The Paideia Institute's In Medias Res magazine recently published a compilation of “Thirteen Dad Jokes from Ancient Rome.” Dad jokes are apparently supposed to be particularly cheesy jokes and puns (the lowest form of humour).
The jokes are presented in English, with weblinks to the original Latin, but no explanation how the joke works in Latin. Some of them work just as well in English; some are nigh untranslatable, and the translator veers quite far from the original to allow for wordplay in English.
Here is how one joke from Cicero's De oratore, 2,249, is translated:
Philippus told a smelly guy, “It seems you’ve … (sniffing) … goat me surrounded!”
The original is:
in male olentem "video me a te circumveniri" subridicule Philippus
I don't get it. Yes, he tells the smelly person, “I see you've got me surrounded,” that is pretty straightforward. Where is the pun in Latin?