stimac@tymix.UUCP (Michael Stimac) (02/21/86)
Since some discussion has begun on the subject of puns, and why (or why not) they are funny, I'd like to throw in my two cents for consideration by an audience that enjoys/understands/cares about language more than the general public does. My theory as to why some people intensely dislike puns is based on my own personal experience. Puns are, typically, simply not amusing. With few exceptions, a pun is simply another instance of a very tired "joke": different words (phrases) may have the same or similar sounds. In a very real sense, once you have heard one pun you have heard them all. Yes, English has homophones, I've noted that fact. And another instance has been found? So? Some people are acutely sound-conscious, and notice instantly sound-correlations among words. These occurrences are so obvious, and so common, that they are simply not noteworthy. To have them drawn to attention as though they were novelties, and then be expected to laugh at them is little more than tiresome. I hasten to add that I do like some puns, especially those which cleverly manage to conjoin three or more words in one, or in which all of the possible words actually make good sense. Now that I have managed to offend half the readers of net.nlang, I hope to hear why some of the punsters think their creations are funny. Donning my asbestos helmet, Michael Stimac