Pun with Words

"I brought some thyme in for the Pumpkin Party today," Robyn told me on the way out of the ladies' room yesterday. "Stop by and pick up a bunch."

Thyme in a Bottle

"It's the perfect 'thyme' for it," I quipped wittily.

Robyn rolled her eyes. "People have been doing that all day," she said.

I suppose it's a hazard of working with creative folks. On the other hand, I think punnery is pretty universal. Just look at Facebook. The place is crawling with double entendres and such.

By the way, I just learned something. Did you know there's such a thing as a single entendre? That's when the speaker doesn't even bother trying to be cute, he (or she) just says the bawdy thing outright, no cleverness there.

But I digress.

As one might expect, puns go way back. Like 7th Century BC way back. Sanskrit is rife with them. The Roman playwright Plautus employed them liberally. And we all know what a wacky punster Shakespeare was.

Not to digress again, but I do it so well -- Did you know that "nothing" was pronounced "no-ting," as in observing, and that Elizabethans used this word as slang for "vagina," which gives a whole new/old meaning to the title Much Ado About Nothing. (There's some fascinating stuff online on this topic. The Google will point the way if you want to check it out.)

The 1995 O. Henry Pun-Off World Champion, John Pollack, wrote a book called, The Pun Also Rises. I'm adding it to my reading list. I perused excepts, and I'm ready to book.

Before I descend into a pit of bad puns, I'm going to call it a day. Feel free to comment with your favorite pun. Everybody has at least one.

Beware, however, as malapropisms, while also amusing, are a donkey of another color. We'll talk about that at our next "Come to Jesus Party."

It's a discussion for another thyme.