UNIVERZITA PARDUBICE FAKULTA FILOZOFICKÁ BAKALÁŘSKÁ ...

is, nonetheless, a slight discrepancy in the translation because Hardwood answers: "Ne, ruku
vám nedám", although Blackadders request does not mention the word "ruka", which makes
the pun much less obvious.
Extract 12
"BALDRICK: You know, the funny thing is, my father was a nun.
BLACKADDER: No, he wasn't.
BALDRICK: He was so, I know because whenever he was in court and the judge
used to say 'occupation', he'd say 'Nun'." (Curtis et al., 1999, pp.356 – 357)
"BALDRICK: Víte, nejzvláštnější na tom je, ţe můj táta byl jeptiška.
ČERNÁ ZMIJE: To nebyl.
BALDRICK: Byl, protoţe kdykoli stál před soudem a soudce se ho ptal na rodinný
stav, tak říkal, ţe ţenatý není, ale ţe je věčně nadrţený jak jeptiška." (Curtis et al.,
2008, p.352)
Although the pun in this excerpt exceeds the limits of translatability, the Czech version does
not provide another pun as a compensation. Rather, it adds a ribald joke, which does involve
at least one of the words that the pronounced term [nʌn] can denote, namely a nun. However,
this solution disrupts the coherence of the conversation because the simile that Baldrick's
father allegedly used when asked in court does not provide explanation for Baldrick's stating
that his father actually was a nun.
Extract 13
"DARLING: You're for it now, Blackadder. (To Melchett) Quite frankly I've
suspected this for some time, sir. Captain Blackadder has clearly been disobeying
orders with a breathtaking impertinence.
MELCHETT: I don't care if he's been rogering the Duke of York with a prizewinning
leek! He shot my pigeon! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" (Curtis et al., 1999, p.369)
"DRAHOUŠEK: A teď jste v tom, Černá zmije. (K Melchettovi) Upřímně řečeno, já
ho podezřívám uţ nějakou dobu, pane. Kapitán Černá zmije neposlouchal vaše
rozkazy, aţ mi ta jeho drzost brala dech.
MELCHETT: Ať si třeba pro mě za mě opíchá vévodu z Yorku pórkem s medailí z
výstavy. Zastřelil mi holuba! Ach, ach, ach!" (Curtis et al., 2008, p.363)
Semantically, the Czech translation is faithful to the original, but what eludes it is the
structure (as depicted graphically below) of two of the sentences which utilize an almost
identical construction because Darling's statement "Captain Blackadder | has clearly been
36