One Mark Barratt translated a rather long Dutch joke word for word
into English in alt.usage.english at
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&threadm=1fafb33.9s3ssl3ywvluN%40de-ster.demon.nl&prev=/groups%3Fnum%3D25%26hl%3Den%26group%3Dalt.usage.english%26start%3D25>.
You can explore the joys of Dutch word order and then
finish the joke in translation once you get tired. How much more
enjoyable the Dorp dialogue would have been if Wolfe had imitated real
Dutch syntax instead of mechanically putting the verb at the end.
Also, there's an 1854 story by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón called "¡Buena Pesca!" That title looks like it should mean "Good fishing!" though it turns out to mean something more like "That's a good haul!" The story doesn't explain the end of IGJ, but there are some connections: marital infidelity and the amputation of an arm figure prominently, and the second-last line of the story is "¡Buena pesca! ¡Buena pesca!" I wonder whether Wolfe had it in mind. You can read it in Spanish at <http://usuarios.lycos.es/bibliotecario/relatos/buenapesca.htm>. I have no more life than that guy in a.u.e., so I'll translate the last few paragraphs if there's interest.
Those who read Spanish might like that site, by the way. There's some Borges and a fair amount of sf, mostly translated. No Wolfe, though.
Jerry Friedman