Names and Categories of Puns
I can't help it: I love puns. I'm not particularly adept
with them, but the art of punnery is an artless art which is open to
all, so I practice daily and hope for the best. Those around me
suffer for it. It served me entirely right when one of my sons
cracked a terrible pun -- a painful, wince-inducing, tear-causing pun -- then looked
me straight in the eye and declared, "Mom, you weep what you sow."
In case you, too, are a punster, here are my working categories of puns:
- Gotta-be-done pun.
A pun so obvious it's impossible to walk away from. Told
with reluctant enthusiasm by pun martyrs who figure, "If it's got to
be, it's up to me."
- Fun pun. A
just-right pun that brings a laugh, not a groan. Piquant, woody
overtones, fresh fruit finish, no afterbite. Extremely rare.
- Bun pun. A well-bread pun that leavens the mood. Alternately: when body parts and picnics collide.
- Spun pun. Involves
a long laborious lead-in. Generally weighs in excess of four
tons. Makes a laughless splash then sinks immediately.
- Hun pun. Doesn't stop attila you give in.
- Run pun. Causes a flight reaction.
- Shun pun. Results in irrevocable ostracism from the community. Also known simply as a pun.
- Stun pun. A pun so awful that it leaves the recipient, and often the teller, catatonic.
- Nun pun. When puns become a habit.
Which leads us to this: What did one pun say to the other?
"Go away!"