Are you happy to see me?

[Znex]

Do you have a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Tu as une banane dans la poche ou tu es juste content de me voir?
/t(y) a yn banan dɑ̃ la pɔʃ u t(y) ɛ ʒyst kɔ̃tɑ̃ də mə vwar/
2SG.NOM have.PRS.2SG INDEF.F.SG banana in DEF.F.SG pocket or 2SG.NOM be.PRS.2SG just happy of 1SG.ACC see.INF

Está un plátano en el bolsillo o solo estás feliz de verme?
be_at.PRS.3SG INDEF.M.SG banana in DEF.M.SG pocket or just be_at.PRS.2SG.COL happy of see.INF=1SG.ACC

你的口袋里有枝香蕉还是你只是很高兴见到我？
Nǐ de kǒudài lǐ yǒu zhī xiāngjiāo háishì nǐ zhǐshì hěn gāoxìng jiàndào wǒ?
2SG ATTR pocket in be_at CL.rod_shape banana or 2SG just COP.ADJ happy see.RES 1SG

(Manchu) Eici sini kodai de justan šangjau na, eici mimbe sabuha de si urgunjembin dabala?
maybe 2SG-GEN pocket DAT CL.rod_shape banana INT | maybe 1SG-ACC see-PF.PART DAT 2SG.NOM rejoice-IMPF=INT just

[lsd]

3SDL:
d·Ôõ±éÕ±ªNeªË½Pd·Dq½rª¨«N.ªºc·

(your belly in trouser maybe containing phalloid item and your smile maybe given by my presence...)

[Reyzadren]

griushkoent (without script here)

boskxuigi ur yavpreki urva ?
/'bɔskɣuigi ur 'javprəki urva/
accidentally-excited-A or just-glad-A Q

[Khemehekis]

griuskant (without script here)

boskxuigi ur yavpreki urva ?
/'bɔskɣuigi ur 'javprəki urva/
accidentally-excited-A or just-glad-A Q

Why no "banana"?

[Reyzadren]

Why no "banana"?

The sentence isn't actually asking about the fruit, it's about emotions.

[Iyionaku]

Why no "banana"?

The sentence isn't actually asking about the fruit, it's about emotions.

The sentence is asking about a visible object in phallic shape though, meaning that the speaker wondered if the listener is sexually aroused. It doesn't have to be a banana per se, but unless your conculture doesn't have reproductory organs with a phallic shape, you are missing one key meaning of the sentence.

German

Hast du eine Banane in deiner Tasche oder bist du nur glücklich, mich zu sehen?
[hast duː ˈʔaɪ̯nə baˈnaːnə ʔɪn ˈdaɪ̯nɐ ˈtʰaʃʷə ˈʔoːdɐ bɪst duː nuɐ̯ ˈglʏklɪç, mɪç t͡suː ˈzeː.ən]
have-2SG 2SG.NOM INDEF.FEM.ACC banana.ACC in 2SG.POSS.DAT>FEM bag.DAT or COP.2SG 2SG.NOM only happy, 1SG.ACC ATTR see-INF
Do you have a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Yélian

Barcai béi genum pun sao vebur, ù miatnàlbei pi rat valei?
[ˈbaɾkaɪ̯ bɛɪ̯ ˈgeːnʉm pʉn saʊ̯ ˈveːbʉd̟, ʉ mɪ̯ɐtˈnɐlbɛɪ̯ pɨ rat tvaːlɛɪ̯]
ask-1SG have-2SG banana in 2SG.POSS pocket, or only-happy-COP.2SG that 1SG.OBL see-2SG
Do you have a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

[GoshDiggityDangit]

Yeah, for instance, I've heard "banana" replaced by gun, pop can, cucumber, etc. Basically any vaguely phallic-shaped object works.

[lsd]

The sentence is asking about a visible object in phallic shape though, meaning that the speaker wondered if the listener is sexually aroused. It doesn't have to be a banana per se, but unless your conculture doesn't have reproductory organs with a phallic shape, you are missing one key meaning of the sentence.

then it is necessary that such a "metaphor" is culturally acceptable...
and often many circumventions are necessary to make the meaning pass...
it is not for nothing that they are called "belles infidèles", and their authors "traduttore, traditore"...

[Khemehekis]

So all of you are saying this is a saying that references an erection? That's odd, I've never heard the expression before, even in English.

[Knox Adjacent]

Yeah, that's the point. What's odd is you not having heard or read it before.

[Khemehekis]

Is this an expression that's been around for decades, or is this one of those things that was invented as an Internet meme a few years ago?

[VaptuantaDoi]

Is this an expression that's been around for decades, or is this one of those things that was invented as an Internet meme a few years ago?

It's very old. Google seems to think it was coined by Mae West, so it's probably from the 20s or 30s.

[Pāṇini]

To honor one of the oldest ones in the book, a translation into Biblical Hebrew:

הֲיֵשׁ קִשׁוּא בְּשִׂמְלָתְךָ אִם אַךְ תִּשְׂמַח לִרְאוֹתִי?
hăyēš qišûʾ bəśimlāt̲ək̲ā ʾim ʾak̲ tiśmaḥ lirʾôt̲î
INT=there_is cucumber in=himation=2MSG or surely 2MSG-rejoice.IPFV to=see-CSCT.INF=1SG
Is there a cucumber in your himation or do you indeed rejoice to see me?

The word for cucumber here, qishuʾ, is a hapax legomenon, occurring once in the entire Hebrew Bible (Numbers 11:5). Later Hebrew prefers the Greek loan melofefon. I used Genesis 37:8 and 1 Samuel 6:13 as syntactic references: the former is an A-or-B question, and the latter uses the phrase 'rejoice to see'.

Está un plátano en el bolsillo o solo estás feliz de verme?
be_at.PRS.3SG INDEF.M.SG banana in DEF.M.SG pocket or just be_at.PRS.2SG.COL happy of see.INF=1SG.ACC

I hope you don't mind a correction in good faith

In my Puerto Rican Spanish variety, I'd typically say:

¿Tienes un guineo en el bolsillo, o es que estás emocionado por verme?
[ˈtie.neɦ ũŋ‿giˈne.ŏ‿ẽɰ̃‿el bolˈsi.ɟo ‖ o eh ke‿ɦˈtaɦ e.mo.sioˈna.ðo poɭ ˈβel.me]
have-2SG.PRS a banana in DEF pocket ‖ or COP.3SG.PRS that COP.2SG.PRS excited by see-INf=1SG.ACC
Do you have a banana in your pocket, or is it that you're excited to see me?

I suspect tener en el bolsillo would be the idiomatic phrase here across the board. Está un platano en el bolsillo sounds rather like 'is there a plantain in the pocket'. Guineo is a regional word for banana in the circum-Caribbean, lit. 'Guinean'; plátano, banana, banano, and cámbur work just fine as well! I'm not sure what exactly the es que construction is doing here—I get the sense that it has to do with the change in subjects between clauses—but at least in my idiolect the alternative is ungrammatical (compare French est-ce que). Emocionado, 'excited', is just a matter of preference.

griuskant (without script here)

boskxuigi ur yavpreki urva ?
/'bɔskɣuigi ur 'javprəki urva/
accidentally-excited-A or just-glad-A Q

The variant phrasing 'is that a [phallic object] in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me' always made me think the options were "have I aroused you (in euphemistic terms), or do you literally have [said phallic object] in your pants (which would be silly)".

Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the purely scientific mind.

[Iyionaku]

Caelian

Zan sarnalyeng Zabyaly zallokyawy mak bye, ür Zan vaplekyen nülnal bye?
[zan ʒaɾnaˈʎɛŋ zaˈbʲaʎ zalɔˈkʲaʋ mak bʲɛ, yɾ zan vaplɛˈkʲɛn nylˈnal bʲɛ]
2SG.NOM bag.INN 2SG.GEN=INN cucumber.POSS INDEF.FEM.POSS COP.2SG>3SG, or 2SG.NOM view.BEN happy COP.2SG>3SG
Do you have a cucmber in your bag, or are you just happy to see me?

[Arayaz]

3SDL:
d·Ôõ±éÕ±ªNeªË½Pd·Dq½rª¨«N.ªºc·

(your belly in trouser maybe containing phalloid item and your smile maybe given by my presence...)

I see languages with romanizations and glosses like this, and I think, what heights will the conlanging community come to next?

[lsd]

here I used an extended Latin as logography...
and not a gloss, I prefer back-translations...

[prettydragoon]

Rireinutire

ta au yo kevamu huno mirira ukayo au yo sikoti mamu neakiri mei yakayo:
/tɑ ɑu jo ˈkevɑmu ˈhuno ˈmiɹiɹɑ ˈukɑjo ɑu jo ˈsikoti ˈmɑmu ˈneɑkiɹi ˈmei ˈjɑkɑjo/
ta au yo keva-mu huno miri-ra u-ka-yo au yo sikoti ma-mu nea-kiri mei ya-ka-yo
2S.NOM xor Q banana-ACC ones.own pouch-INE have-PRS-Q xor Q just.ADV 1S-ACC see-GER happy be-PRS-Q
Do you have a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

This sentence makes remarkably little sense in Rireinu culture since all Rireinukave are anatomically female (the males of the species are non-sapient so are tacitly ignored) so the subtext is completely lost. Hence this comment:

siki rinuratuhape ñarona sukekava: nerikaseva hii ta sikimu enakahuvo:
this.NOM galactic society-PTV discuss-PRS-SENS | expect-PRS-NEG-SENS that.CONJ 2S.NOM this-ACC understand-PRS-SBJV-INFR
This discusses galactic society. You are not expected to understand this.

Translation challenge 4/100

[Znex]

This sentence makes remarkably little sense in Rireinu culture since all Rireinukave are anatomically female (the males of the species are non-sapient so are tacitly ignored) so the subtext is completely lost.

Maybe a more gender-neutral one would be something like "do you have a fever", or simply "are you feeling a bit hot, or are you just happy to see me?" to indicate blushing for instance. Or maybe "Do I have something on my face?"

[lsd]

the males of the species are non-sapient so are tacitly ignored

um, imagine the opposite: "the women are non-sapient so are tacitly ignored by men"
not even the most delirious masculinists would envisage such a world...

[GoshDiggityDangit]

the males of the species are non-sapient so are tacitly ignored

um, imagine the opposite: "the women are non-sapient so are tacitly ignored by men"
not even the most delirious masculinists would envisage such a world...

Too bad. If that's how Dragoon wants their world to be, so be it; It isn't your problem.