Besides the English and French derivations, I feel that I am walking after getting things off my hands . This from Richard J. Schneider, editor of The Concord Saunterer . Penny Medrasco of New Bedford, Mass., says that after staring at this passage a while, she found the pun by underlining just three consecutive letters. We can't agri , Ray - you may be the first. He was a lucky fox that left his tail in the trap.
Puns are, appropriately, pungent.
Far from being merely clever, Thoreau's wordplay often provides the earthiness that anchors a more ethereal insight. Dry sand that has fallen in railroad cuts and slid on the snow beneath is condiment to my walk. The silvery needles of the pine straining the light. His strong appetite was actually the finicky taste of a sensory epicure. He has affinities with the American luminists and other such painters.