Quote Originally Posted by rostvoid View Post
I'm sure it is in the french version. I remember the Belgian guy who see a Roman soldier faint ("tomber dans les pommes") while boiling oil. That when he thought it may be a good idea.
I 'm not sure it appears in the translated comics since I don't see any way to translate the joke.
The British (purchased in Ireland, but almost all of our international books share the same text with them anyhow) version of Asterix in Belgium's joke is that he talks about how a throwaway roman boiling oil is a 'mere vegetable rooted to the spot', and how he's got a chip on his shoulder. The combination of 'chips', 'root vegetables' and 'boiled in oil' all kind of spirals from there. The apple part must have gotten lost in translation, because we don't have the whole 'apples of the earth' connection between potatoes and apples.

(Jesus, looking through my old copy, these comics were just very enthusiastic about wordplay and puns. Does that carry on from the original French, or was it added post-translation?)