In Defense of Puns(esquire.com)
esquire.com
In Defense of Puns
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a15872842/in-defense-of-puns/
68 comments
I describe this as “people using puns to call attention to themselves to the detriment of the conversation.”
Wordplay is cool, but when one demands everyone’s acknowledgement by stopping the flow of conversation to interject “Pun [not] intended” or “did you see what I did there” it disrespects everyone present.
I think people would do this less if they realized this behavior is the cousin of the person who has to top every story or add the time it happened to them to every discussion.
Wordplay is cool, but when one demands everyone’s acknowledgement by stopping the flow of conversation to interject “Pun [not] intended” or “did you see what I did there” it disrespects everyone present.
I think people would do this less if they realized this behavior is the cousin of the person who has to top every story or add the time it happened to them to every discussion.
I don't have a problem with puns, I have a problem with compulsive, unimaginative, lazy punning.
This isn't a problem unique to puns, but I feel like they do get unfairly punished when talking about overused figures of speech while tired cliches, car analogies that just aren't apt and a ton of mixed metaphors go seemingly unnoticed.
This isn't a problem unique to puns, but I feel like they do get unfairly punished when talking about overused figures of speech while tired cliches, car analogies that just aren't apt and a ton of mixed metaphors go seemingly unnoticed.
I entered a pun contest once, much like the one in the video embedded in the article. I had ten puns prepared, hoping one of them would win. Unfortunately... no pun in ten did.
“being able to make a terrible pun” is my rough metric for real fluency in a language.
Which would be to say for fluency, the proof is in the punning.
There is no kind of false wit which has been so recommended by the practice of all ages as that which consists in a jingle
of words, and is comprehended under the general name of punning.
It is indeed impossible to kill a weed which the soil has a natural disposition to produce. The seeds of punning are in the minds of all men, and though they may be subdued by reason, reflection, and good sense, they will be very apt to shoot up in the greatest genius that is not broken and cultivated by the rules of art. Imitation is natural to us, and when it does not raise the mind to poetry, painting, music, or other more noble arts, it often breaks out in puns and quibbles.
..I shall here define it to be a conceit arising from the use of two words that agree in the sound, but differ in the sense. The only way, therefore, to try a piece of wit is to translate it into a different language. If it bear the test, you may pronounce it true; but if it vanish in the experiment you may conclude it to have been a pun. In short, one may say of a pun, as the countryman described his nightingale, that it is a "vox et prczterea nihil"–"a sound, and nothing but a sound."
It is indeed impossible to kill a weed which the soil has a natural disposition to produce. The seeds of punning are in the minds of all men, and though they may be subdued by reason, reflection, and good sense, they will be very apt to shoot up in the greatest genius that is not broken and cultivated by the rules of art. Imitation is natural to us, and when it does not raise the mind to poetry, painting, music, or other more noble arts, it often breaks out in puns and quibbles.
..I shall here define it to be a conceit arising from the use of two words that agree in the sound, but differ in the sense. The only way, therefore, to try a piece of wit is to translate it into a different language. If it bear the test, you may pronounce it true; but if it vanish in the experiment you may conclude it to have been a pun. In short, one may say of a pun, as the countryman described his nightingale, that it is a "vox et prczterea nihil"–"a sound, and nothing but a sound."
^ By Joseph Addison, founder of The Spectator (the original one), writing in 1711.
https://books.google.com/books?id=JEqJpAPC5dsC&pg=PA146
https://books.google.com/books?id=JEqJpAPC5dsC&pg=PA146
Non-native speaker here. Could someone explain the currency pun quoted?
> When one guy gestured towards his shirt and declared “I’ll be washing tons of clothes later,” his opponent instantly responded, “Better get a tub, man.”
I guess Washingtons is slang for a certain denomination of US dollar bill? But what on earth is tub man? Thanks!
> When one guy gestured towards his shirt and declared “I’ll be washing tons of clothes later,” his opponent instantly responded, “Better get a tub, man.”
I guess Washingtons is slang for a certain denomination of US dollar bill? But what on earth is tub man? Thanks!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman
I think...
Seems like there was some plan to but Tubman on the US$20
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/tubman-st...
I think...
Seems like there was some plan to but Tubman on the US$20
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/tubman-st...
Oh, "On April 20, 2016, then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced plans to add Tubman to the front of the twenty-dollar bill". Wicked. Thanks a lot!
BTW, seems this was put on hold: http://fortune.com/2018/04/19/harriet-tubman-20-dollar-bill-...
I guess this was a pun that was heavily dependent on context / historical knowledge, not just word / language knowledge. Misses the mark for some people then, which is a shame because it seems a lot of thought went into it.
I’ve been a native speaker of American English for over 50 years, and I didn’t get it.
Even after it was explained, I still don’t really remember the claimed plan that they were going to put her on the $20 bill.
And any pun that has to be explained is a failed pun.
It doesn’t even deserve a groan.
Even after it was explained, I still don’t really remember the claimed plan that they were going to put her on the $20 bill.
And any pun that has to be explained is a failed pun.
It doesn’t even deserve a groan.
> And any pun that has to be explained is a failed pun.
But sometimes they are just /so/ good.
And it's so fun when nobody gets it, and then, after a pause, one person gets it and looks at you with the, "Did you just say what I think you said?" look - Awesome. :-)
But sometimes they are just /so/ good.
And it's so fun when nobody gets it, and then, after a pause, one person gets it and looks at you with the, "Did you just say what I think you said?" look - Awesome. :-)
Harriet Tubman is a woman that's (was?) to be put on the $20 bill.
If anyone is interested in a more in depth and humorous take on puns, I remember enjoying "The Pun Also Rises" by John Pollack - a book I randomly picked up a few years back from a Barnes and Nobles.
He explored some of the history of puns and general wordplay, why English is particularly suited for puns (unlike e.g. Romanian as someone else mentioned in this thread), how puns fit into modern and past culture (both the positive and negative bits), as well as some personal anecdotes.
It's a pretty quick and light read, and if you're the type of person that would actually enjoy reading a whole 150+ pages of book about puns, I'd definitely recommend it.
He explored some of the history of puns and general wordplay, why English is particularly suited for puns (unlike e.g. Romanian as someone else mentioned in this thread), how puns fit into modern and past culture (both the positive and negative bits), as well as some personal anecdotes.
It's a pretty quick and light read, and if you're the type of person that would actually enjoy reading a whole 150+ pages of book about puns, I'd definitely recommend it.
What makes puns so annoying is the punner expecting to be told how clever they are.
Eh. I live for the groans.
The groans are not usefully distinct from being told you're clever, the groans mean the audience gets it.
If you know other people don't like it and you do it anyway, then you're just being a dick.
Yes, the failure to success scale of puns is measured in anger. A pun so awful it makes the listener angry is a grand success.
I once heard someone say that the best puns cause physical pain, either with the listener groaning or the listener punching, but either way the pain is the proof of success.
Me too, it's the whole pun of it for me.
You've been too slow on the draw too many times haven’t you?
The speaker makes the pun even if it looks irrelephant in the context of the message.
It is fun to spin a pun. It makes us cringe to hear pun ...
The puns in this thread are a great example of why people hate puns. Also a lot of them are spoonerisms and not puns, which will get you ejected from a pun contest
>Also a lot of them are spoonerisms and not puns, which will get you ejected from a pun contest
You struck a blushing crow.
You struck a blushing crow.
It seems like a spoonerism is unintentional. I feel like a pun for most people means word play.
Spoonerism. a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect, as in the sentence you have hissed the mystery lectures, accidentally spoken instead of the intended sentence you have missed the history lectures.
Spoonerism. a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect, as in the sentence you have hissed the mystery lectures, accidentally spoken instead of the intended sentence you have missed the history lectures.
Yeah I personally use the concepts interchangeably but if you go to the pun competitions in the bay area they will disqualify spoonerisms in the general sense which includes any partial word substitutions like "punderdome"
There are those of us for whom Spoonerisms are a legit speech impediment.
It rarely happens to me anymore, but rare != never.
It rarely happens to me anymore, but rare != never.
I found this article [1] to be much more enlightening [2]. The problem is not so much that puns are bad, but that so many puns are just bad puns.
As described here [3],
> "It's not enough to just substitute a word that sounds the same (aka a 'homophone'); for example, which is funnier, 'Be kind to your dentist because he has fillings too' or 'She ate my breakfast role'? You probably said the first pun, because the meaning of the substitute word also makes sense in the context of the sentence, and it’s this second meaning that actually makes the joke funny."
[1] https://slifty.com/2016/03/a-puntitled-framework-for-evaluat...
[2] Heh.
[3] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/06/1...
As described here [3],
> "It's not enough to just substitute a word that sounds the same (aka a 'homophone'); for example, which is funnier, 'Be kind to your dentist because he has fillings too' or 'She ate my breakfast role'? You probably said the first pun, because the meaning of the substitute word also makes sense in the context of the sentence, and it’s this second meaning that actually makes the joke funny."
[1] https://slifty.com/2016/03/a-puntitled-framework-for-evaluat...
[2] Heh.
[3] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/06/1...
Is there a list of punning competitions? I'd like to find one in the Bay Area.
The Punderdome is monthly in Brooklyn, NY. Tonight (May 1) at 7pm.
https://www.littlefieldnyc.com/event/1620815-punderdome-broo...
The Punderdome is monthly in Brooklyn, NY. Tonight (May 1) at 7pm.
https://www.littlefieldnyc.com/event/1620815-punderdome-broo...
"Orlando Punslingers" is a popular event that happens at SAK Comedy Lab in Florida every few months.
Coincidentally, I just watched this (posted 3 days ago): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbWP9nvnRhw
As a non-native speaker I never understood the hate for puns, I've always found them inoffensive fun.
As a non-native speaker I never understood the hate for puns, I've always found them inoffensive fun.
Dont you have puns in your native language?
Nope. Romanian is not a great fit for puns. I think English is a special case, since the "word density" is so high, due to a huge (largest actually) vocabulary, and the propensity to use short words, usually with multiple meanings. Also it's such a foreign thing to do that it'd be really weird to try, although there are some (very silly) examples (corcodus -> cur cu dus, furculita -> fur cu lita, etc.).
I'm curious whether there are any other languages that are naturally "punny".
I'm curious whether there are any other languages that are naturally "punny".
It has been my experience that different languages will usually have their own form of humor that tends to be more common, and other forms that are more rare or even unheard of.
For example, with French, I have found that it is usually the double-entendre which is much more common.
For example, with French, I have found that it is usually the double-entendre which is much more common.
I don't know Chinese, but given the infamous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_... I'm guessing Chinese is exceedingly punny.
Famously and vigorously so:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Mud_Horse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Mud_Horse
>I'm curious whether there are any other languages that are naturally "punny".
I never thought of this before, although I know some Sanskrit (having learned it for some years in school) - but due to its overall design and the fact that words can be built up from other words, and also due to many short words having potentially many meanings (and hence longer words built up from short words, even more so), I think there is probably a lot of scope in Sanskrit for punning. Sanskrit poetry probably has a lot of it, but likely prose too. A very rich and enjoyable language to study, even just for its own sake, i.e. even if you are not studying it in order to understand Indian philosophies, yoga, etc.
I never thought of this before, although I know some Sanskrit (having learned it for some years in school) - but due to its overall design and the fact that words can be built up from other words, and also due to many short words having potentially many meanings (and hence longer words built up from short words, even more so), I think there is probably a lot of scope in Sanskrit for punning. Sanskrit poetry probably has a lot of it, but likely prose too. A very rich and enjoyable language to study, even just for its own sake, i.e. even if you are not studying it in order to understand Indian philosophies, yoga, etc.
Yes, puns are called śleṣa (shlesha, श्लेष) in Sanskrit poetry. (For a bit more, you can search under those two spellings, make sure to search the first two pages and also Google Books.)
There are even entire long poems that are a “pun” — they tell two stories, depending on how you read each verse. Yigal Bronner has written a book about these:
> Extreme Poetry - The South Asian Movement of Simultaneous Narration (2010)
though the book is a bit lighter on examples and heavier on theorizing (the price of academia) than I'd like.
There are even entire long poems that are a “pun” — they tell two stories, depending on how you read each verse. Yigal Bronner has written a book about these:
> Extreme Poetry - The South Asian Movement of Simultaneous Narration (2010)
though the book is a bit lighter on examples and heavier on theorizing (the price of academia) than I'd like.
Interesting, will check that out.
I don't think puns so much but Sanskrit is the world champion of double entendres. Like one poem which can be read as a praise of ascetism or a description of an adulterous love affair. Or the one which if read forwards tells the story of the Ramayana and in reverse the Mahabharata.
Never heard of that last one, sounds amazing.
I've heard many say puns are the lowest form of humour, including a close friend's mother, but anyone who thinks as much has fixiated on the wrong thing. It's a classuffocation error, like saying steak is the unhealthiest type of vegetabull. Puns are like oxygen to me. They are an art. Without that art I choke. Anyone who tries to gag my puns ought to be trampled by a Belgian Blue, in the face. I don't know what their beef is, maybe they tried out at a pun meet, didn't make the cut, and can't shoulder it. Let it go. Take a deep breath. Become a vegetarian. No need to go through life choking down burnt rump when you can have a breath of fresh lettuce spun. Let us pun.
> I've heard many say puns are the lowest form of humour
Sarcasm is said to be the lowest form of wit. Or are we considering humour and wit to be independent enough to each have their own league tables in this respect?
While we are on the subject: A pun is it's own reword.
Sarcasm is said to be the lowest form of wit. Or are we considering humour and wit to be independent enough to each have their own league tables in this respect?
While we are on the subject: A pun is it's own reword.
The 20th century considered puns the lowest form of humor. The 21st discovered a lower one: The reference. That is, the bare version of the reference in which one is simply referencing a thing that was funny before, not adding any other spin beyond "hey, wasn't that funny"? Entire movie franchises have been built on this.
No puns. No joke here.
No puns. No joke here.
I don’t know about puns being the lowest form of humour, but the bun is the lowest form of wheat.
> lowest form of humour, including a close friend's mother
Now that is some excellent wordplay, whether or not intentional :)
Now that is some excellent wordplay, whether or not intentional :)
Beautifully crafted metaphor, almost a comparisong.
It’s not that puns are bad per se, it’s just that people making them tend to be pompous bores anyway.
I was expecting a nice treatise on something like this topic:
https://lispcast.com/nil-punning/
https://lispcast.com/nil-punning/
Let's throw all puns in the Punama Canal.
Also: A man! a plan! a canal! Panama!
is a pulindrome.
Also: A man! a plan! a canal! Panama!
is a pulindrome.
I like puns and rap music. Often Good rap is puns set to a beat.
People who pun for sport also have a very high probability of having a narrow view of comedy. It's as if comedy were simply an expression of the wit of the speaker.
That leaves the audience with little other than the facile verification of the speaker's wit. Yes, we confirm that word X has a double meaning. The groan is verbal confirmation that the speaker has essentially wasted their time.
Besides, there are other types of low-hanging comedic fruit-- crowd work, street jokes, musical parodies-- which don't get groans. Those typically involve skills other than wit-- like relating to other human beings, improvisation, vulnerability, etc.-- which I think is the reason why.
That leaves the audience with little other than the facile verification of the speaker's wit. Yes, we confirm that word X has a double meaning. The groan is verbal confirmation that the speaker has essentially wasted their time.
Besides, there are other types of low-hanging comedic fruit-- crowd work, street jokes, musical parodies-- which don't get groans. Those typically involve skills other than wit-- like relating to other human beings, improvisation, vulnerability, etc.-- which I think is the reason why.
Wow this article is some self-serving tripe.
puns?
1. most people aren't very funny
2. some smart people conflate recognising a reference to some external knowledge with wit
3. not enough people follow Shakespeare's lead and make lots of puns about genitals
puns?
1. most people aren't very funny
2. some smart people conflate recognising a reference to some external knowledge with wit
3. not enough people follow Shakespeare's lead and make lots of puns about genitals
Attila the Pun gave them a bad name
This article should have started with a punographic warning!
I don't have a problem with puns, I have a problem with compulsive, unimaginative, lazy punning. You know, like replying "I did nazi that coming" in reply to a comment mentioning the third reich or WW2. Never gets old.