(I know you don’t like to use acronyms, but,) LOL!
moarscienceplzsays
Oh, no!
Now I am worried that Get Fuzzy and Pearls Before Swine will become locked in a puns race that can only end in Mutually Assured Punnihilation!
steve oberskisays
Punishingly funny.
Mano Singhamsays
It is interesting that if we take the original aphorism ‘never judge a book by its cover’, these two comics depend upon two different meanings for each of the three words ‘judge’, ‘book’, and ‘cover’.
John Moralessays
Semantic shift is the heart of pun for me; near-homophony is weaker.
While I enjoy puns, I don’t really care for the ones that require such a contrived set-up. The best ones just come up in casual conversation.
That said, one of Isaac Asimov’s favorites is the following, and one that is so perfect (as he noted) that it can be difficult to get because it is so perfect:
So, when a western rancher died, he left his cattle ranch to his three male children. They decided to rename the ranch “Focus”, because that is where the sons raise meat.
Mano Singhamsays
ahcuah @#6,
It took me a while to get that one!
moarscienceplzsays
Re #4
Yes, in my experience puns usually depend on homophones as evidenced by post #6, but these comics mostly use verbing, or what grammarians refer to as denominalization, the act of converting a noun into a verb.
I tried to find an etymology on Etymonline.com for ‘cover’ meaning a recording of a song that was first recorded or made popular by somebody else, but they didn’t get that granular. My best guess is that it is the reverse of verbing (nouning) of ‘cover’ as in, “Paul was too sick to come to work, so Jane covered his shift”.
Oggie: Mathomsays
I told these to Wife. She told me that she was always a little worried that I might be having an affair on the internet. She says these jokes are far worse.
(I know you don’t like to use acronyms, but,) LOL!
Oh, no!
Now I am worried that Get Fuzzy and Pearls Before Swine will become locked in a puns race that can only end in Mutually Assured Punnihilation!
Punishingly funny.
It is interesting that if we take the original aphorism ‘never judge a book by its cover’, these two comics depend upon two different meanings for each of the three words ‘judge’, ‘book’, and ‘cover’.
Semantic shift is the heart of pun for me; near-homophony is weaker.
While I enjoy puns, I don’t really care for the ones that require such a contrived set-up. The best ones just come up in casual conversation.
That said, one of Isaac Asimov’s favorites is the following, and one that is so perfect (as he noted) that it can be difficult to get because it is so perfect:
So, when a western rancher died, he left his cattle ranch to his three male children. They decided to rename the ranch “Focus”, because that is where the sons raise meat.
ahcuah @#6,
It took me a while to get that one!
Re #4
Yes, in my experience puns usually depend on homophones as evidenced by post #6, but these comics mostly use verbing, or what grammarians refer to as denominalization, the act of converting a noun into a verb.
I tried to find an etymology on Etymonline.com for ‘cover’ meaning a recording of a song that was first recorded or made popular by somebody else, but they didn’t get that granular. My best guess is that it is the reverse of verbing (nouning) of ‘cover’ as in, “Paul was too sick to come to work, so Jane covered his shift”.
I told these to Wife. She told me that she was always a little worried that I might be having an affair on the internet. She says these jokes are far worse.
I look forward to telling them to my son.