Consanescerion asked “where can I find this article in Russian?”
Good question. Various compilations of these “Putin facts” in Russian have existed for several years, and they keep expanding. Google search alone gives 5 pages of results. Here’s one page, containing 130 such jokes – http://www.anticompromat.ru/putin/130factov.html
It was impossible to post them all here, I just made a representative sample. I also altered and rephrased many of them because otherwise they didn’t work in English, although in Russian they were very funny.
The Edison joke was originally about Mendeleev’s Periodic Table, which made more sense considering the popular story that he had seen the Table of Elements in his dream. But explaining this story to Americans would’ve ruined the joke. Mendeleev is part of the Russian cultural narrative, and Americans have their own narrative. This is the problem with translating humor.
Yakov Smirnov was perhaps the most successful comedian in that respect – he had the right feel for the both cultural narratives and did a great job mixing them together. Many of his jokes are original, but a few I had heard back in the old country even before his career started. I wish he hadn’t gone into that semi-retirement so early. We would certainly be honored to feature Yakov on the People’s Cube. Yakov? Are you listening?
