To learn more about the wonderful world of puns, we reached out to an expert on the topic, John C. Lewis of Punsteria, a site dedicated to sharing the world's best puns. John was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda, sharing that he's always had a love for word play.
"[Puns are] part of the internal jokes and culture we grew up with," he shared. "I always use them while having fun with friends and family, especially when it comes to writing congratulation letters, and similar. They are always a perfect choice to add in a bit of fun and originality!"
We also asked the pun expert if he could share some of his favorites with us. "'This coffee is so good, it's bean on my mind all day!' [And] 'I don't trust these stairs because they're always up to something.' These are the ones I like to say in everyday situations, all puns are dear to me," John added with a smile.
He even says he unintentionally creates puns all the time. "It comes as a random inspiration during talk and daily life - the more you use them, the better you get at it. It becomes almost muscle memory," John explained.
"People underestimate the power of humor - even if it's just a corny pun," John added. "It makes you look at life from a more positive side, and makes the world a better place for everyone around you. I have never met a humorous person that's bad, have you?"
If you're looking for even more brilliant puns, be sure to visit Punsteria!
While puns often illicit eyerolls and groans from audiences, there are plenty of people out there who can appreciate the beauty of them as well. And if you’re one of those o-pun minded people, you’re going to love the Wholly Pun Bible. This Instagram account has been around since May 2017 and has shared an impressive 5,000 posts.
And clearly, the page is doing a great job, as it has also amassed a whopping 1.7 million followers. From memes to screenshots of brilliant interactions on social media to photos of puns spotted in real life, this page is a wonderful place for anyone who enjoys word play. Plus, it can help anyone out there who needs to have a joke on hand that they can whip out whenever someone asks!
We all know that dads are the masters of puns, so Fatherly, knowing their niche, shared an article discussing what makes puns so irresistible. Apparently one of the reasons some of us love them is because they are linked with “mental and mating aptitude,” one 2011 study found.
“For most of Western history, puns were a sign of high intellect,” John Pollack, author of The Pun Also Rises, told The Atlantic. “They were a tool, and they remain a tool, to pack more meaning into fewer words.”
Puns are also an interesting form of humor because they utilize both the left and right sides of our brains, research suggests. The left side is the linguistic hemisphere, while the right side works to “reveal the surprise double-meaning” of a pun, Fatherly explains.
But apparently, you don’t actually need to have a human brain to create puns. In 2011, scientists from the University of Washington created a program that learned how to add “that’s what she said” to sentences with a 72% success rate. Meaning that, the vast majority of the time, this computer understood when to use Michael Scott’s favorite line.
And according to Charlie Hopper at McSweeney’s, even if you hate puns, there’s an explanation for that too. “A pun sidetracks you. It’s your friend who won’t let you get anything done,” Hopper explains. “It doesn’t know how to further the conversation. It can’t help you figure out anything important. A pun doesn’t bond people together by revealing a shared understanding of life. A pun says nothing about human experience or emotion, at least not on purpose.”
But for those of us who do enjoy a good pun, Shakespearean lecturer Dr. David McInnis says they can often feel like sharing an inside joke. “There's a sense of shared cleverness and intelligence that you get the joke,” McInnis told Pursuit. “Some people understand it and some don’t, so there’s that element of sharing something that’s a bit of a secret in some ways.”
Dr. McInnis does acknowledge, however, that many puns are not very enjoyable to hear. “A lot of puns are really terrible,” he told Pursuit. “It’s a bit like the jokes you get in Christmas crackers that are notoriously bad, and part of that is a communal bonding thing, you know. You hear a really bad joke, everyone collectively groans … it’s a bonding exercise.”
