Sometime ago, I put a riddle up on a Swahili riddle up on the blog. I got a number of answers in the comments of the post and by email. The riddle goes like this:
Nina askari wanne.
Moja akiondoka, wote hawafanyi kazi.
I have four soldiers.
If one leaves, none of them can work.
Some of you did really well by guessing the legs of a chair.
The answer is: the legs of a cow. This highlights the nature of culturally bound nature of humor. Jokes and riddles are some of the hardest things to understand when you are making the cross-cultural leap. It requires that you anticipate a given answer and then know the other meanings that can be inferred from words. Maybe if I get a good joke, I will post it . . .
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