Lost In Translation

Mikhail Gorbachev deserves a hand for being able to laugh at his troubles, but he may want to consider clearing his jokes with other targets of his humor, especially if one of them is the President of France. As the Soviet leader left a session of the Russian parliament last week, he stopped to tell reporters a self-deprecating joke that also featured Francois Mitterrand and George Bush. "They say that Mitterrand has 100 lovers. One has AIDS, but he doesn't know which one," Gorbachev said. "Bush has 100 bodyguards. One is a terrorist, but he doesn't know which one. Gorbachev has 100 economic advisers. One is smart, but he doesn't know which one."

The joke appeared in newspapers around the world. In France, however, where Mitterrand's private life is the stuff of gossip but is rarely discussed in print, discretion prevailed. Agence France-Presse, which is subsidized by the government, carried the joke on its wires but in a bowdlerized version picked up from the Soviet media. No mention was made of Bush or Mitterrand, whose names were substituted by "a President."