I'd like to see the biggest losers at these punning competitions give a talk at the Pun Ted conference.
Why English is such a great language for puns
41–50 of 80 posts
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#42The article provides no evidence about why English, specifically, is great for puns. >> . It has a large vocabulary and a rich stock of homophones from which puns can be made Ok. What about the other 6000 languages? Do they have more/less homophones. French sure has a ton of them. >> It is constantly evolving, with new words being invented and old ones given fresh meanings Yes, like any other language. >> And it is m…
Chinese also is a great language for puns. I was in Taipei a few weeks ago and saw a restaurant named 糖朝 ( tangchao , Sugar Dynasty), when most people would expect to see 唐朝 ( tangchao , Tang Dynasty). In addition, many cultural sayings are based off "puns." For example, 年年有餘 ( nian nian you yu , year after year there will be a surplus) is a common saying during the Chinese New Year. However, many families eat fish (…
I've read about the 10 Mythical Creatures of Baidu[0] a few times, and while my Mandarin is too poor to have gotten any of the jokes without explanation, it seems like it would have been quite funny to run across any in the wild.
[0]: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/baidu-10-mythical-creatures-gr...
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, they've surely never heard of other types of humor /s
Repetition is sometimes instructive. Repetition is sometimes instructive. Repetition is sometimes instructive.
This comment is actually more insightful then I would like to admit. Maybe we should be using forms of repetition more explicitly.
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#44Yeah, let's start with "why English is such a great language for puns", but then explain that it's not actually going to be about puns at all (an extremely difficult kind of joke to make because real puns are either grammatically incorrect, or nonsense without a strong established context or audience) but simply about any kind of play on words.
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#45The pun is the lowest form of humor. There is a tendency, especially among educated males of a certain age, to start to feel themselves quite clever. These fellows, in order to demonstrate their cleverness to the world, being to subject their friends and family with an onslaught of puns. If you know such a punner, and you probably do, don't encourage them by saying things like, "I just love how your mind works" or "I…
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Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#46Vietnamese humour is remarkably focused around puns and other word-play, much more so than American humour. The reason is presumably because Vietnamese has a ton of homophones, and even more words that differ by only one vowel or tone. (this makes learning Vietnamese a kind of trying experience, as every mispronunciation is a source of hilarity for native speakers :) )
Not only Vietnamese but a lot of languages all over the world, if not most or all. Puns and wordplay exist in any language, and people who say "why English/German/Swahili/whatever is so great for Y" merely have no deeper understanding of linguistics aside folk etymologies and lists of "untranslated words" (which are a joke to people actually into linguistics) and things like that.
Japanese comedians can't go 10 minutes without making a pun, and a lay person could strongly agree that it is the language that uses them the most due to all common similar-sounding words, frequent games with kanji and their different meanings etc. It's common for even business names to be puns in Japan.
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#47tl;dr Homophones considered charmful
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#48The article provides no evidence about why English, specifically, is great for puns. >> . It has a large vocabulary and a rich stock of homophones from which puns can be made Ok. What about the other 6000 languages? Do they have more/less homophones. French sure has a ton of them. >> It is constantly evolving, with new words being invented and old ones given fresh meanings Yes, like any other language. >> And it is m…
I can't read the article because I'm at my limit for free Economist articles this week. Does the article assert that English is the only language that is great with puns or is noticeably better than other languages at puns? That's what your points are addressing. The title only implies that English is great for puns, saying nothing about whether or not others are too.
Why suffer? uMatrix + uBlock Origin for the win. I don't see any ads or any ad blocker blockers.
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#49Vietnamese humour is remarkably focused around puns and other word-play, much more so than American humour. The reason is presumably because Vietnamese has a ton of homophones, and even more words that differ by only one vowel or tone. (this makes learning Vietnamese a kind of trying experience, as every mispronunciation is a source of hilarity for native speakers :) )
Not only Vietnamese but a lot of languages all over the world, if not most or all. Puns and wordplay exist in any language, and people who say "why English/German/Swahili/whatever is so great for Y" merely have no deeper understanding of linguistics aside folk etymologies and lists of "untranslated words" (which are a joke to people actually into linguistics) and things like that. Japanese comedians can't go 10 minut…
Examples please. I love puns.
Re: Why English is such a great language for puns
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those who possess the wit but refrain, are the most admirable.
> Adding wit to a conversation makes it strictly better. Clearly there are many exceptions to the above assertion. The most common being when the main purpose of the wit is not to entertain but to showcase the punner's cleverness.
You seem bitter and boring, and I would not want to have conversations with someone who is so strict and boring and so set on their own supposed superiority that they shun the pun, to wit.