The Pun

Joke: A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. “But why?” they asked, as they moved off. “Because,” he said “I can’t stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.”

Webster’s Dictionary defines the pun as; “A play on words which have the same sound but different meanings; an expression in which two different applications of a word present an odd or ludicrous idea; a kind of quibble or equivocation.”

In Britain in the 18th Century, it was common practice for people to converse replacing longer words with single syllable words. They coined the word ‘pundigrino’ to describe this play on words. It is thought that this is where we now get the word ‘pun’.

In terms of British humour, some would say there’s nothing better than a satisfyingly witty pun delivered with gusto. Often received with much eye-rolling and groaning, the pun is the height of bad taste ‘Dad jokes’.

We thought we’d demonstrate this with our chess joke. How punny!

Image Credit: zoetnet