Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 May 11

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May 11

Quote from Growing Pains

There's an episode of Growing Pains which I think is set during Halloween. Somewhere towards the end of the episode Carol is sitting in a car together with someone dressed as the Grim Reaper. She asks him what he does for a living. What is his reply?

The reason I'm wondering is because, when I saw this as a kid, my English proficiency wasn't what it is today. According to the Swedish subtitles, his reply was koppleri (which is the Swedish word for "procuring"). I've always suspected this was a gross mistranslation on the part of whoever did the Swedish subtitles. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing they'd have in an otherwise pretty family-friendly series. I've been unable to find out what he actually said, and it's been bugging me for decades. Gabbe (talk) 15:45, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

A search turned up this plot summary:

Growing Pains, "Happy Halloween" Part 1 & 2, Season 6 - 1990

The Seavers spend a rainy Halloween night telling ghost stories. Meanwhile, at a party, daughter Carol gets a ride home from a guy in a Grim Reaper costume. Is he just a guy or is he the real thing?

Perhaps the character simply said he reaps? --Bavi H (talk) 02:47, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Possibly, but then why on Earth would the Swedish translator chose the word koppleri as a translation for "reaps"? Gabbe (talk) 09:03, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

This seems like the most sensible answer here- "procuring" would be a passable substitute for "reaping" in some contexts. Obviously this ruins the joke. Staecker (talk) 12:24, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

"Procuring" has a much broader meaning than you seem to think. See Wiktionary:procure, first def. In this case, it sounds like he is implying that he is a buyer, while he really is the Grim Reaper, and thus his business is procuring souls. StuRat (talk) 08:11, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

The English word "procuring" has a wider sense, yes, but the Swedish word koppleri doesn't. The Swedish word is only used in relation to prostitution. Let's say, however, that the Reaper had said "procurement" and that the dialogue had went as follows:

—What's your line of business?

—Procurement...

What would be the witticism here? I know Growing Pains wasn't exactly a laugh riot all the time, but I remember a laugh track tacked on to whatever he replied. If he said "procuring" or "procurement", I don't get it. There doesn't appear to be any joke whatsoever. I suspect the actual English line was something completely unrelated to the word "procuring". Gabbe (talk) 09:03, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Maybe the Swedish translator used the wrong interpretation of "procuring". It's not exactly witty, but if it was said the right way it could get a laugh. Ghmyrtle (talk) 10:10, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

I found the second part of the 2-part show, but not the first part. It is very likely that the reaper said he was in "receiving" or "procurement". Those are two common jobs that people in the United States have. The joke is that when a person says they are in receiving or procurement, they don't mean anything sinister. When the reaper says it, the girl doesn't know that he means that he is procuring souls. -- kainaw™ 13:12, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Maybe the Swedish translator had been to the UK where "procuring" without any additional information is nearly always (I would say) taken to mean these criminal offences. Alansplodge (talk) 21:44, 12 May 2011 (UTC)