Pun is a common rhetorical device in English. This figure of speech skillfully uses homophonic words, polysemy or ambiguity of words, so that the same sentence can express different meanings at the same time, resulting in a vivid, humorous or sarcastic rhetorical effect, which makes people laugh when reading. The formation of puns in English usually requires two basic conditions. That is, double context and polysemous words or homonyms. There are four main ways to form them:
1) Homonym pun (homophonic pun)
refers to the clever use of homophones or homophones of two or more words in a context to achieve ironic or humorous effects.
EG1. Seven days without water horse. Kes one weak.
Seven days without water, People will be weak.
weak and week are homonyms. Therefore, this sentence sounds like: seven days without water makes one week.
EG2. You earn your living and you urn your dead.
I worked hard and ran for my life before my death. Burn to the ground after death.
earn and urn are homonyms, so they are playful and interesting when used together.
2) A pun with the same meaning (polysemy pun)
It refers to the clever use of two meanings of a word in the same context to achieve humorous effect and make it unique in reading.
EG1.a: What.
what is the longest sentence in the world?
B: Prison for life. life imprisonment.
sentence means both "sentence" and "sentence".
eg2. women have a wonderful sense of right and wrong, But little sense of right and left.
Women feel amazing about good and evil, but insensitive to the left and right.
This sentence uses the same word as a pun to satirize women's poor sense of direction, and they don't know whether to drive left or right.
eg3.We must all hang together, Or we shall all hang se-parately. We must unite as one, or we will be hanged one by one.
This sentence uses polysemous puns, which profoundly and humorously explains the truth that we will perish without unity. The phrasal verb hang together is interpreted as "unity". However, hang can also be interpreted as "hanging" and "hanging". Therefore, this sentence can also be misunderstood as "We must hang together, or we will be hanged one by one."
3) Semantic ambiguity Pun
refers to the use of polysemy to create subtle ambiguity in the context, thus achieving humorous effects.
EG1. Customer: waiter, will the.
do you still have to wait long for pancakes?
Waiter: No, sir. Round. No, sir, it's round.
The long used by customers refers to the long time, but the waiter misinterprets it as "long", which gives rise to interest.
EG2. Customer: Have you got any chicken's legs?
do you have chicken legs?
Waiter: No, sir, I always walk this way!
no, sir, I always walk like this!
This conversation shows the misunderstanding between the customer and the waiter. The customer wants to eat chicken legs and asks the waiter if he has this dish. The waiter misunderstood that the customer laughed at the way he walked with chicken legs, so he retorted, "I always walk like this!"
eg3.A: Can you see a female? Can you meet a lady?
B: Of course, I can see a female as easily as a male. Do you suppose I'm blind?
Sure (visible). I think it's as easy to see a lady as a man. Do you think I'm blind?
see in the first sentence means "meet, meet", but B interprets it as "have the ability of seeing".
4) Extended pun
refers to the clever use of certain language phenomena (word formation, pronunciation, etc.), which leads to an association, improvisation and appropriate extension, thus achieving a certain humorous effect. What is the worst fish? B: Selfish. Selfish.
The word Selfish happens to contain a fish in it. The author skillfully uses this language phenomenon, answering irrelevant questions and hitting it right, but it is profound, thought-provoking, funny and meaningful.
EG2.a: which is the longest word in English?
which is the longest word in English?
b: Smiles, because there is a "mile" between the first letter "s" and the last letter "s".
is smiles, because from the first letter s to the last letter s, There is a mile between them.
Respondents split smiles into s-mile-s, which is very interesting.
Now, let's give some interesting English puns:
What is the worst weather for mice?
When it rains cats and dogs.
Which can run faster , heat or cold ?
Heat. Because everyone can catch cold.
Why is the bride always unlucky on her wedding ?
Because she can never marry the best man.
Then, look at the following interesting questions and answers:
1. —Why is a river rich?
—Because it has two banks.
Reminding banks has two meanings: one means "bank" and the other means "river bank".
2.—Why does a man's hair become grey before his moustaches?
—Because a man's moustaches come up after his hair.
The reminder sentence means: Because people grow their hair first and then their beards.
3.—Why is a ship one of the most politic things on earth?
—Because it always advances with a bow.
Reminding a bow has two meanings: one means "bow" and the other means "bow".
4.—Why is your nose in the middle of your face?
—Because it is a scenter.
The reminding verb scent means "sniff", and its derivative noun scenter means "something to sniff", and scenter just sounds the same as center
5.—Why should fish be well educated?
—Because they are so often found in schools.
Reminding the school has two meanings: one refers to "school" and the other refers to "fish school".
6.—Why is the letter a like a flower?
—Because the B is after it.
Reminder letter B is pronounced the same as bee.
7.—Why does the letter t look like an island?
—Because it is in the middle of "water".
The letter meaning of the reminder sentence is: Because the letter T is in the middle of the word water, since it is in the middle of "water", it certainly looks like an island.
8.—Do you know why birds fly to the south in the winter?
—Because it's too far to walk there.
Remind that it's too far to walk, but of course you have to fly.
9.—Why is a room full of married couples empty?
—Because there is not a single man in the room.
Reminding there is not a single man has two meanings: one means "no single unmarried man" and the other means "no one".
1.—Why did the student take a ladder to school?
—Because he/she was going to high school!
Reminder: According to traditional thinking, people usually associate ladder with high.
11.—Why did the man throw the butter out of the window?
—He wanted to see the butterfly.
Reminding butterfly means "butterfly", but if butterfly is separated, it becomes butterfly and fly.
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The following are some puns listed by Professor He Yuqi that are helpful for understanding western culture. I basically don't understand it. It seems that I have to study hard. Everyday.
1. The Roundest Knight at King Arthur's Round Table Was Sir Cumference ... He Acquired His Size from Too Much Pi.
2. I Thought I Saw an Eye. doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in Fra nce would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
1. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism i