Pun

A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. A pun can rely on the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words (homonymy), of different shades of meaning of one word (polysemy), or of a literal meaning with a metaphor.

Usage

Humor is the most common intent of puns in recent times.

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While generally eschewed in more formal settings, puns of greater or lesser subtlety are employed to good effect by many popular artists and writers. For example, names based on puns (such as calling Justin Thyme a character who is always almost late) can be found in Piers Anthony's Xanth novels, The Eyre Affair, Asterix, The Simpsons, the Carmen Sandiego computer games, and just about everything Spider Robinson has ever written, especially the Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series.

Related Topics:
Piers Anthony - Xanth - The Eyre Affair - Asterix - The Simpsons - Carmen Sandiego - Computer game - Spider Robinson - Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

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In music, puns often find their way into hip hop/rap music.

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In addition to works of popular culture, puns are also found in "serious" literature. See Alexander Pope, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, and others discussed under word play. In the past, the serious pun was an important and standard rhetorical or poetic device, as in Shakespeare's Richard III:

Related Topics:
Alexander Pope - James Joyce - Vladimir Nabokov - Word play - Shakespeare - Richard III

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"made glorious summer by this son of York"

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(pun on homophony of "son" and "sun")

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John Donne is another who used serious puns in his work. For instance, he puns repeatedly on his own name (which is pronounced "Dun") in his poem "A Hymn to God the Father". Twice after imploring God to forgive certain kinds of sins and weaknesses, he ends a stanza by saying

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::When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,

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:::For I have more.

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Donne is clearly saying, "God, when you have forgiven me this much, you are not done (finished)/you do not have John Donne (safe yet), for I have more sins to confess." (Some think the last line is a pun on the name of Donne's wife, Ann More. This does not fit Donne's meaning, however.)

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In the third stanza, having received assurance, counteracting his fears,

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:that at my death Thy Son

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::Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore

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(another Son/sun pun), he ends the poem

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::And having done that, Thou hast done;

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:::I fear no more.

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A biblical pun of serious intent is found in Matthew 16.18:

Related Topics:
Biblical - ''Matthew''

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"Thou art Peter , and upon this rock I will build my church."

Related Topics:
Greek

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(pun on the double meaning of petros/Petros: in the first part of the sentence the word appears to stand for a personal name, but in the second, petra ("rock") makes the listener reëvaluate the first petros as its second meaning, "stone").

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Often enough, puns are created without the knowledge of the speaker. For example, a television show once depicted a man who had been impaled by an anchor. When interviewed, the surgeon who performed the operation used the common phrase, "He sailed through it" (meaning that the operation was easy), which is a pun given that an anchor is used during literal sailing. If such spontaneous punnery is noticed, it is often followed by the apologetic phrase: "no pun intended".

Related Topics:
Television show - Anchor

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European heraldry contains the technique of canting arms, which can be considered punning. Visual puns, in which the image is at odds with the inscription, are also common in Dutch gable stones as well as in cartoons such as Lost Consonants or The Far Side.

Related Topics:
Heraldry - Canting arms - Gable stone - Cartoon - The Far Side

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Official puns are rare, but there are a few:

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• K-9, pronounced "canine", for war dogs or police dogs follows the military pattern of designations, such as G-2.
• "Curb your dog", the command on former New York City street signs that combined a requirement to leash a dog with a requirement that dogs be taken to the gutter for defecation. (The signs were replaced after laws were passed.)
• The US 4th Infantry Division patch has four ivy leaves on it, from the Roman numeral for 4, IV. (This may be an example of canting arms; see above.)
• Although the amphibious military truck called a DUKW may appear to have a punning name, in fact the designation follows standard military vehicle designations from the World War II period.

Numerous pun formats exist:

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• Tom Swifty
• Spoonerism
• Knock-knock joke
• Shaggy dog story
• Daffynition
• Transpositional pun
• Bilingual pun