Chuck Norris
Translated into Japanese, baby. For all the right reasons. Dubious cultural enrichment, for instance. If you missed this internet meme, please go check it out. You might laugh. (Fair warning though - the earlier jokes are far funnier and less foul than the more recent ones.) I went through a few sites, found the least offensive ones that made me chuck-le (unlike my own pun there), and transcribed them below. Enjoy.
Chuck Norris Facts are satirical “facts” about martial artist and actor Chuck Norris, which have become an Internet phenomenon and as a result have become widespread in popular culture. The “facts” tend to involve jokes and plays on claims of Norris’ toughness, attitude, virility, “alpha-male status”, sophistication and masculinity stated in an absurdly serious tone, for example:
Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer. Too bad Chuck Norris has never cried. Ever.
The “facts” typically claim that Chuck Norris is some type of irate, all-powerful, superbeing. Some of these “facts” have also turned into popular jokes. Like most Internet phenomena, the Chuck Norris facts have spread around the world, leading not only to translated versions, but also spawning localized versions mentioning country-specific advertisements, other Internet phenomena, etc. Allusions are also sometimes made to his use of roundhouse kick attacks to perform seemingly any task, his large amount of body hair with specific regard to his beard, and his role in the action television series Walker, Texas Ranger.
Shockingly, it appears that Wikipedia Japan has beat me to the punch! This is actually good news - means people have already discovered the hilarity. They have a wonderful little aside about Chuck Norris Jokes. It even features some background explanation to make sure that the jokes are well explained. (This is something I appreciate on other sites, too…) I’ll put their content first, then I’ll supplement it with whatever is leftover on my list.
Enjoy.
チャック・ノリスジョーク
アメリカでは、その特異なキャラクターから彼を題材にしたチャック・ノリスジョークなるものが数多くあり、しばしば人々の間で笑いの種になっている。
* Guns don’t kill people. Chuck Norris kills people.
(銃が人を殺すのではない、チャック・ノリスが人を殺すのだ。) 注:安易な銃規制に反対するスローガン「銃が人を殺すのではない、(銃を悪用する)人が人を殺すのだ。」のパロディ
* The leading causes of death in the United States are 1.Heart Disease 2.Chuck Norris 3.Cancer.
(合衆国内での主な死因は 1.心臓病 2.チャック・ノリス 3.癌 である。)
* Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He just stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
(チャック・ノリスは本を読まない。彼は、ただ彼の欲する情報が得られるまで本を睨み続けるのだ。)
* Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, he decides what time it is.
(チャック・ノリスは時計をしない。彼が今、何時何分か決めるのだ。)
* When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
(毎晩、ブギーマンは寝る前に自宅のクローゼットにチャック・ノリスがいないかチェックするんだ。)
※当然だが、これらは全てジョークであり、実際のチャック・ノリス自身は、普通の人間(ホモ・サピエンス)である。
Let’s keep the ball rolling with a few more silly bits. As always, please consider this a community project and help correct my awkward translations. I’ve added a long-overdue humor category to the site, too, so feel free to peruse the old posts and chime in about those, as well. Any help given will be appreciated. :-) I’ve got a cold today, so my head is a little slow - these translations seem sub par to me. Ha ha. Forgive me.
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
進化論などない。ただチャック・ノリスが生きるのを認めた動物のリストがあるだけ。
[訳:Mayumi]
Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
チャック・ノリスはねない。彼は待つ。
The chief export of Chuck Norris is Pain.
チャック・ノリスの主要な輸出は痛みだ。
There is no chin under Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.
チャック・ノリスの髭の下に顎がない。もう一つの拳骨だけだ。
Chuck Norris has two speeds. Walk, and Kill.
チャック・ノリスは二つの速さがある。歩くと殺す。
Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting implies the possibility of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.
「狩る」と言ったら,不首尾に終わる可能性があるという意味が入っているから,チャック・ノリスは狩に行かない。彼は殺しに行く。
Leading hand sanitizers claim they can kill 99.9 percent of germs. Chuck Norris can kill 100 percent of whatever he wants.
首位石鹸は細菌の99.9%を殺せる。チャック・ノリスは何でもの100%を殺せる。
Chuck Norris was originally cast as the main character in 24, but was replaced by the producers when he managed to kill every terrorist and save the day in 12 minutes and 37 seconds.
チャック・ノリスは最初から24という番組のメイン役割だったけど,12分37秒だけで全てのテロリストを殺して急場を救った後で,プロデューサーが(ジャック・バウアーに)変えた。
Chuck Norris can speak braille.
チャック・ノリスは点字で話せる。
Chuck Norris can do a wheelie on a unicycle.
チャック・ノリスは一輪車でウィリーで走れる。
Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.
チャック・ノリスは一鳥で二石を殺せる。
The best part of waking up is not Folgers in your cup, but knowing that Chuck Norris didn’t kill you in your sleep.
起きるの一番良いところはコーヒーの香りじゃなくて、寝ていた間にチャック・ノリスに殺されなかったところだ。
注:フォルジャーズコーヒーのCMのセリフをパロディする。
Chuck Norris can build a snowman out of rain.
チャック・ノリスは雨で雪だるまを作れる。
Chuck Norris can strangle you with a cordless phone.
チャック・ノリスはコードレス電話で君を絞め殺せる。
Chuck Norris once bowled a 300. Without a ball. He wasn’t even in a bowling alley.
チャック・ノリスはボーリングで300点出した。ボール無しで。しかも彼はボーリング場にいさえしなかった。[訳:Mayumi]
Chuck Norris doesn’t play “hide-and-seek.” He plays “hide-and-pray-I-don’t-find-you.”
チャック・ノリスは「隠れん坊」の遊びをしない。彼は「隠れて,チャックが君を見つけないように祈る」というゲームをする。
If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death.
君はチャック・ノリスが見えるなら、逆にチャック・ノリスは君が見える。もしチャック・ノリスが見えなかったら、死ぬまで数秒しか残っていない可能性がある。
Chuck Norris does not leave messages. Chuck Norris leaves warnings.
チャック・ノリスは電話で伝言を録音しない。彼は脅しを残す。

on November 9th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Hahaha, oh man, I forgot just how funny some of these are. Dunno about you, but I swear these facts get funnier the more you read them. With each mention of a round-house I burst into laughter.
Cheers dude, I’ll be reading these for a while yet.
on November 9th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
面白いね。とりあえず2つ訳してみました。
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
進化論などない。ただチャック・ノリスが生きるのを認めた動物のリストがあるだけ。
Chuck Norris once bowled a 300. Without a ball. He wasn’t even in a bowling alley.
チャック・ノリスはボーリングで300点出した。ボール無しで。しかも彼はボーリング場にいさえしなかった。
風邪、お大事に。。。
on November 10th, 2007 at 3:42 am
hmmm. Is Mayumi talking about a 風邪 post I don’t remember? こちが祈りが要りますよ!
Anyways, that article must have been altered by a native English speaker. I mean it has a picture. Have you ever seen a Japanese wiki article with a picture? 笑
on November 10th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Michaels - thanks as always for the encouragement, ha ha.
Mayumi - thanks so much for translating those! I’m updating them now. It’s much appreciated. And I promise to take care of myself until my cold is better.
Clay - yeah, I do have a cold. Hate it. And man are you right about the insane lack of photos on the Japanese Wikipedia. What gives? Ha ha.
on November 12th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
… I don’t get the chuck norris kafoffle. I really, really don’t. I read them in English. I read them in Japanese (kinda), and I still don’t get it.
Maybe you have to have lived and breathed walker texas ranger to fully grasp these. Ah well.
on November 12th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Nicole - I’ve only ever seen Walker, Texas Ranger clips when watching Conan…and I think these jokes are funny. I think the problem is that you’re lame.
Ha ha ha. (They’re just silly, overstated faux-facts. It’s cool if they’re not your cup of tea.)
on November 13th, 2007 at 1:12 am
These are hysterical. Have you seen the mountain dew commercial with Chuck Norris? (mountiandew.com - videos - tv ads). Saw it on this weekend and immediately thought of your post.
on November 13th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Greg - I saw that a while back, and at the time I didn’t get it at all. I remember thinking that the marketing department had gone deliberately dadaist on me. (Now I understand that they were merely riding a wave of goofball humor. Thank you, Internet.)
on November 19th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I like your disclaimer
※当然だが、これらは全てジョークであり、実際のチャック・ノリス自身は、普通の人間(ホモ・サピエンス)である。
・・・
Isn’t closet 押入れ?
* When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
(毎晩、ブギーマンは寝る前に自宅のクローゼットにチャック・ノリスがいないかチェックするんだ。)
on November 19th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I think the translator of the original Japanese Wikipedia jokes added that disclaimer, Tori. Also, I think they chose to use the katakana クローゼット over 押入れ because the former is used for Western style closets, while the latter is a Japanese style closet used for packing up your futons, etc. Chuck Norris jokes were invented in the West, so the translator used a Western style closet. Makes sense to me. Of course, with all of the unnecessary katakana usage these days, who knows?
on November 19th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
[...] Comments Deas on Chuck NorrisDeas on Pants OffDeas on PasserbyAlex on PasserbyTori on Pants [...]
on January 31st, 2008 at 7:08 am
[...] what you might have read about Chuck Norris Facts (which have even been translated into Japanese on Rocking In Hakata) there is someone you should fear even more than the famous Texas [...]
on February 2nd, 2008 at 2:40 am
Hey Deas,
I am interviewing Tofugu.com and they have this really funny video about Segata Sanshiro (the Chuck Norris of Japan) and it reminded me of your Chuck Facts in Japanese.
I was thinking that it might be fun to make a Segata Sanshiro Facts meme.
Tori’s last blog post: Submit or suffer the wrath of Segata Sanshiro! - the official Tofugu world domination interview