concept
"Плотская любовь" (raft/carnal love) pun
raftical love pun
also: плотская любовь, raftical love
An untranslatable pun in Chekhov's "A Glossary for Young Ladies": young lovers declaring themselves on a \emph{плот} (raft) are said to have found \emph{плотская любовь}, which in ordinary Russian means "carnal/fleshly love" (from \emph{плоть}, flesh) -- the two words merely sounding alike. The English translation coins "raftical love" (echoing "carnal") to keep the joke's shape without the real homophony.
Reading notes
- A Glossary for Young Ladies §3 raftical love
The original pun cannot be carried into English. \emph{Плот} (raft) and \emph{плотская любовь} (carnal/fleshly love, from \emph{плоть}, "flesh") are unrelated words that merely sound alike; Chekhov's joke is that declaring love while standing on a raft literally becomes "raft-y" love, which happens to be homophonous with the ordinary Russian phrase for carnal love. The translation coins "raftical love" (raft + -ical, echoing "carnal") to preserve the shape of the joke -- a young couple on a raft producing something that sounds like it should mean "carnal" -- at the cost of the real pun, which is untranslatable.