Brush up your Shakespeare. Start quoting him now. Brush up your Shakespeare, And the women you will wow. – Cole Porter, “Kiss Me, Kate” Name a play written by Bartley Campbell. Of course you can’t, nor can just about anyone else alive today. Yet Campbell (1843-1888) was a popular American playwright whose giant ego […]
A good pun is like a good steak — a rare medium well done. In such a prey on words, rare, medium, and well done are double entendres, so that six meanings are packed into the space ordinarily occupied by just three. Punnery is largely the trick of compacting two or more ideas within […]
In America, we celebrate just about everything, so it may come as no surprise to you that today, March 4 (March Forth!), pun-up girls and pun gents observe National Pun Day. I’ve been a pun gent my whole life and truly believe that the pun is worth celebrating all year round. After all, the pun […]
Christmas is the time of year when people exchange hellos and good buys with each other and when mothers have to separate the men from the toys. Christmas is a joyous occasion illuminated by candles and graced by decorations, ornamented Christmas trees, poinsettias, traditional songs and carols, church services, family feasts, the exchange of […]
The Irish tell a story about a notorious drunkard and trickster named Jack. He couldn’t enter heaven because he was a miser, and he was unable to enter Hell because he had played practical jokes on the Devil. The Devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the darkness. Jack placed […]
Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday commemorating the defeat of the French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Today, Cinco de Mayo (“5th of May”) is among the largest and most energetic celebrations in the world. The recognition of Cinco de Mayo history quickly spread from Mexico to the […]
A month ago, I invited you, my punderful readers, to submit your best original preys on words. Within hours, a punami of more than 50 original puns poured in, and by the deadline for submission, I swam in a torrent of more than 200. From start to finish, every day was Punday. Such a response […]
Tomorrow kicks off National Library Week. According to a recent Gallup poll taken before the invasion of COVID-19, visiting the library remained the most common cultural activity Americans engage in, by far. The average annual 10.5 trips to the library U.S. adults reported taking in 2019 exceeds their participation in eight other common leisure […]
During these perilous and uncertain days when it can seem as if the sky is falling, I’m hoping that some pun fun may add a dollop of brightness to your life. I believe that humor makes us happy, and happiness gives us hope. Air hugs to all. Do you know why cell phones no […]
I call apostrophe catastrophes “prepostrophes.” These crimes against civilized punctuation include house signs that read The Smith’s when they should read The Smiths or The Smiths’. Other folks promiscuously throw in an apostrophe before an s at the end of a word that’s a plural, not possessive, as in (gasp!) apple’s. The violators spy […]