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Sat 10 Mar, 2007 02:08 pm
I grant you, while some puns are witty, others are thunderingly obvious.
Still, even witty puns are often cited with lofty distain.
Surely "a door is not a door when it's a jar" is as funny as a pratfall, even though pratfalls, being non-non verbal, aren't considered cliched.
Are the critics of indicating their own magnificent superiority to low word play? Or are they ruefully acknowledging an illuminating distortion of the universe that they could not create.
Any ideas?
I think Shakespeare used many puns, without disdain, and he is our greatest writer. They are part of the leaven in the language.
McTag--
Excellent contribution. Our greatest writers have indulged in verbal frivolity.
Of course the majority of the Bard's puns are spoken by the Bard's clowns.
Well I'm not an expert, as you know...but many of the best lines are written for jesters.
Many a true word spoken in jest, and all that; the clown can get right to nub of the matter, and in fewest words too.
A great French writer said: The pun is the fart of the soul...
Man, how my soul likes to fart, unlike my body!!
Manger épicé, Francis :wink:
(You were quoting Victor Hugo, n'est-ce pas?)
Rabelais was a master of the pun but Walter is right, Noddy.
Walter Hinteler wrote:Manger épicé, Francis :wink:
Mais pas en même temps :wink:
I'm so provincial--but I can learn.
Repeating the question: Do people groan at puns because they feel inferior or superior to the punster.
Most of the time, I've observed, it's because they can not detect them easily...
Francis wrote:Walter Hinteler wrote:Manger épicé, Francis :wink:
Mais pas en même temps :wink:
Quand on est à Rome, il faut faire comme les Romains
I like the transient, witty, for-the-moment-and-then-it's-gone, rare breed of triple-pun.
People groan because of the juxtaposition of the obvious with the subtle.
I chanced u-pun this thread and thought I'd like to read along.
Noddy, someone once told me that sarcasm was the lowest form of humor. I agree.
Now, edgar, that IS a groaner.
I agree with Chumly on the triple puns, but let's remind ourselves of the value they have in teaching. They are a light way to show the homonyms and other contradictory words that exist in the English language.
Love this one:
There once was an eminent preacher, who said to a hen, "My dear creature."
The hen just for that
Laid an egg in his hat,
And thus did the Hen Reward Beecher.
A good pun is only the lowest form of humor when someone else thinks of it first.
Patiodog gave us the one about Kermit Yeager. By definition, it was horrible. I think that one came from pd, anyway.
I know a man who makes fragrances from the desert blossoms of Arizona.
He calls his business "Scents of Yuma"
Ha! I made that one up myself. Can you tell?
McT, people living around Yuma are almost Yumans...
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