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A colleague is organizing an event and sent everyone an email beginning like
this:

> 田中{たなか}イベント担当{たんとう}の田中です。  
>  **イベントの前{まえ}ふり **をば** 。**
>
> ... (explanation about the event)

The first line is a funny intro (the guy is known for joking all the time)

**QUESTION** : What does the イベントの前ふりをば part mean?

Is it another joke? Does it convey any information?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2011-08-29T01:29:10.920
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meaning colloquial-language ellipsis
Meaning of: イベントの前ふりをば。
をば is a classical particular used for particularly strong emphasis. I'm
guessing something like _drum roll_ "And now, setting the stage for our Really
Big Shoe, . . ." (edit) - On second thought, Ed Sullivan is maybe a little
anachronistic for Classical Japanese. Maybe more like "Forsooth!" or whatnot.
笑
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2011-08-29T01:51:31.973
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2011-08-29T02:08:41.177
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前フリ is technical entertainment jargon for the sentences that are used to set
up a joke. For example "hey, the other day, I met a guy at the kombini…" or
"two guys of different religion are in a plane…"

`イベントの前ふりをば` would thus represent the necessary words prior to the event
itself, so that everyone can enjoy it properly. I guess that "をば" is just a
mistake or some hardcore simplification of "を語れば", "をすれば" or something like
that.

sources:
[Chie](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1419635209)
and
[Chie](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1310458333).
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2011-08-29T01:59:12.790
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をば is basically the particles を + は combined together. It works like を but
places extra emphasis on the object (in theory; in practice this "extra
emphasis" might be diluted so that it basically just signals formal style).

So this sort of をば works like the を in "ご協力を！" (as a complete utterance) --
there is an action implied, but the actual verb is left unsaid. In the case of
"ご協力を", if you were to add a verb it would be "お願いします" or similar, but in the
case of this 前ふりをば it's the speaker announcing what they're about to do, so
maybe させていただきます would be closer. (I'm not sure what specific verb would be
most usual; in any case, the whole point of this construction is to avoid a
specific verb.)

So イベントの前ふりをば basically means "Here's the setup for/information about(?) the
event", except said using a certain pattern which originates in formal
discourse but is now used as a sort of self-lampooning mock-formality. You can
find lots of examples of this sort of thing by searching for ご検討をば, 情報をば etc.
on Google.
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2011-08-29T03:15:54.153
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Considering he is known for joking all the time, maybe be just used おば where
it should be in fact オーバー (over), saying that "what I want to say before
introducing the event" (まえふり) is "over". The "まえふり" here refers to his self
introduction "田中イベント担当の田中です。"

This at least makes more sense to me.
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2011-12-27T17:09:09.440
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