Monday, May 16, 2011

Summer Reading

NPR had a review of this book. The author was the 1995 O.Henry World Pun-Off champion. I didn't even know there was a championship for puns. He went on to write speeches for Bill Clinton. Political speech writing and punning probably do go together but the political speech writing demeans punning.

In the review, there was a description of the championships. I have been known to make a pun or two or three. But I am not witty enough to begin to even think about competing with these people. Intelligence does not equal wit. You have to have just the right addition of humor; I should think a "warped" sense is best here; to be a good punster. I also think you need a vast knowledge of trivia and the ability to put the minute into a quick phrase. I can come up with great puns, a lot of them long after the situation has passed where they would be really funny.

In college, we called it "verbal volleyball" and we often spent hours in the newspaper room trading puns. Some of the best times online with my World of Warcraft guild are when most everyone can take a comment and pun off it. We have, in our guild forum, 25 pages, that's right, pages, of quips, quotes and comments, 90% of them puns, that have been captured for everyone's amusement. The guild, as you know, is named "Spectacular Death".
Actually, the "O" stood for "Onyxia" which was the name of the dragon we were going to fight, but given the name of the guild, this was the perfect pun.

I have nothing punny to add to this post. I will need to add this book to my long list of "To Be Reads". I'm thinking it's the perfect thing for a lazy Sunday afternoon spent sitting on the deck.

Beverage:  Coke

Deb

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