某新员工申请去国外出差，领导批复"go a head"
于是他回家整理行装,找秘书买机票。
秘书问：“领导是否批准？”答：“批准！”
秘书：“你不知道老板的英文水平啊，
他说go a head，是说“去个头”！”

很可惜！我看不懂the punchline!!! Everything else 看得懂！
I suppose that's why it's "untranslatable", because of the idiom???

Haha JayVee, you've got to know the 个头 expression to understand the joke.
It's used in oral Chinese, for an unreal wish, a ridicule request, a boasting statement, to express your incredulity by adding 个头 after the verb.

To add 个头 will often correspond to the "in your dreams" in English.
- 我想去国外 : I want to go abroad
- 去个头 ："in your dreams", (here the verb is 去).

But what would be the literary translation of 去个头?
...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2007 12:10AM by Jay.

哈哈！很谢谢你Jay.很有意思。看来你的中国话水平很高，我有一个关于“头”的untranslatable 问题！
请问：我看到这句话 - “你这是死人头像”。。。但是我看不懂。查词典了才找不到。
Do you have any idea what the meaning is pls？！
谢谢！
BTW, isn't the literal translation of "去个头" just as you said?

In your sentence 头像, means a sculpture or a portrait of a man's head, and by extension a head.
死人头像 probably means dead man's head?

To express the english "in your dreams", you just add 个头 after the verb.
- 我可以喝三十瓶啤酒：I can drink 30 bottles of beer.
- 喝个头！(let me laugh /30 bottles in your dreams)

A variation of 个头 (literary a "head") is also 个屁 (literary a fart, or an ass)
- 我可以吃一头牛：I can eat a whole cow.
- 吃个屁！(let me laugh / in your dreams)

Did you get the meaning of the 个头 or 个屁 construction? My English is limited, it's hard for me to explain this pure oral sentence.

In the joke, the boss means 去个头 (in your dreams you can go abroad), and then translate it literary : 去 (go) 个头 (a head) : "go ahead"...

Thank you for your clear explanation, I think your English is far from limited . . .!
Is this "动词 + 个头" construction mainly used in South China? I can't remember coming across it in the north??

To JayVee,

"个头" not only used in south but north as well. In other words, this usage is widely used nationally for oral Chinese. It's a very funny using instead of dirty one.

个头can also be replace by "个鬼"，for example" 好个鬼", means not as good as you said.

Thank you for "hao ge gui".
Is this and "...ge tou" something like teenagers would mean when they say "whatever..." (= meaning "I don't think so" or "you are way off the mark") ?

其实这些都是口语。
“……死人头”是“……个头”的加强版，语气更加重，
比如“去你个死人头”比“去你个头”语气更加重，不过这些话都有谩骂的意思，不要轻易使用！

so funny,but how to say means like"hao ge tou"?

很有意思的一个中国笑话

I have one also about the translation story

1 Chinese guy named Wang,boasts his english is pretty good.
1 day in a pub,Wang and his friends saw a pretty blonde.One of them want to chat her up,but he can not speak English,he asked Wang for help
Wang and this friend came up to the girl , this blonde smiled to them and asked "How are you"
Wang translated it to his friends"怎么是你"

Then the girl asked "How old are you?"
Wang translated again"怎么老是你＂

.......

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