For the enjoyment and edification of you, my logoleptic pun pals, I present my collection of placards and posters that have appeared around the world. Both literally and figuratively they are signs of our times, times in which we English users love to fiddle with words and to laugh at the loony tunes that such […]
Mothers are so proud of their children, even when they’re the mothers of monsters. One monster mother said to another one, “You have the ugliest baby I have ever seen!” The second monster mother replied, “Thank you very much!” With Mother’s Day coming up tomorrow, I share with you the motherly advice that monster […]
These days, the face and body of our great nation is scarred with an outbreak of measles. Parents are urged to have their children vaccinated for their own safety and the safety of others. For centuries, smallpox was a scourge of humanity, scarring and killing millions. Edward Jenner, a British doctor, noticed that milkmaids did […]
A few weeks ago, I presented a lineup of Tom Swifties, in which the adverb at the end of the sentence takes off punningly from the quotation, as in “I dropped my toothpaste,” said Tom crestfallen. I invited you to join in the fun. “Hot dog!” said Richard Lederer frankly and with relish. “You, my […]
Starting in 1910, American boys grew up devouring the adventures of Tom Swift, created by Edward J. Stratemeyer. More than 100 books in the series have been published, the latest in 2007. Based on real-life inventors Glenn Curtis, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, Tom was a sterling hero and natural scientific genius. Many of his […]
A set-up pun is a conspiracy of narrative and word play. In set-up punnery, the punster contrives an imaginary situation that leads up to a climax punningly, cunningly and stunningly based on a well-known expression or title. In a good set-up pun, we groan at the absurdity of the situation while admiring the ingenuity with […]
This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film classic “Young Frankenstein.” With Halloween shambling toward us, here’s a brief bio of that famous and infamous monster: Dr. Victor Frankenstein was the world’s first body builder. He created his monster because he liked to make new friends. For his ground-breaking work, he was awarded […]
Because language is naturally playful, we human beings love to make jokes about words. Here, in order of length, are a dozen of my favorite verbal tour de farces: • Bad spellers of the world, untie! • Every time you make a typo, the errorists win. • The only place where success comes before work […]
Old punsters never die — they just go to their reword. My recent column on “Old soldiers never die — they just fade away” inspired a number of punderful flights that take off from Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s immortal farewell. Here are some of the best, with the writers’ names in alphabetical order: Old Elvis […]
Mothers are so proud of their children, even when they’re the mothers of little monsters. One monster mother said to another one, “You have the ugliest baby I have ever seen!” The second monster mother replied, “Thank you very much!” To celebrate Mother’s Day, I share with you, alphabetically, the motherly advice that monster […]