"I am on a seafood diet. Every time I see food, I eat it."
"Did you hear about the guy who got hit in the head with a can of soda? He was lucky it was a soft drink."
"I used to be a banker, but I lost interest."
The (in)glorious pun!
Humour rises from the use of two words that agree in the sound, but differ in the sense. Have you ever come across anything like this? Yeah, you have got it right! You don't need to spend most of your weekends by furiously browsing online forums and guest blogs, analyzing the results of past editions of the World Pun-Off Championships, watching pre-recorded episodes of 'The Simpsons' in slow motion, or re-reading the collected works of Shakespeare and James Joyce in attempts to discover these witty tricks of words. Thanks to our ever active web worlds, and our ever increasing cyber dependence, we get to witness such witticism on a daily basis, be it in our virtual world's walls or in our ever buzzing texting app. The sharer/sender, no doubt proud by their little displays of their tricky banters. But have we ever stopped to wonder what does exactly the word "Puns" mean and from where did it originate?
The pun, also called paronomasia, is notoriously difficult to define, as it is a type of wordplay, and it takes on many different forms. The most common type of pun is using it in a humorous manner due to the sound it evokes. Because of the phonetic, it then becomes possible to interpret a word in more than one manner.
The exact origin of the pun is unknown, buried underneath piles of misconceptions and false assumptions. Although the Oxford English Dictionary lists the first usage of pun in 1579, mankind has been indulging themselves in use of paronomasia far earlier than that. Apparently, Egyptian pyramid builders were the first pun addicts known to the World History. The art was lost for many ages until the Chinese started using this word trickery and took the tradition of punning forward. The Chinese used the term "shi", meaning "power", and "shi", meaning "position" to say that a king has power because of his position as king. Puns were also used in ancient Iraq and in Mayanwriting as a means of representing certain words and in every day language. Japan, too, has used "Graphomania", which refers to an obsessive impulse to write, as a type of pun. Pretty impressive, no?š
Though the art of Punning was often considered hostile in its approach, it has enjoyed a fair share of fame as well. Puns are not only found in lively, witty conversations, they have also found their way into great literary works.
Shakespeare's plays and his sonnets are crammed with puns. Many of them are among the most quoted phrases in the English language. For example, the opening lines of Richard III, "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York," where the speaker, Richard, is referring to himself, a son of the house of York. By using that pun Shakespeare transformed the seasons of winter and summer into the idea of bleak and good times.
Apart from Shakespeare, many other eminent writers such as Alexander Pope, Allen Ginsberg, Sidney Lanier, Richard Brautigan were particularly fond of playing with words in their writings. Among them, Lewis Carroll was a master of word play. He employed the use of puns throughout the novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", one of his famous works which still finds appreciation among today's readers.
Though they say "Puns are the lowest form of humor."
Which is true for them, being the foundation of wit.
Credits:
Anupamaa
