Thanks again to the good folks over at Arts & Letters Daily for linking to this delightful piece where an African immigrant opines on the surprising animosity America has towards puns. The essay is not only a worthy appreciation of punning, but a lucid work of style in its own right. (Local note: author Teju Cole makes heavy use of Nigerian poet and playwright Wole Soyinak, a Nobel laureate and apparently an inveterate punster. Soyinka has been associated with UNLV for several years. Strangely, though, there’s not a single reference to James Joyce.)
I don’t know that Americans hate puns, though. Drive through your town and look at the independent store names. For some reason, especially the beauty salons. In Las Vegas alone, some popular spots that pop into mind are: Curl Up and Dye, Clip Joint, and Scissor’s Palace. All locally appropriate, those. There’s also an “exotic” barber shop called…wait for it…A Little Off the Top.
And while we’re on the subject, let’s bring on a few more groans with my personal list of terrible puns:
- Mildly humorous country in Eastern Europe: Chuckleslovakia
- Inspires people to appreciate motor vehicles: automotivational
- Sensibly applied care for the spine: chiropractical
- Very impressive technical innovation: scienterrific
- If U2 and Shakespeare collaborated: “Now is the winter of our discotheque.”
- Nepalese monster with strong stomach muscles: Abdominal Snowman
- Excellent Spanish speaking man: Juanderful
- Excellent Spanish desert: flantastic
- Bones of professional academics: scholartons
- A leisurely-perambulating homeless artist from a swanky part of New York: A slo-mo boho hobo from Soho
- A Celtic person lamenting a dearth of fortunate females: “Alas! A lack o’ lucky lasses!”
- When I say something pretentious or tacky: Hustontatious
Gently Hew Stone 