Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with puns

I choo-choo-choose you.

phunniemee — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:34:58 -0800

Looking for cutesy little puns of the kids' valentine variety. I would like to make a series of love notes for my guy in the style of those lame valentine's cards we all got as kids. I plan to draw a little picture to go with each note, so short and simple is best.

Obvious ones:
"I choo-choo-choose you" (thanks, Ralph Wiggum!) with a picture of a train.
"Bee mine" with, you know, a bee.
"You're my sweetie" with a candy or something.

I would love to hear some suggestions that are more creative, clever, and have better puns. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Pun-ishment?

Navelgazer — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:23:40 -0800

An odd question about puns as a form of torturous humor. So, being an obsessive fan of dissecting humor until the patient is dead, I've been working for a while on a theory about puns. Puns, as far as I can tell, are not intrinsically funny to any but a select few. Most others seem to view them not only as bad jokes, which would be one thing, but on some degree actually painful. As someone who appreciates well-crafted wordplay (though one who has rarely, if ever, laughed at it) I can now recognize my reaction to be less " hey, clever!" and more, "ouch, damn, well played, god sir," as if the pun had struck me with an epee despite all of my best defenses.

In further support of this, I've noticed that the only times I've ever LAUGHED at puns were in the prescence of one or more people I've known who seem particularly averse to them - otherwise normal, capable members of society for whom puns don't just make them groan, but bring them to the point of near-fitful anger. In these cases, of course, use of puns increases exponentially, because everyone present knows that they're just being used to piss off the victim, which adds the element that actually makes them laugh-worthy.

So my question(s), I guess:

1. Am I crazy? Do others simply view puns as bad jokes, and not have this other painful reaction to them?

2. How common is this "uncommon" angry reaction?

3. What the hell would cause wordplay to differentiate itself from other bad jokes as far as the reaction one could expect?

Witty puns from across the globe!

milqman — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:11:23 -0800

Do puns exist in other languages? I have recently had some contact with a guy from Germany and a girl from France. In our discussions regarding the difference between the two cultures, I realized that understanding puns in a second language would be a very difficult thing.

To test the guess I mentioned a few, and they did not take. So I tried explaining as best as I could (I know neither German nor French) the concept of a pun, and asked if they had any in their own language. Of course the easiest way to make someone forget all the jokes they have ever heard is to ask them to tell a joke, so I do not believe that they just don't exist, but I really want examples.

English examples:
-There was a strip club in the airport, it was called "the landing strip". It works on 3 levels, think about it.

-I typically read my newspapers on the toilet, my favorite is the "daily log". Again, 3 levels.

So I am looking for examples that are entirely in another language that use the same "punny" techniques. Is there a name for this play on words in other languages? If there is a name for this in other languages (specifically french) that would be great. Additionally, if you could provide any and all examples of this in other languages, that would be excellent.

It's a way homer. You only get it on the way home.

MsMolly — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:14:47 -0800

Suggest good Halloween costumes that illustrate a funny play on words! To give you an example of the kind of things I'm looking for:

Hold up signs that say "Go Satan!" and you're a Devil's Advocate

Wear a cardboard "table" around your waist and a lampshade on your head and you're One Nightstand

I like costumes that make me chuckle once I get it, so what are some other good ideas? For special bonus points, I have a lot of fake flowers and gauzy curtains with leaves on them that I could wear kind of toga-style. What could I do with these other than "Earth Angel" or "Flower Child"?

Debate party ideas?

Lizc — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:00:16 -0800

Need help/ideas on politically inspired appetizers for the upcoming 2008 Presidential Debates. Like the previous two threads (which were great!) - I'm looking for themed easy appetizers/finger foods for the Obama/Mccain & Biden/Palin debates. No special dietary requirements either, just tasty and funny.

Thanks!

Should I explain my puns to this publisher?

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:06:02 -0800

Should I explain my puns to this publisher? So I showed my manuscript to this publisher, who liked it enough to ask me out to lunch to talk about it. He said it could do with some editing and gave me back the manuscript with notes in the margins.

I finished reading his notes about an hour ago. Some of the suggested edits will kill some elaborate puns and references.

Now should I tell him about these puns?
If I don't, and insist on scrapping his edits, I'll probably have to settle for a little less money.
If I do, I will probably keep the money promised, but 'puzzles' will be 'out'.

As in: something that would've pleased the reader more if they had figured it out for themselves will now leak from the publishers office, to the editors, to the interns, to some random girl on the street, end up on the blurb etc.

What do I do?

A Communist (Birthday) Party

theRussian — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:31:54 -0800

Ideas for a Communist Party, Go! Hi all,

So I've decided to have a Communist Party for my upcoming birthday, due to the abundance of punny food/drink items that are possible.

I've seen this comment, and those are definitely going to be made. So, hive mind, I need more punny food/drink/activity ideas! A lot of my guests will be vegan, though don't let that stop you from suggesting something, I can likely vegan-ize it.

So far, friends and I have come up with the following ideas:
Proleteriyaki Tofu&Pineapple bites
Tea-nanmen Sandwiches
Hum-Mao-s
KGBean dip
Gulag-amole (this might be slightly offensive)

I don't know any appetizers with Lentils, but there's opportunity there...or perhaps, Lenin (Lemon) Bars. Also, anyone know any good appetizers to be made with Manifesto Pesto?

Drinks ideas include
Mao-hitos
Molotov cocktails
Scotch on the Marx, or something with Makers Marx
And then all of the "real" drinks, like White/Black Russians, Moscow Mules, etc.

Certainly not expecting to make all of these, I just want to get as many ideas as possible so that I can create foods/drinks that go together. Any other decoration/activity suggestions welcome, too! Thanks.

clever ideas for a secret buddy

martinX's bellbottoms — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:07:31 -0800

I'm looking for some clever ideas for treats for my ultimate frisbee "secret buddy." They need to be small (not much larger than a big candy bar) and inexpensive (~$5). I don't really know this person that well, but I would like to be more thoughtful than just slipping her a candy bar with a note saying "good luck!". I think puns are more than called for in this situation, especially if they relate to ultimate or geology.

Super Tuesday party ideas?

joshuaconner — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:19:10 -0800

We're having a Super Tuesday party at our house, and we're looking for funny politically-related finger food ideas (half-moon cookies anyone?) as well as some good party names (like Super Booze-day). People of all political stripes will of course be welcome, but we're all Obama supporters, FWIW.

orange you going to answer my question?

Mael Oui — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 22:18:02 -0800

Iguana ask you a question. Werewolf I be without your help?! Note the above two examples (the former I've seen as 'Iguana Wish You A Merry Christmas,' and the latter has been 'Werewolf I be without you?'). Another one I can think of is the answer from that knock knock joke, 'Orange you glad I didn't say banana?' I have two questions: 1) Is there a name for this usage (besides corny)? Also, is there a list anywhere of phrases like the ones I've listed above? I've Googled, but I don't know WHAT to Google, so I'm coming up with pages that have each of these phrases, but none that define it or collect other examples, which is what I'm hoping to find. I hope I've described this well enough!

Where do I find funny websites to help me come up with "creative" entries to competitions?

mjao — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 17:29:16 -0800

I need a good collection of bookmarks to help me enter competitions! What are some good repositories for jokes, wordplay, and the like? When I was a kid I used to enter competitions a lot, and not a week would go by where I wouldn't get a package in the mail filled with books and toys. I want to see if my luck is still functioning! I'm not going to turn into a professional "comper" or anything, but I'd love to have a few good websites on hand for inspiration when I am faced with those awful "In 25 words or less..." questions. I have always heard that the funny/corny ones stand out the most.

Apart from actual joke-websites, other sources of inspiration could include things like pop-culture blogs where the writer manages to always slip in a "cute", (if asinine), turn-of-phrase. I know I've seen some of these before.

Punny dog names

hindmost — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 14:14:45 -0800

Giacomo Poochini, Rover Cleveland, Rutherford B. Bays, Billie Howliday... I need more punny dog names, with particular interest in the more esoteric/nerdy/historical names. So Mary Louise Barker good, Droolius Caesar better, and Dwight D. Eisenhowler best.

Automated pun helper? I want a program or website that can help me with puns, aphorisms, etc for making jokey headlines

gottabefunky — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:28:11 -0800

Is there some sort of program or website that can help create short, punny titles for articles like you find in magazines and some newspapers? Say I have a piece on hazardous waste - I'd love to be able to plug that in somewhere and get a list of common aphorisms, signs, buzzwords, etc. that include those words and variations thereof ("haste makes waste," "a mind is a terrible thing to waste," "dukes of hazard," "biohazard", etc). It would be like a list of sayings combined with a thesaurus and a rhyme matcher, but more...