claiming it came from a 19th century Hungarian phrase book, meaning it could well be the inspiration for this sketch.
This actually did happen in the '70's . (Note the audience laughter even before the skit really starts when it explains the subject matter.) Some small British publisher, whose name I don't remember, actually published a phrase book with insulting phrases in English which the unknowing Hungarian national thought were stock phrases to help them to get around in Britain. Back then, there were no Hungarian tourists, just some apparatchik mucky-mucks visiting Britain.
Discovering a Monthy Python sketch about my (more or less) beloved country is already wonderful in itself, but finding such an eloquent discussion in the comments about whether it was part of the Soviet Union, now this is just priceless :D Totally gives you the Monthy Python feeling :D
They're playing the 'yes-no' game, where the idea is to answer questions without using the words yes or no. At the time there was a quiz show called Take Your Pick, the first round of which was the 'yes-no' game - contestants had to answer questions for 60 seconds to pass through to the next round
@@premanadiI can’t be 100% certain but it sounds like Derek Nimmo who was a celebrity at the time ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WE9-6oArcQ0.htmlsi=ueLMCoVPoe5mXsH4
@premanadi It sounded like an impersonstion of Derek Nimmo to me. (Character actor from around the mid 60's > appearing in comedy series, films especially known and recognised for his particular way of speaking) You'll find him here on RU-vid.
I'm surpised that has never become more of a mainstream Monty Python catchphrase.."My nipples explode with delight!" almost makes me feel as good as going back to my place for a bit of 'bouncy bouncy' action...classic.
"Please may I ask for an adjournment, m'lud?" "An adjournment? Certainly not!" *faaaart* "Why on earth didn't you say WHY you wanted an adjournment?" "I didn't know an acceptable legal phrase, m'lud." One of my favourite moments in the entire series!
In over 40 years, I've never understood the part at 3:33 where he repeats the address and bangs the gong. "Got him!" Can a friendly Brit explain that to this poor, comedy-impoverished American?
It's a parody of a popular quiz show at that time: I think it was called Take Your Pick. Part of it was that the contestants had to answer questions without using the words "yes" or "no."
True, it was cancer. Why do people assume it was AIDS because he was gay? If you hear about a woman dying, do you automatically assume breast cancer because it's a woman who died? Just saying. Gay people can die from things other than AIDS, once in a while.
Chapman: "Please may I ask for an adjournment my Lord?" Jones: "An adjournment? Certainly not!" Chapman: -Farts loudly- Jones: "Why on Earth did you say why you want an adjournment?!" Chapman: "I didn't know an acceptable legal phrase my Lord." Cleese completely loses it.
As a Hungarian, I died laughing. Mostly because I know of so many people who could and up in this situation due to their not existing English (like my grandmother).
This is why I like British comedy more than American comedy. American comedy is crass and childish while it takes a much more sophisticated intellect to find humour in fondling bums and foghorn like flatulence.
American Humor is like "HERE IT IS! HUMOR!" British Humor is like "Wait for it...wait for it..." It's the subtle absurdity where everything seems normal at first glance, but then you actually LOOK at it, and you're like "Wait, what?!" And that just makes you laugh all the harder.
I can understand that. I was brought up on British comedy but I was also brought up NOT to repeat what I heard or saw on said British comedy shows. The problem with the average American is that we are censored beyond reproach that we are beaten into submission. I remember seeing a topless woman [not a drawing] on this show in 1969. still can't see it on regular tv in America.
Many language texts used silly or unusual sentences to teach correct grammar. They taught the grammar by using a very minimum amount of teaching new vocabulary. That produced very awkward sentences. At the end of the lesson, you realized you may have learned the nouns and verbs but all of them are useless for common conversation. This video mocks these unusual tendancies of these language phrase books. :)
@@fartretaI've not come across that one - however, I keep being taught to say (in Dutch) "Misschien bent jij een eend." Or, translated, "Perhaps you are a duck." Quack.
We use in a daily basis this valuable phrasebook, because we officially use it to describe new forms of silly walks. Dr. Amy Hovercraft Postilion Ministry of Silly Walks European Commission Brusselles Headquarter
Monty Python is great, and they actually managed to pull of a convincing Hungarian accent Great scene :) ps: believe me I'm a native Hungarian speaker :)
I remember watching this on TV as a youngster. The show came on once a week. I think it was on a Friday or Saturday and I looked forward to it eagerly.
"Nyugat" means "west". "Nyugati" is short of "Nyugati Pályaudvar", is one of the main train stations in Budapest, that might be why it is used as an example in a translation book that is aimed for tourists.
It's a reference to very ancient game show item where questions are fired at the contestant and they have to reply without using the words 'yes' or 'no'. When they do the gong sounds and they're out. The contestant who last longest wins. They formal way people answer questions in court, saying e.g. "I am" rather than "yes" clearly reminded the writers/audience of that game.
This is what it's like when I go to my wife's country, Hungary. For example, last time I was there, as soon as I opened my mouth in a cafe to ask in Hungarian, for something pretty basic, the waitress immediately started speaking English and gave me the English language menu. Pretty bloody annoying when I could actually read the menu in Hungarian if not speak it perfectly and the whole point of learning the language (other than talking to my wife and inlaws) was to be able to use it in such situations. So much for the idea that random Hungarians would be happy because some fifty year old Aussie tourist attempted to speak their obscure and complicated language! However, having now seen this video, I have realised that to the waitress, rather than asking for some sort of light meal, what I said probably sounded like I wanted to spank her vigorously on the bottom with a flaccid turnip. Either that or some convoluted mumbling with a strange accent.
Most of Hungarians may think it is very helpful if they switch to English and give you the English menu. Be proud, tell them that you actually learn our language and they will be even happier to give you the Hungarian one. But they probably continue to speak English because most of the English speaking people pronounce our words really wrong and Aussies and Scotch are bringing more eels to the hovercraft :D (A legtöbb magyar bizonyára nagyon segítőkésznek tartja magát, amikor angolra vált és angol étlapot ad neked. Legyél büszke magadra, és mondd meg nekik, hogy tanulod a nyelvünket, és akkor még nagyobb örömmel adják majd a magyar nyelvűt. De valószínűleg továbbra is angolul fognak beszélni veled, mert a legtöbb angol anyanyelvű ember nagyon rosszul ejti a szavainkat, és az ausztrálok és a skótok hordják a legtöbb angolnát a légpárnásba. :D )
When I heard,"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" my first thought was honestly, "Dear lord, Monty Python likes Britney Spears."
