My read is that 父 is doing the 迫るing.
Since it’s in the Husbands category, I’m wondering if the humor is from dad not finding hubby’s “dad joke” funny, or if he’s trying to understand an “in” joke between husband and wife that the wife would rather not have to explain.
Ok this could be way off, but my interpretation was something like someone is asking a guy to explain his joke as a way of getting close to them.
I can’t figure out exactly how I would translate it, but something like, asking a man to explain something is a way to approach someone. Possibly romantically.
Hence the husbands tag
日本へようこそ、レクス様。(でも、東京は別の国じゃん)
そのギャグがなぜおもしろいと迫る父
そのギャグが・なぜおもしろいと・せまるちち
“What’s the
joke?” Pesters
on dad.
I just realized the author is 母. 父 here is the husband of the author, not the father. Everyone in the family refers to them as mom and dad, はは and ちち, including themselves.
そうやで！
This was also my interpretation! I guess I’ll attempt a translation.
そのギャグがなぜおもしろいとせまるちち
“Why’s that joke
so funny?” Dad
pesters us
3/4/3 (?)
I always find myself wanting to put my translations into 2 lines instead of 3 for some reason. Sometimes my line splits are more arbitary than i would like… lol
Another option:
“Why’s that funny?”
Dad keeps nagging.
Happy Turkey Day for those of you in the US (and a belated one to my Canadian friends).
I’m back home, and should hopefully be back in the swing of things again starting tomorrow.
It may take me a bit to get things started again here though: I’m currently staring at 816 outstanding reviews…
Bear with me!
Welcome back; have a couple of off-the-cuff senryu:
Thanksgiving: / Turkey, family, pile / of reviews
(3/5/3)
感謝祭 飯もレビューも いっぱいある
(5,7,5, no guarantees about naturalness of Japanese :-))
- そのギャグがなぜおもしろいと迫る父
ボーナスひ・であったころの・つまにあう
“Why’s that joke / so funny?” Dad / pesters us
It took me a while to realize why this was in the “Husbands” category until I realized that everyone calls him “dad” — including mom (the author). 父 here is the author’s husband, not their father (I think).
Volume: Various Settings
- サンプルが腐った色のレストラン
Pretty straightforward one here. Looking forward to seeing how folks play with the English!
Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level! Questions and comments are as valued as translation submissions.
Please try not to be disappointed if your translation isn’t selected or if you disagree with the daily choice: the judge isn’t terribly consistent with his grading (and has awful taste!).
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源由来辞典 is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.
Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.
Can really find a funny and vivid English.
But I have a question about the grammar because this seemingly simple sentence threw me for a loop and I want to check If I got it right.
So I think the meaning is clear: Restaurant where/whose sample are rotten colors. Actually if we put “Restaurant whose sample are rotten colors.” into deepl it give us literally the senryuu, moji for moji !
But then the most straight-forward parsing doesn’t work:
サンプルが腐った色 = the color of rotten sample (サンプル is the subject of 腐った)
[…]色のレストラン : A restaurant with color […]. For example 黄色のレストラン : a yellow restaurant.
So we get “restaurant with color of rotten sample” that doesn’t sound right it’s as if we are talking about the color of the wallpapers or something!
So theory number 2, the の in 色のレストラン is actually a shortcut of the full copula である
サンプルが腐った色であるレストラン
And then the first part is a normal XがYである with X = サンプル and Y = 腐った色. So サンプルが is NOT the subject of 腐った.
If it’s right then I guess we can also do something like サンプルが黄色のレストラン (restaurant whose sample are yellow). I wonder if it’s proper grammar.
It could just be using one of the more figurative definitions of 色, like
4. appearance; air; feeling
“A restaurant where it feels like even the samples are rotten.”
I think it’s still talking about color. Even the plastic sample dishes look “off”.
Translation attempt
Manky dive
Even the menu
Has gone off
The kinda joint where
even the plastic samples
have gone a bit off
5/7/5
- サンプルが腐った色のレストラン
サンプルがくさったいろのレストラン
restaurant / where even samples / look rotten (3-5-3)
Notes:
This version seemed to take the fewest liberties, though it still takes a few. It introduces the word “even” to add emphasis not explicitly in the original. It also uses “look” to capture the meaning of 色 (hardly an exact translation).
Volume: Ladies
- お見合いの写真修正もう限界
Oooh. Some fun vocabulary with this one.
Hints:
お見合い is a very Japanese pre-marriage thing that is increasingly less common, but still practiced. I know other cultures also have similar matchmaking practices. My family is a bunch of southern hillbillies (mostly from Kentucky and Virginia). I’m pretty sure there were matchmakers involved in my family several generations ago, but I can’t find any historical references to matchmaking in the US (though most of the hillbillies were of Irish descent, so I’m sure it existed).
Also, I should point out that the judges have indicated they will accept judicious usage of the word “photoshop” in the translations.
Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level! Questions and comments are as valued as translation submissions.
Please try not to be disappointed if your translation isn’t selected or if you disagree with the daily choice: the judge isn’t terribly consistent with his grading (and has awful taste!).
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源由来辞典 is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.
Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.
Huh. I put ‘even’ in my translation too, because by the time I was thinking of translations I’d got it into my head that the original used も ! It just somehow seemed more natural in my head. Now I’m wondering why the original author chose が rather than も or の…
Heh. Yeah, it seems hard to capture the feel without using “even”. I think it’s because Japanese leaves the subject out so often that が really has a strong sense of “finger pointing” as Tofugu calls it when it is actually included!
Kinda nice to get one with a clear subject, even if it’s only in a modifying clause. 
Translation attempt
Using photoshop
For your matchmaking picture
Is beyond the pale.
5/7/5
Can’t get this out of my head. I wonder if we might be interpreting it wrong.
I wonder if the plastic samples outside were all ancient and rotten-looking, but the food itself was great. Heaven knows I’ve been to enough holes-in-the-wall where this was the case …
Reminds me of the best Chinese restaurants in America where the pictures are always yellow. You know it’s good if the menu board looks janky