Lord Xykon, real badass

[Meph]

This thread it's just about a pun I happened to realize a few days ago on the bus, about this strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0434.html).
Xykon wears his crown ad point out "really badass". I'd never gone further in the sentence, that is pretty clear.
In Italian (and maybe even in some other similar languages, but that's my mothertongue) the adverb "realmente" and his related adjective "reale" (literal translations of the english "really" and "real") mean not only "true", like in English, but both "true" and "royal". And it's about a crown.
This might be already obvious to some of you, but was hidden for me until last week and this is weird since that's one of my favourites strips; I struggle to understand how could I have not seen it for so long. So I'm sharing this second layer of punchline.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

That's quite a subtle joke. I would have never noticed that, probably because I don't speak Italian. :smalltongue: Well spotted!
(However, I must say that I doubt that the Giant intended that. Still is pretty funny)

[Mastikator]

Probably a coincidence though.

[NerdyKris]

I think you're stretching way too far for the joke.

[King of Nowhere]

i believe it is a coincidence.
i'm italian and i never noticed it. and i really doubt rich speak italian (just statistically, most americans don't speak foreigner languages, and if they do, italian is not the most likely). in french the translation wouldn't work, and neither would in german. not sure about spanish.

[Tanuki Tales]

I think you're stretching way too far for the joke.

While it probably wasn't intended, I hardly see it being a stretch.

[Vinyadan]

not sure about spanish.

They have an adjective "real" with both meanings, so it could be.

In English, the game would be between royally and really.

It's funny. Reale and the English real come from res (the thing), while the other reale and English royal come from rex (the king).

[LogicalOxymoron]

Considering that there is an english equivalent of that pun, (royally vs. really) it doesn't make much sense to have to stretch into Italian for it. Also, there's a thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=261108) for things like this.

[SoC175]

not sure about spanish.Should work in spanish, since Real means something like royal in spanish (e.g. the football club Real Madrid)

[BroomGuys]

This does remind me of an assignment when I was taking German wherein I claimed that Otto von Bismark "regnet" as Reichskanzler; I only realized later that I had said he "rains" instead of "reigns." Interestingly, my use of the word "regnet" would have at least been closer to appropriate in Latin.

[Vinyadan]

This does remind me of an assignment when I was taking German wherein I claimed that Otto von Bismark "regnet" as Reichskanzler; I only realized later that I had said he "rains" instead of "reigns." Interestingly, my use of the word "regnet" would have at least been closer to appropriate in Latin.

Maybe you could have said something like regiert, if you wanted something sounding a bit similar. But I find it wonderful, how Old English pretty much submersed the few Latin speakers to later gain a bazillion Latin words from the Normans, so that a word from Latin comes easier to you than a Germanic one, like herrschen.

I wonder if it is possible to find other such cases in the comic, deliberate or not.

[Seto]

They have an adjective "real" with both meanings, so it could be.

In English, the game would be between royally and really.

It's funny. Reale and the English real come from res (the thing), while the other reale and English royal come from rex (the king).

I'd have gone with "regally". But yeah, that too.

[littlebum2002]

All I know is "Real Madrid" means "Royal Madrid", so the pun apparently works in Spanish, too.

And from now on whenever I read that strip I'll read it as "royal badass" because it works much better that way.

[Vinyadan]

All I know is "Real Madrid" means "Royal Madrid", so the pun apparently works in Spanish, too.

And from now on whenever I read that strip I'll read it as "royal badass" because it works much better that way.

There is an intensification function to royal, too, isn't there? Like, royally screwed?