This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
  1. KudoZ™ Top
  2. English
  3. Games / Video Games / Gaming / Casino

a pun about fishing

English translation: for the halibut/for the hell of it

19:39 Sep 10, 2015
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Games / Video Games / Gaming / Casino
English term or phrase: a pun about fishing
JESSY: There’s a crafting table. Maybe we can make something useful.
OLIVIA: Out of what? We don’t have anything. All of our tools and materials are back home.
JESSY: All right, everyone. Empty your pockets. Let’s see what we’ve got to work with.
LUCAS: I have a few sticks left over from building the shelter last night.
OLIVIA: I’ve got some flint. And... a piece of string.
AXEL: All I have are some chicken feathers I picked up after that chicken machine exploded.
JESSY: Let’s see... I’ve got some flint and steel. A sword. Oh, and some string from a spider that I fought in the woods earlier.
OLIVIA: String, sticks, flint and feathers.
AXEL: I knew it. We’ve got nothing.
JESSY: That’s not true, Axel. We can craft a bow and arrow.
LUCAS: Okay, or you can do the arrow first.
JESSY: If you’re about to make a pun about fishing -- now’s not the time. I just made this...for the halibut.

It's an extract from a video game where the characters are discussing if they can craft something useful for their needs. In the last line, Jessy talks about "a pun a bout fishin".
But I can't see any puns here and I don't really understand what "fishing" has to do with the whole situation. But that's probably because I'm no native English speaker.
Would someone please clarify the point for me?
Andrew Vdovin
Local time: 04:08
Selected answer:for the halibut/for the hell of it
Explanation:
I don't see, based on the dialogue, where a "pun about fishing" is being set up. Certainly not in anything LUCAS says. But in reply to Lucas's last remark, Jessy does make a pun about fishing (the last sentence in the dialogue)..."I just made this 'for the...halibut" is a pun on a common phrase "I just made this...'for the hell of it'". A halibut is a type of fish.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2015-09-10 22:27:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

What makes Jessy think Lucas is probably going to make a pun about fishing? Here's where it would help to see the visuals from the game. Maybe Jessy made a fishing pole? Lucas says he's made an arrow from the items collected the game. Jessy in turn shows Lucas what she just made, announcing "I just made this". So, what is the "this" she shows him? Given that Lucas made an arrow, presumably Jessy also made some kind of weapon or hunting tool. Anticipating Lucas is going to joke about what an ineffectual tool/weapon a fishing pole is, Jessy makes a joke herself, explaining she made the fishing rod "Just for the 'Halibut'" (just for the hell of it, i.e. for no particular reason).
Selected response from:

John Fenz
United States
Local time: 17:08
Grading comment
Thanks everybody for your help!!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +7for the halibut/for the hell of it
John Fenz
2I'm floundering here
DLyons


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
I'm floundering here


Explanation:
"For the halibut" may mean "for the cod" = "for a joke".

"Fishing around" means try things more or less at random.

Or perhaps it's an esoteric reference to Atheresthes evermanni the "arrowtooth halibut" (but I don't think so).

DLyons
Ireland
Local time: 22:08
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: One thing I can't understand is why Jessy talks about FISHING - why not about hunting, for example? Doesn't that mean it is somehow derived from the previous talk? Probably it's "string, sticks, flint and feathers" that makes Jessy think about fishing - say, these things could be used to make a fishing rod or something?

Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
for the halibut/for the hell of it


Explanation:
I don't see, based on the dialogue, where a "pun about fishing" is being set up. Certainly not in anything LUCAS says. But in reply to Lucas's last remark, Jessy does make a pun about fishing (the last sentence in the dialogue)..."I just made this 'for the...halibut" is a pun on a common phrase "I just made this...'for the hell of it'". A halibut is a type of fish.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2015-09-10 22:27:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

What makes Jessy think Lucas is probably going to make a pun about fishing? Here's where it would help to see the visuals from the game. Maybe Jessy made a fishing pole? Lucas says he's made an arrow from the items collected the game. Jessy in turn shows Lucas what she just made, announcing "I just made this". So, what is the "this" she shows him? Given that Lucas made an arrow, presumably Jessy also made some kind of weapon or hunting tool. Anticipating Lucas is going to joke about what an ineffectual tool/weapon a fishing pole is, Jessy makes a joke herself, explaining she made the fishing rod "Just for the 'Halibut'" (just for the hell of it, i.e. for no particular reason).

John Fenz
United States
Local time: 17:08
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks everybody for your help!!!
Notes to answerer
Asker: OK, but what makes Jessy think Lucas is probably going to make a pun about fishing? He first says thet and then says the pun himself. Could the phrase "do the arrow" have some different, pun-generating meaning, probably?

Asker: One thing I can't understand is why Jessy talks about FISHING - why not about hunting, for example? Doesn't that mean it is somehow derived from the previous talk? Probably it's "string, sticks, flint and feathers" that makes Jessy think about fishing - say, these things could be used to make a fishing rod or something?

Asker: Thanks a lot for your explanation, John! It's starting to make sense to me... Though it did seem a bit strange to me that Lucas said "do the arrow" instead of "make an arrow', that's why I thought this phrase probably had a double meaning...


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sheri P: Maybe Jessy makes a pun himself in order to head off Lucas's making one. I can't think of another meaning for "do the arrow."
1 hr
  -> Nor can I :-)
agree  Jack Doughty
1 hr
  -> Thanks Jack :-)
agree  Tushar Deep
7 hrs
  -> Thanks Tushar :-)
agree  Neil Ashby
12 hrs
  -> Thanks Neil :-)
agree  Mark Nathan
12 hrs
  -> Thanks Mark :-)
agree  Arabic & More: Maybe the character has a history or habit of making fishing puns?
15 hrs
  -> Makes sense. Perhaps the character is distinguished throughout the game for making bad jokes. :-)
agree  Alok Tiwari
4 days
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:
ProZ.com term search
Search millions of term translations
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search