For example in Romeo and Juliet, when Mercutio is bleedin

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AMBIGUITY PUNSsee also Jokes and Language
Play

• by Don L. F. Nilsen
• and Alleen Pace Nilsen

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Visual Ambiguity Personification
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Pun or Metaphor?
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Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland

• The mouse says, I have a long and sad tale.
• Alice responds that she can see that the mouses
  tail is long, but asks, why do you call it sad?
• This is ambiguous in speech, but not in writing.

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A NO. 1

• Two graduates of Iona College in New Rochelle,
  New York, started a pizza shop that they named A
  No. 1. This was Iona spelled packwards.
• The college sued on the grounds of a misuse of
  the Iona identity.
• The judge sided with the graduates, saying, At
  best, the similarities that do exist can be
  interpreted as a satirical play on familiar
  symbolism.

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THE AMBIGUITY PARADOX

• Everything is ambiguous, as long as it is taken
  by itself, while nothing is strictly ambiguous if
  we look at it top-down, placing it in its proper,
  cognitive environment.
• (Mey 86, Sperber and Wilson 205)

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AMBIGUITY

• Flying planes can be dangerous.
• The missionaries are ready to eat.
• Jacob Mey says, In real life, there is no such
  thing as ambiguityexcepting certain, rather
  special occasions, on which one tries to deceive
  ones partner, or keep the door open.
• (Mey 12)

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DEFINITION OF PUN

• The English meaning of pun, which comes from the
  Italian word puntiglio meaning fine point, is
  the humorous use of a word in such a way as to
  suggest two or more of its meanings or the
  meaning of another word similar in sound.

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WHAT SAMUEL JOHNSON SAID ABOUT PUNS

• People that make puns are like wanton boys that
  put coppers on the railroad tracks.
• They amuse themselves and the other children, but
  their little trick may upset a freight train of
  conversation for the sake of a battered
  witticism.

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• In spite of this criticism, Johnsons poetry
  contains many puns, just as Shakespeares does.
• The best puns are those that fit so well into a
  conversation that they increase the level of
  understanding for those who catch on without
  interrupting the conversations flow for those
  who miss the point.
• For example in Romeo and Juliet, when Mercutio is
  bleeding to death he says, Ask for me tomorrow
  and you shall find me a grave man.
• It was at this point that Romeo and Juliet
  changed from a comedy into a tragedy, because now
  the mercurial and comic Mercutio was dead.

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MARKETING TIME MAGAZINE

• Time flies (1924)
• Time marches on! (1932)
• Time to get the facts (1932)
• Time its brief (1938)
• Its Time (1944)
• Time---to get it straight (1951)
• A man hardly ever has Time all for himself (1954)
• This is the time to start reading Time (1960)
• Make time for Time (1989)
• Understanding comes with Time (1994)

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JOHNNY CARSON AS KARNAK THE MAGNIFICENT

• On his Tonight Show routine as Karnak the
  Magnificent, Johnny Carson was given the answers
  to which he would provide the questions, which
  often relied on puns.
• The answer is Catch-22
• The question is, What would the Los Angeles
  Dodgers do if they were hit 100 pop flies?

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BOAT NAMES

• Nauti By Nature
• Ahoy-Vey
• Pier Pressure
• Berth Control
• Harvey Wharfbanger

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PUBLIC CUTESPEAK

• Mustards Last Stand (a hot dog restaurant)
• The Wizard of Ooze (a septic tank cleaner)
• Currier and Chives (a catering service)
• Wreck-Amended (an auto body shop)
• Curl Up and Dye (a beauty shop)
• Author Dennis Baron likens such names as these to
  overripe camembert. He calls them public
  cutespeak and conjectures that enjoying these
  names has to be an acquired taste.

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PUNS THAT WORK

• The Ford V-8 was a car with a V-shaped block and
  8 cylinders. V8 Vegetable juice reappropriated
  the term.
• Arbys (from R.B. the initials of Roast Beef)

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CULTURAL AMBIGUITY

• In 1960, when Jack Paar told a mildly risque
  story about a WC, the network censored him,
  causing him to walk off his show for a week.
• The story was about a Swiss schoolmaster who
  misunderstood a British womans request for
  information about the W.C.
• The school master thought the woman was asking
  about the Wayside Chapel, but was instead
  asking about the Water Closet (British for
  toilet).

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• The schoolmaster wrote, The W.C. is situated
  nine miles from the house. It is capable of
  holding 229 people and is open on Sunday and
  Thursday only. I would suggest that you come
  early, although there is plenty of standing room
  as a rule. A good number of people bring their
  lunch and make a day of it. It may interest you
  to know that my daughter was married in the W.C.,
  and it was there that she met her husband. I can
  remember the rush there was for seats. There
  were 10 people to a seat usually occupied by
  one.

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LEXICAL AMBIGUITY

• On a Garbage Truck Our business is picking up.
• Ad for Cheese Cheese can make you a hero this
  weekend.
• On a Drapery Shop After 35 years, weve finally
  got the hang of it.
• Optometrists Sign Theres more to a vision
  examination than meets the eye.
• Ad for Aspirin We go to a lot of pains.

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SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITY

• A man goes into a restaurant draggng a 10-foot
  alligator. He manages to get the alligator
  stuffed under a table.
• When the waitress approaches, he asks her if they
  serve senior citizens here. Of course, she
  says.
• Good, he answers. Give my alligator a senior
  citizen, and Ill have a cheeseburger.

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MORE SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITY

• Stan Kenton wrote a song entitled, Celery Stalks
  at midnight.
• Charles Ulrich wrote a riddle Q Do you know
  what good clean fun is? A No. What good is it?
• In the Frank and Ernest comic strip, Frank says
  to a real estate agent, Sure, wed like to see a
  model home. What time does she get off work?

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• In Bud Blakes Tiger comic strip, a little boy
  reports, Im gonna be in the school play. When
  his mother asks, What part? he responds, All
  of me.

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FROM LINGUISTICS TEXTBOOKS

• The governor is a dirty street fighter.
• Did you ever see a horse fly?
• I cannot recommend him too highly.
• Could this be the invisible mans hair tonic?
• He gave her dog biscuits.
• Its the worlds largest war surplus store.
• Cynthia left directions for her Dad to follow.

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NORMAN STAGEBERGS EXAMPLES

• Dance Hall Sign Clean and decent dancing every
  night except Monday.
• Law School Questionnaire How many faculty
  members do you have, broken down by sex?
• Conference Speech I have discussed the high
  cost of living with several women.
• Diner Sign Wanted Man to scrub floor and two
  waitresses.

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JOHN CROSBIE THE PUNDIT

• In 1979, John Crosbie, a Canadian writer and
  publisher, founded the International Save the Pun
  Foundation, which publishes a monthly newsletter,
  The Pundit, and produces a list of the Ten Best
  Stressed Puns of the Year.
• After Crosbies death in 1994, Norman Gilbert, a
  financial planner in Toronto became Chairman of
  the Bored.
• More than 1,500 members from around the world
  belong to the organization, which also gives a
  POTY award to the Punster of the Year.
• The year that author and collector Richard
  Lederer won, he said as part of his acceptance
  speech at the annual April First dinner in
  Chicago, A good pun is like a good Steak---a
  rare medium well done.

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Avocado Pig
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Carrot, Grape Fruit Cauliflower Ice Cream
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Cauliflower Olive Sheep
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Eggplant Penguins
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Green Pepper Frogs
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Kale Fish
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Lettuce Duck
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Rutabaga Mushroom Teeter Totter
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Yam Hamster
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WEBSITES ON PUNS

• BAD PUNS
• http//www.badpuns.com
• JOKES BASED ON PUNS
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v6tDRBb0apDg
• PUN OF THE DAY
• http//www.punoftheday.com/
• PUNPUNPUN.COM
• http//www.punpunpun.com/