Puns

The **pun**, also called **paronomasia**, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic, homographic, metonymic, or figurative language. A pun differs from a malapropism in that a malapropism is an incorrect variation on a correct expression, while a pun involves expressions with multiple (correct or fairly reasonable) interpretations. Puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, especially as their usage and meaning are usually specific to a particular language or its culture.[1]

Punswere popularized by infamous CNN 10/Student News commentator Carl Azuz. Before that time, laughter was rare, and smiles were few; there was an epidemic of people who used limericks, the lowest form of humor. Since Carl Azuz introduced his style of puns, humor has gone through a golden age. The humor of puns is invoked by several factors, and they are thus sorted into different types.

Carl Azuz's Puns are listed here.

### Homophonic

This pun invokes hilarity via mixing up two words that sound the same but are distinct, in such a manner that the phraseology of what has just been said makes sense in two different contexts.

### Homographic

A *homographic* pun exploits words which are spelled the same (homographs) but possess different

meanings and sounds. Because of their origin, they rely on sight more than hearing, contrary to homophonic puns. They are also known as *heteronymic puns*. Examples in which the punned words typically exist in two different parts of speech often rely on unusual sentence construction, as in the anecdote: "When asked to explain his large number of children, the pig answered simply: 'The wild oats of my sow gave us many piglets.'" An example that combines homophonic and homographic punning is Douglas Adams's line "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass." The phrase uses the homophonic qualities of *tune a* and *tuna*, as well as the homographic pun on *bass*, in which ambiguity is reached through the identical spellings of /beɪs/ (a string instrument), and /bæs/ (a kind of fish). Homographic puns do not necessarily need to follow grammatical rules and often do not make sense when interpreted outside the context of the pun.

### Homonymic

*Homonymic* puns, another common type, arise from the exploitation of words which are both homographs

and homophones. The statement "Being in politics is just like playing golf: you are trapped in one bad lie after another" puns on the two meanings of the word *lie* as "a deliberate untruth" and as "the position in which something rests". An adaptation of a joke repeated by Isaac Asimov gives us "Did you hear about the little moron who strained himself while running into the screen door?" playing on *strained* as "to give much effort" and "to filter". A homonymic pun may also be polysemic, in which the words must be homonymic and also possess related meanings, a condition that is often subjective. However, lexicographers define polysemes as listed under a single dictionary lemma (a unique numbered meaning) while homonyms are treated in separate lemmata.

### Compounded

A compound pun is a statement that contains two or more puns. In this case, the wordplay cannot go into effect by utilizing the separate words or phrases of the puns that make up the entire statement. For example, a complex statement by Richard Whately includes four puns: "Why can a man never starve in the Great Desert? Because he can eat the sand which is there. But what brought the sandwiches there? Why, Noah sent Ham, and his descendants mustered and bred." This pun uses *sand which is there/sandwiches there*, *Ham/ham*, *mustered/mustard*, and *bred/bread*. Similarly, the phrase "piano is not my forte" links two meanings of the words *forte* and *piano*, one for the dynamic markings in music and the second for the literal meaning of the sentence, as well as alluding to "pianoforte", the older name of the instrument. Compound puns may also combine two phrases that share a word. For example, "Where do mathematicians go on weekends? To a Möbius strip club!" puns on the terms *Möbius strip* and *strip club*.

In conclusion, puns are the greatest gift to mankind and we would not have them without Carl Azuz. Praise Carl Azuz, praise him and his puns.