I think part of what I like about puns is the reaction. I mean, what is life without a few moans and groans?

I would also say that in order to fully appreciate puns, you have to have a prior knowledge about the subject, or the context. A pun out of context is a bathtub in the middle of the ocean. Basically pointless, and hard to make sense of.

So there are two things that you need to have in order for puns to be funny: knowledge, and a fun reaction.

Now we come to the interesting part: no matter what, puns are fun to make and deliver. That does not necessarily mean that they are funny. The process of coming up with clever wordplay and then eliciting a reaction from someone (whether a good one or a bad one) is fun. But that does not mean it is funny. In fact, the reactions are probably more funny than the pun itself, mostly because reactions can almost always be understood, while wordplay is harder to grasp.

I for one enjoy making puns. I enjoy annoying the crap out of my family and friends with incessant wordplay. But just because I enjoy doing it, just because it is fun, doesn’t mean it is also funny.

However, reading puns brings me as much enjoyment as creating them. Often have I laughed as I scroll through pages of puns. Most get a smirk, or a grunt, but some get me giggling. Some puns are funny. Sometimes it’s a matter of delivery. Sometimes it’s about the subject matter. I think puns have the potential to be not just fun but funny... if they’re done right.

P.S. When people ask me what pronouns I use, I’m going to say Proseritto. That is gold. :)

I love puns! I love the simplicity of the the word play. I especially love puns when they are paired with visuals. For example, I love you from my head to-ma-toes, with a picture of a cute tomato! Now, do I think they are the funniest thing ever? Honestly, no. I think the reaction it elicits from others is the funny part. When told a pun, people usually react with a sigh and a slight giggle which is the funny part. But puns in and of themselves are not very funny.

A knee named Kael walked into the party carrying a case of beer and three bags of Doritos. The host of the party, whose name was Ray, greeted his friend.

"Hey Kael, we were just having a debate! Do you think puns are hillarious, or do you think they're tired?"

"Puns are absolutely hysterical, I highly recommend them!" Kael replied enthusiastically.

"Well, I trust your judgement Kael." Ray said approvingly. "After all, you sure are a fun knee!"

what makes something funny?

laughing and feeling something SHOULD be funny are two different things. one is an emotional reaction, one is a more cerebral, cognitive one.

now, to make things easy, i shall state that “funny” is ONLY for the emotional reaction (actual laughter).

what makes things funny, in my opinion is some clear lack of apprehention of reality.

it could be another person having an observable failure in that regard, or a passing thought that is markedly insane.

a guy slipping on a banana, gets a laugh, from almost every one and every age group. the poor fellow fails to be aware of banana peels and their dangers. additionally, his goofiness, might also be funny because he is not aware or is brazenly disregarding social norms.

great, that takes care of all of slapstick.

jokes May be funny if some element of the joke shows such a lack of awareness. i used to be a big fan of black humor. all kinds of dead kids’ jokes, dead starving people hilarity.

now, i will definitely not enjoy an actual even of death, violance at all. but having such an extremely evil thought is clearly insane and as such it is funny . (i realize that some will not agree, and since i had a baby of my own, i have not enjoyed this kind of humor either.)

what is funny about some jokes is not the details of the joke, but the lack of awareness and sensitivity which you purposely created.

perhaps at some level, humor has a way to show us what NOT to think and steer us clear of psychosis.

delivery seems to be a big thing with funny. you are funny because you act out some sort of insanity.

insanity and absurdity go hand in hand. we laugh at the absurdity of an increasingly alianting, complex reality, which causes us anxiety as we understand less and less of it.

my favorite example of absurdity is the Monty Python skit about the spanish armada (i hope it could be found on youtube..) the court of queen Elizabeth I is dressed in period costumes, the herald walks in to warn of the threatnong spanish fleet . only ALL of the cast are visibly sitting on Suzuki motorpads. of course we expect another historical drams, but this one is apprently directed by a japanese director, and so , Suzukis for everyone!! . (i believe both Suzukis and Kurasawa’s films were becoming widespread at the time).

irony and satire may be funny in extreme situations, but it is rare to find it causeing you to laugh outright.

the situation, delivery and the occurance are crucial to determin weather something is funny or merely amusing/humerous. sometimes a comedic situation will best be served by seeming to be failing at being funny, causing us to laugh at the orchestrated failure.

laughter in many people can be provoked by unintelligent means. slapstick will never be a great demonstration of the intelect. neither do sitcoms and canned laughter. indeed, many things that are funny are idiotic or even cruel.

which brings us to puns.

puns are complex arrangments of words that form a meaning that is contrary to what is expected at first.

thus ’see you on the flip-side will mockingly turn to ’flip you on the seaside.

there is a use of homophones to cleverly convey a contrary message.

in many languages, puns and other plays on words have been a common and even dominant forms of humor.

spoonerisms, a close causin of puns, the unintentional mixing up of syllables to produce a confused orgarbled message, are also very common. ‘are puns funny?’ will inadvertantly come out as ‘are funs punny?’ this is often used to convey an absent-minded, nervous, or even drunken mental condition.

And now for the argument at hand:

while puns may be very humorous, and witty, i have to say that they do not cause me to laugh. i know they may seem funny, i know they should be funny, but they are just amusing at best.

they do not cause an emotional reaction on par with other funny products.

it could be my own fault, maybe I’m too jaded, but a witty pun will not get me rolling, while my baby stealing my wallet would (Though not while i’m running after her..).

‘funny’ and ‘amusing’ are connected at some cognitive level. but while the funny occurance will provoke an explosive emotional reaction, amusing will not. i posit that puns are too cognitively complex to get an immidiate reaction, and because of that, other cognitive mechanisms will restrain a fullblown reaction.

Perhaps, if puns were delivered as part of a joke, or a comedy bit, and the comedian will exploit the fact that they are not funny, as an example of the aforementioned orchastrated failure, then they will be funny as a contextual element. i can imagine John Cleese, or Andy Kaufman deliberately failing to be funny, and thus succeeding in being funny.but as a direct attempt to raise a laugh, puns a not funny.

Well yes, yes they are.

To me anyway.

I used to not think so.

Puns were just something to roll my eyes at.

Then I read about characters who would make puns.

My favorite being Sans

You know, that Comic?

His puns made me smile,

When nothing else would.

I started making puns afterwards.

I found it hilarious how my sisters would groan

while I laughed at the giggle inducing pun.

The funniness of puns depends on the person.

Whats funny to me

May not be funny to you.

And while some may laugh,

That may also just be at someone else's reaction to a pun.

Puns are Punny

But not necessarily funny.

To everyone at least.