I'm re-hijacking this thread.
It is now about... this:
Q: Are puns dangerous?
A: There are only 15 recorded deaths attributed to punning, and
the majority of those were individuals that unfortunately
responded to an ad in Variety seeking "headliners" for the
court of King Henry VIII.
However, so many a pun has resulted in tears, that it has been
said that this is how the two lachrymal ducts, located at the
nasal end of the upper and lower lid margins of each eye, came
to be known as 'puncta lacrimalia,' very loosely translated
from the Latin for "tearfully criminal puns."
Puns don't kill people, people kill puns.
02.06Q: What is it that makes a good pun?
A: * Quick setup (brevity is important)
* No proper names (listener might not recognize the name)
* Familiar references
* A pointed revelation (you should see the spark in the
listeners' eyes as they 'get it')
* Maximum wordplay throughout
02.07Q: Are there different types of puns?
A: Funny you should ask.
Homographic: use of multiple meanings from a single spelling
(e.g., "pen" for writing instrument or animal
enclosure). Also referred to as antanaclasis.
Homophonic: use of like sounds but with different spellings
and meanings. Also referred to as polyptoton.
Examples of homophones from A to Z:
ad ... add nap ... knap
buy ... by oar ... or
caries ... carrys primer ... primmer
damn ... dam queue ... cue
eerie ... Erie rain ... rein ... reign
for ... four scent ... sent
gait ... gate taro ... tarot
hear ... hear urn ... earn
idle ... idol vain ... vane
jeans ... genes waive ... wave
knot ... not xero ... zero
ledger ... leger yore ... your
main ... mane ... Maine zounds ... sounds
Okay, I'll admit that that last one _was_ a bit
of a stretch. So zoo me! Let's see if you can
do any better with that 26th letter!
"Indeed let's carve out a better example of a Z,"
Tom said Zorrowfully.
Double-sound: used in the typical "knock-knock" joke.
Knock knock.
"Who's there?"
"Orange."
"Orange who?"
"Orange you going to open the door?"
What makes the above joke so gosh darn apeeling,
is the substitution of "orange" for the
contraction "aren't."
Hip-Hopper "Big Pun"
Could this man be part of the reason that puns get a bad rap?