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Why English is such a great language for puns

economist.com

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Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#61

Post by yongjik »

samstave wrote: post #49
japanforever wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not a typical Japanese pun, I suppose, but a pun story I heard:

There was a Korean guy working in a Japanese company.

One day, his coworker went out to the roof for a quick cigarette break. Another person came in and asked where he was, so the Korean guy would reply (in Japanese), "Oh, Mr. Tanaka is taking a break, on top of the roof."

The person blushes, and leaves wordlessly. The Korean guy is confused, and then realizes he used the Korean word for the roof: "oksang".

(Japanese okusan = wife)

Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#62

Post by lovemenot »

nostromo95 wrote: post #22
jcoffland wrote: post #14

The 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…

To quote a better man than me: >The assumption that puns are per se contemptible, betrayed by the habit of describing every pun not as a pun , but as a bad pun or a feeble pun , is a sign at once of sheepish docility and desire to seem superior. Puns are good, bad, and indifferent, and only those who lack the wit to make them are unaware of the fact. [0] [0] Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 2nd Edition

Seems Fowler may be missing the point. Many derisive comments are in fact statements of relative approbation. As in: "that pun was not just bad (good), it was awful (great)"

For every foul pun, there is another still Fowler.

Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#63

Post by Rumudiez »

mattchamb wrote: post #52
samstave wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Examples please. I love puns.

There is a sushi shop near me called "Sushi Yah!" the japanese for "sushi shop" is "すし屋" pronounced "sushi ya"

There's a sushi restaurant near me called "SushiMe," a pun of "sashimi" I've always assumed.

Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#65

Post by nostromo95 »

lovemenot wrote: post #62
nostromo95 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To quote a better man than me: >The assumption that puns are per se contemptible, betrayed by the habit of describing every pun not as a pun , but as a bad pun or a feeble pun , is a sign at once of sheepish docility and desire to seem superior. Puns are good, bad, and indifferent, and only those who lack the wit to make them are unaware of the fact. [0] [0] Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 2nd Edition

Seems Fowler may be missing the point. Many derisive comments are in fact statements of relative approbation. As in: "that pun was not just bad (good), it was awful (great)" For every foul pun, there is another still Fowler.

Yeah, I agree in part. But many do call all puns bad (bad). The emergence of bad (good) probably followed this.

I also think that the bad-awful spectrum is missing a category: the sublime/artful pun. See Shakespeare:

>Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this Son of York

>Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#66

Post by wbillingsley »

jcoffland wrote: post #14

The 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…

> There is a tendency, especially among educated males of a certain age, to start to feel themselves quite clever.

This is clearly an emotive subject, and when reading this you should always remember to take a breath. Perhaps just before the words "quite clever".

Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#67

Post by yborg »

jpatokal wrote: post #53
samstave wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Examples please. I love puns.

Japanese humor consists almost entirely of puns. I still remember the first joke I understood on a comedy show on Japanese TV: Tired salaryman comes from after a long day at work, strips off clothes. His wife has prepared a hot bath, so he enters, pulls out a tub of kimchi (Jp. kimuchi ) and blissfully exhales aah, kimochi ii ("feels good"). Lots more here: https://everything2.com/title/Japanese+puns+that+are+not+fun…

I don't know if I would generalize based on the prevalence of any particular style of humor on popular TV. Or I might think that English humor consists almost entirely of absurdist satire.

Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#68

Post by echaozh »

jasonjei wrote: post #6
alphydan wrote: post #2

The 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 (…

The Chinese language great for puns not only because so many characters sound the same, with tons of idioms understood nationwide. Because the language is character based, abbreviations of words are made of full characters and may have their own meanings. As someone graduating from the department of computer science, the most classic joke is to shorten the name of the department into "whorehouse". (计算机学院 ji4 suan4 ji1 xue2 yuan4 => 计院 ji4 yuan4 ~ 妓院 ji4 yuan4)

Re: Why English is such a great language for puns

#70

Post by jim-jim-jim »

samstave wrote: post #49
japanforever wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I have a real groaner that I heard from a friend.

You have a carrot, and put it in a pot. You have a tomato, and put it in a pot. You have a potato, and put it in a pot. What's in the pot?

三つ野菜だ。"Three vegetables." It sounds like "Mitsuya Cider," a brand of soda.

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