# delivery (of a joke)



## mountainglade

How do you say something like "the joke was good, but he didn't deliver it well", or "it's all in the delivery"? Is להגיש/הגשה appropriate?


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## slus

We don't really use להגיש/הגשה in this context. We use לספר = to tell:
הבדיחה הייתה טובה/מוצלחת, אבל הוא לא סיפר אותה כמו שצריך.


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## mountainglade

Thanks, and how about my second example sentence?


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## ADoA

I don't think that delivery of a joke translates well in Hebrew. I couldn't tell you the best way to translate this, but הגשה is normally used in a more physical context (as it means serve), so it's not a word I would personally use


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## slus

"It's all in the delivery" is difficult to translate. A native Hebrew speaker would say something like - "זאת לא הבדיחה, אלא איך שמספרים אותה"


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## mountainglade

Interesting, thanks.


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## elroy

slus said:


> הבדיחה הייתה טובה/מוצלחת, אבל הוא לא סיפר אותה כמו שצריך


 Can you really call it מוצלחת if it wasn’t delivered properly?


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## amikama

elroy said:


> Can you really call it מוצלחת if it wasn’t delivered properly?


Original sentence was "the joke was *good*, but he didn't deliver it well", so you're actually asking whether one can call it "good" if it wasn't delivered properly... 

A joke may be מוצלחת (which means "really good" in this context), even if the teller didn't _succeed _in delivering it properly.


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## elroy

Maybe I’m being too literal.  Doesn’t מוצלחת literally mean “successful”?  A joke can’t really be considered _successful_ if it wasn’t delivered properly.  Has this word been semantically bleached and just means “good” now?


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## ADoA

elroy said:


> Maybe I’m being too literal.  Doesn’t מוצלחת literally mean “successful”?  A joke can’t really be considered _successful_ if it wasn’t delivered properly.  Has this word been semantically bleached and just means “good” now?



I'd have to agree with you on that one. I understood the intention, but in this context, this can get very confusing and is more trouble than it's worth. So no, you would not use מוצלחת in this case, just so you can save yourself the headache of having to explain what would turn out to be a guaranteed misunderstanding. מוצלחת should be used in reference to a good delivery and not in reference to how good the joke is — but only in this context. I can see a scenario where you could say something like "this is a successful joke" regardless of delivery. Just my opinion.


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