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Hello.
While trying to translate Adrian Mole, I ran into this sentence: 'But my wit was lost on the pedant.' There is no way I can translate this, because I do not even understand it. Could someone describe this for me? Thank you.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Anonymous Hello. While trying to translate Adrian Mole, I ran into this sentence: 'But my wit was lost on the pedant.' There is no way I can translate this, because I do not even understand it. Could someone describe this for me? Thank you.

The idiom is "to be lost on".

If something is "lost on" someone, it means that the person failed to understand the thing, often with the idea that an explanation or argument was in vain because the listener was incapable of understanding it.

The importance of adding sugar to the pot was lost on me.
~
I didn't understand the importance of adding sugar to the pot.
~
I had no idea why it was important to add sugar to the pot (when it was explained to me).
___

His argument for taxing poor people was lost on the audience.
~
The audience did not understand his argument for taxing poor people.
~
The audience had no idea how to make sense of what he said about taxing poor people.

___________________

wit ~ clever humor
pedant ~ an unimaginative person who is obsessed with the fine points of any topic of discussion

Therefore, But my wit was lost on the pedant ~
The pedant [failed to understand / was incapable of understanding] my clever humor (so I made my clever remarks in vain).

CJ

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