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The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics
A former word pun champion's funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay's remarkable impact on history. The pun is commonly dismissed as the lowest form of wit, and punsters are often unpopular for their obsessive wordplay. But such attitudes are relatively recent developments. In The Pun Also Rises , John Pollack-a former World Pun Champion and presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton-explains why such wordplay is It both revolutionized language and played a pivotal role in making the modern world possible. Skillfully weaving together stories and evidence from history, brain science, pop culture, literature, anthropology, and humor, The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth. At once entertaining and educational, this engaging book answers fundamental Just what is a pun, and why do people make them? How did punning impact the development of human language, and how did that drive creativity and progress? And why, after centuries of decline, does the pun still matter? Watch a Video
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 366 reviews
May 26, 2022
Review originally published April 2013
PUN AND GAMES IN THE LIBRARY!
While sitting by the fire on a drizzly afternoon, I took a break from thinking my deep important thoughts to read The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics by John Pollack. Besides the magnificent title and subtitle itself, three factors made me want to read this book:
1. Pollack readily acknowledges that some people dismiss puns as the lowest form of humor. (I generally fall into this category.)
2. I do appreciate a good pun (not the garden variety with which some people liberally sprinkle all their talk; you know who you are!).
3. Puns are here to stay, so I might as well learn about their history and place in culture.
Although it contains examples of some of the best puns throughout the ages, this is not a “joke book.” It is an attempt to explain how punning revolutionized language. It even explains how the brain processes puns.
Webster defines a pun as:
But, the anatomy of a pun goes far beyond this simplistic “play on words.” Here are just a few of the many types Pollack uses to illustrate:
Homophonic puns (based on homophones, or words that sound alike but have different meanings): “The excitement at the circus is in tents.”
Puns based on listener interpretation: “An architect in prison complained that the walls were not built to scale.”
The "spoonerism," in which a speaker transposes words or parts of words to create a phrase that still makes sense, but in an odd or funny way. A classic is by William Claude Dukenfield, aka W.C. Fields: “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”
The "Wellerism," which forces the listener to reconsider the meaning of a simple phrase: “'I see,' said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.”
"Tom Swifties," which make clever use of adverbs: “'Next time, I should probably use a chair to fend off Leo,' the lion tamer sighed off-handedly.”
Punsters include authors, scientists, philosophers, musicians, and artists from ancient times to modern. Mr. Pollack, having spent years researching puns, evolution, neuroscience, wordplay and the history of language, will help you understand why, even though they are often greeted with groans, puns are such a vital part of everyday life.
I am not aware of any formally organized pro or anti-pun lobbying groups, but puns do seem to invite disagreement about their legitimacy in the world of humor. I suggest that before you either become a "punslinger" yourself or try to outlaw puns, you read this book. You may re-cock your position on pun control. You may decide to embrace the pun until they take it from your cold, dead hands. (Obviously, I'm also influenced by another, also very good library book I’m currently reading, Living with Guns: a Liberal’s case for the Second Amendment, by Craig R. Whitney).
Now you can go back to thinking your own deep, important thoughts!
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
PUN AND GAMES IN THE LIBRARY!
While sitting by the fire on a drizzly afternoon, I took a break from thinking my deep important thoughts to read The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics by John Pollack. Besides the magnificent title and subtitle itself, three factors made me want to read this book:
1. Pollack readily acknowledges that some people dismiss puns as the lowest form of humor. (I generally fall into this category.)
2. I do appreciate a good pun (not the garden variety with which some people liberally sprinkle all their talk; you know who you are!).
3. Puns are here to stay, so I might as well learn about their history and place in culture.
Although it contains examples of some of the best puns throughout the ages, this is not a “joke book.” It is an attempt to explain how punning revolutionized language. It even explains how the brain processes puns.
Webster defines a pun as:
"The humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest different meanings or applications of words having the same or nearly the same sound but different meanings."
But, the anatomy of a pun goes far beyond this simplistic “play on words.” Here are just a few of the many types Pollack uses to illustrate:
Homophonic puns (based on homophones, or words that sound alike but have different meanings): “The excitement at the circus is in tents.”
Puns based on listener interpretation: “An architect in prison complained that the walls were not built to scale.”
The "spoonerism," in which a speaker transposes words or parts of words to create a phrase that still makes sense, but in an odd or funny way. A classic is by William Claude Dukenfield, aka W.C. Fields: “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”
The "Wellerism," which forces the listener to reconsider the meaning of a simple phrase: “'I see,' said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.”
"Tom Swifties," which make clever use of adverbs: “'Next time, I should probably use a chair to fend off Leo,' the lion tamer sighed off-handedly.”
Punsters include authors, scientists, philosophers, musicians, and artists from ancient times to modern. Mr. Pollack, having spent years researching puns, evolution, neuroscience, wordplay and the history of language, will help you understand why, even though they are often greeted with groans, puns are such a vital part of everyday life.
I am not aware of any formally organized pro or anti-pun lobbying groups, but puns do seem to invite disagreement about their legitimacy in the world of humor. I suggest that before you either become a "punslinger" yourself or try to outlaw puns, you read this book. You may re-cock your position on pun control. You may decide to embrace the pun until they take it from your cold, dead hands. (Obviously, I'm also influenced by another, also very good library book I’m currently reading, Living with Guns: a Liberal’s case for the Second Amendment, by Craig R. Whitney).
Now you can go back to thinking your own deep, important thoughts!
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
February 5, 2017
What can I say? This is vindication for punsters everywhere.
Bird Brian's review was what got me interested in this, and since it's hard to top, I won't even try. The book had some engaging anecdotes, lots of historical facts and quotations, and even some lessons in brain physiology. And of course lots of wordplay.
All for pun, and pun for all!
Bird Brian's review was what got me interested in this, and since it's hard to top, I won't even try. The book had some engaging anecdotes, lots of historical facts and quotations, and even some lessons in brain physiology. And of course lots of wordplay.
All for pun, and pun for all!
September 12, 2012
Lots of stuff going on here. There were historical anecdotes about punning through the ages, and its varying cultural import; some pop science tidbits about how the brain processes language generally and puns specifically; a few miscellaneous personal stories (the best is the one about the pun competition at the beginning); and a ton of shameless, unapologetic, wholly gratuitous, thoroughly amazing puns. (My favorite, from a passage about the alphabet: "Yes, the Romans would later modify the Greek system [...] But conceptually, these refinements were the equivalent of hitting linguistic singles, and nothing compared to the Greeks' original homer.")
Actually, that passage contained the book's most interesting assertion: that puns were partially responsible for the development of written language. To get there, we have to allow for a pretty broad definition of "pun"; Pollack includes other kinds of wordplay like portmanteaux and spoonerisms, and eventually veers into discussing Duchamp's Fountain, the FedEx logo, and emoticons (!). Essentially he uses puns as a stand-in for ambiguity, and then claims that helped bridge the gap between representational systems like hieroglyphics and cuneiform to alphabetic systems like Greek. To which I said: sure!
The book did occasionally come off bit defensive -- Shakespeare used puns! advertising uses puns! puns are important! etc. -- which is understandable given their current reputation as a low form of humor. (I see the same thing in writing about video games all the time.) The apologetics were probably unnecessary though; you have to figure that the kinds of people who would even pick up a book called The Pun Also Rises are a self-selecting audience.
Actually, that passage contained the book's most interesting assertion: that puns were partially responsible for the development of written language. To get there, we have to allow for a pretty broad definition of "pun"; Pollack includes other kinds of wordplay like portmanteaux and spoonerisms, and eventually veers into discussing Duchamp's Fountain, the FedEx logo, and emoticons (!). Essentially he uses puns as a stand-in for ambiguity, and then claims that helped bridge the gap between representational systems like hieroglyphics and cuneiform to alphabetic systems like Greek. To which I said: sure!
The book did occasionally come off bit defensive -- Shakespeare used puns! advertising uses puns! puns are important! etc. -- which is understandable given their current reputation as a low form of humor. (I see the same thing in writing about video games all the time.) The apologetics were probably unnecessary though; you have to figure that the kinds of people who would even pick up a book called The Pun Also Rises are a self-selecting audience.
September 7, 2025
I’m mad about this book
June 22, 2019
John Pollack prefaces his exploration of puns with his experience at the world pun championship. This was the most intense part of his book, The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More than Some Antics. The rest of the book ranged from snoozy to informative and mildly entertaining.
The book is just riddled with puns! It cries out for groans of appreciation. Over and over. You must appreciate puns to get the most out of Pollack’s writing. He slides puns into every paragraph, whether he’s talking about brain chemistry or England in the Middle Ages.
He name checks Shakespeare, of course. But he also tells stories of history’s unknown punsters, focusing especially on times the pun was ascendant. Every variation in the punning world is explained, from visual to homophonic and homographic. Pollack leaves no stone unturned.
My conclusions
I’m both a reader and a writer. I like learning about language, although the book wasn’t on the top of my list by any stretch. Another member of my postal book club suggested it. And after learning everything about lexicography in last year’s selection, we all thought this would be an interesting addition to our knowledge base.
Despite a few flaws, I liked this book. Pollack is wordy, since he pushes puns into every topic. The Pun Also Rises suffers from the dreaded mid-book slump. Although it’s only 150 pages long, the middle third was slow and plodding.
And I’m not sure I buy Pollack’s theory that puns drove the course of human history. Just because they have survived doesn’t mean they made history happen. That’s like saying insects are the reason humans accomplish anything. Insects survive cataclysm but they don’t execute the rebuilding. Neither do puns.
But, puns make life more enjoyable. The wink, wink, nudge, nudge of language used effectively is a beautiful thing. If you love the English language, or want to learn more about this aspect of it, grab a copy of Pollack’s book and dive in.
For more reviews of the books I'm reading visit my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
The book is just riddled with puns! It cries out for groans of appreciation. Over and over. You must appreciate puns to get the most out of Pollack’s writing. He slides puns into every paragraph, whether he’s talking about brain chemistry or England in the Middle Ages.
He name checks Shakespeare, of course. But he also tells stories of history’s unknown punsters, focusing especially on times the pun was ascendant. Every variation in the punning world is explained, from visual to homophonic and homographic. Pollack leaves no stone unturned.
My conclusions
I’m both a reader and a writer. I like learning about language, although the book wasn’t on the top of my list by any stretch. Another member of my postal book club suggested it. And after learning everything about lexicography in last year’s selection, we all thought this would be an interesting addition to our knowledge base.
Despite a few flaws, I liked this book. Pollack is wordy, since he pushes puns into every topic. The Pun Also Rises suffers from the dreaded mid-book slump. Although it’s only 150 pages long, the middle third was slow and plodding.
And I’m not sure I buy Pollack’s theory that puns drove the course of human history. Just because they have survived doesn’t mean they made history happen. That’s like saying insects are the reason humans accomplish anything. Insects survive cataclysm but they don’t execute the rebuilding. Neither do puns.
But, puns make life more enjoyable. The wink, wink, nudge, nudge of language used effectively is a beautiful thing. If you love the English language, or want to learn more about this aspect of it, grab a copy of Pollack’s book and dive in.
For more reviews of the books I'm reading visit my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
July 22, 2019
This book was punderwhelming.
December 30, 2020
The Pun Also Rises is a perfect celebration of all that I love about the humble pun: it's creativity, it's spontaneity, it's cleverness. Pollack is a likeminded pundit who commentates on the science and history of this particular form of wordplay.
As I've always suspected, the development of a pun is no mean feat: it requires a mad dash of thought processes made in a relatively short run of time. Even the silliest, most forced pun is born of a reflexive and reflective approach to meaning. My favourite facts from this book are the linguistic names for everyday puns such as homophonic (involving two words that sound the same - e.g. 'I haven't herd back about that cattle job.'), homographic (involving two different definitions of the same word - e.g. 'the autopsy remains to be seen.') and paradigmatic (requiring an understanding of information not featured in the pun - e.g. see the Kermit Jagger joke ending with its riff on the Knick Knack Paddy Whack song).
Of course it's not all cognitive linguistics, Pollack also explores the thought-provoking history of puns, charting their history from the Epic of Gilgamesh through to the Norman Invasion, before spilling the beans about the intellectual coffee houses that sprang up during the reign of Charles II. What I would have given to sit in the Wits' Coffee House, listening to the likes of Samuel Pepys and Jonathan Swift trading quickfire quips. Pollack then Stuarts in the decline of the pun and names some of those who are responsible. If you aren't a fan of puns, it's fair to say the Age of Enlightenment is partially responsible for taking such a dim view.
Then again Pollack calls out some theories as to why people groan at puns. Groaning could be perceived as an absurd form of recognition of the wordplay or even appreciation, albeit in the ear of the beholder. Of course some puns are just overused and disruptive to general conversation.
Regardless of how you feel about the pun, this book is a fantastic lesson in how semantic wit has changed over the years and what we have learned from it. It did not always make me burst out with laughter but it certainly lit a fire under my sense of humour. I recommend The Pun Also Rises to those who like to bend the rules and turn a phrase.
As I've always suspected, the development of a pun is no mean feat: it requires a mad dash of thought processes made in a relatively short run of time. Even the silliest, most forced pun is born of a reflexive and reflective approach to meaning. My favourite facts from this book are the linguistic names for everyday puns such as homophonic (involving two words that sound the same - e.g. 'I haven't herd back about that cattle job.'), homographic (involving two different definitions of the same word - e.g. 'the autopsy remains to be seen.') and paradigmatic (requiring an understanding of information not featured in the pun - e.g. see the Kermit Jagger joke ending with its riff on the Knick Knack Paddy Whack song).
Of course it's not all cognitive linguistics, Pollack also explores the thought-provoking history of puns, charting their history from the Epic of Gilgamesh through to the Norman Invasion, before spilling the beans about the intellectual coffee houses that sprang up during the reign of Charles II. What I would have given to sit in the Wits' Coffee House, listening to the likes of Samuel Pepys and Jonathan Swift trading quickfire quips. Pollack then Stuarts in the decline of the pun and names some of those who are responsible. If you aren't a fan of puns, it's fair to say the Age of Enlightenment is partially responsible for taking such a dim view.
Then again Pollack calls out some theories as to why people groan at puns. Groaning could be perceived as an absurd form of recognition of the wordplay or even appreciation, albeit in the ear of the beholder. Of course some puns are just overused and disruptive to general conversation.
Regardless of how you feel about the pun, this book is a fantastic lesson in how semantic wit has changed over the years and what we have learned from it. It did not always make me burst out with laughter but it certainly lit a fire under my sense of humour. I recommend The Pun Also Rises to those who like to bend the rules and turn a phrase.
September 16, 2020
A wonderful summery of the history, evolution and importance of the pun. This non-fiction read has enlightened me in many ways and has made quite a few excellent points about the crucial factor that puns play in our everyday lives.
May 13, 2011
Please excuse the puns below.
"The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics" by John Pollack is a non-fiction book, in which the author tells his-story of puns. Even though this book is short in pages, it is long in content.
John Pollack loves words and one could tell from the book. He is a former World Pun Champion and speech writer for President Bill Clinton. In the book Mr. Pollack explains the significance of the mighty pun. The author shows the reader how the pun revolutionized the language weaving stories, history, science, culture and literature.
“The Pun Also Rises” by John Pollack is a serious book about a silly subject. Mr. Pollack goes into detail telling us how he won the 1995 O. Henry Pun-Off World Championship, yet neglects to pun-tificate or write at least one Al-a-Gore-y about his experience as Bill Clinton’s speech writer.
After a short history of jokes and a neurological lesson explaining how the mind works, for most of us at least, Mr. Pollack devotes the rest of the book to the history and significance of punning. The book is mostly interesting and is a short read, so I booked it in a day. Mr. Pollack recounts how and why puns went in and out of fashion and tries to explain people’s reaction to puns (groans, etc.).
It could be that trying to make a point, Mr. Pollack fell into the trap of thinking too much (a dangerous pastime). I love puns, I roar at “South Park” while my beloved wife just shakes her head in disbelief, but I certainly don’t think too much about why I laugh. Mr. Pollack brings us about a twelve, or most likely a dozen, definitions of what pun actually is. While we think of puns as simple (“What building has the most stories? The library”) some of them are quite complex and require our brains to go through hundreds of variations before we find the joke (Why was May 4th picked to be the "International Star Wars day"?).
Besides the famous comedians Mr. Pollack writes Abbott, the author also explores famous literary figures in a Swift manner. He evaluates Shakespeare’s jokes which, even though old, might still get a laugh around the Globe.
This is an entertaining book, Mr. Pollack shows much enthusiasm for the subject and peppers his pages with puns which will make you laugh, or cringe, or most likely both. If you like language or little known facts, this book for you told with pun-etrating humor.
All in all – this book is simply a play on words.
OK, I’m done!
For more book reviews and bookish posts please visit http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
"The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics" by John Pollack is a non-fiction book, in which the author tells his-story of puns. Even though this book is short in pages, it is long in content.
John Pollack loves words and one could tell from the book. He is a former World Pun Champion and speech writer for President Bill Clinton. In the book Mr. Pollack explains the significance of the mighty pun. The author shows the reader how the pun revolutionized the language weaving stories, history, science, culture and literature.
“The Pun Also Rises” by John Pollack is a serious book about a silly subject. Mr. Pollack goes into detail telling us how he won the 1995 O. Henry Pun-Off World Championship, yet neglects to pun-tificate or write at least one Al-a-Gore-y about his experience as Bill Clinton’s speech writer.
After a short history of jokes and a neurological lesson explaining how the mind works, for most of us at least, Mr. Pollack devotes the rest of the book to the history and significance of punning. The book is mostly interesting and is a short read, so I booked it in a day. Mr. Pollack recounts how and why puns went in and out of fashion and tries to explain people’s reaction to puns (groans, etc.).
It could be that trying to make a point, Mr. Pollack fell into the trap of thinking too much (a dangerous pastime). I love puns, I roar at “South Park” while my beloved wife just shakes her head in disbelief, but I certainly don’t think too much about why I laugh. Mr. Pollack brings us about a twelve, or most likely a dozen, definitions of what pun actually is. While we think of puns as simple (“What building has the most stories? The library”) some of them are quite complex and require our brains to go through hundreds of variations before we find the joke (Why was May 4th picked to be the "International Star Wars day"?).
Besides the famous comedians Mr. Pollack writes Abbott, the author also explores famous literary figures in a Swift manner. He evaluates Shakespeare’s jokes which, even though old, might still get a laugh around the Globe.
This is an entertaining book, Mr. Pollack shows much enthusiasm for the subject and peppers his pages with puns which will make you laugh, or cringe, or most likely both. If you like language or little known facts, this book for you told with pun-etrating humor.
All in all – this book is simply a play on words.
OK, I’m done!
For more book reviews and bookish posts please visit http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
February 1, 2012
Puntiful. Punlicious. Punderful. Puntastic. Punetrating. All describe this punny book. Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near as punny as John Pollack. Considering his belief that punning is a sign of intelligence, I suppose that he would doubt mine. However, as clever as puns can be, not everyone has punability. Pollack says Noam Chomsky doesn't pun and whatever you may blame Chomsky for, stupidity isn't one of his flaws.
Pollack puns his way through this surprisingly scholarly examination of the sociolinguistic, anthropological, historical, and anatomical facets of punning. He has done his homework, but he failed to have it corrected. Oh, this is, for the most part accurate and it's always readable. I learned a lot from it, especially on how puns are political weapons in repressive societies. Damn! Why didn't I take another year of Mandarin?
So, out comes the metaphorical red pencil. My inner professor demands to be let out even though I laud this book. It's irrepressible. Sorry, but here are the corrections.
First, Pollack doesn't distinguish between puns, blends, and compounding, although they all involve different linguistic processes. Then, too, compounds and blends are major ways of creating new words in a language. Puns aren't.
Second, he blithely cites dates for the evolution of language. However, no scholarly field is in more disarray than that of language evolution. It's all guesstimates at this point.
Third, Pollack credits punning with being the impetus for the invention of the alphabet. Yes, punning and breaking words up into component parts use some of the same linguistic skills. That in no way means that one caused the other. In fact, since puns involve whole words and alphabets involve breaking words down to the meaningless components of words, it's highly unlikely puns had anything to do with the alphabet. Also, alphabets have been devised for few languages. Punning exists in every language we know
Pollack puns his way through this surprisingly scholarly examination of the sociolinguistic, anthropological, historical, and anatomical facets of punning. He has done his homework, but he failed to have it corrected. Oh, this is, for the most part accurate and it's always readable. I learned a lot from it, especially on how puns are political weapons in repressive societies. Damn! Why didn't I take another year of Mandarin?
So, out comes the metaphorical red pencil. My inner professor demands to be let out even though I laud this book. It's irrepressible. Sorry, but here are the corrections.
First, Pollack doesn't distinguish between puns, blends, and compounding, although they all involve different linguistic processes. Then, too, compounds and blends are major ways of creating new words in a language. Puns aren't.
Second, he blithely cites dates for the evolution of language. However, no scholarly field is in more disarray than that of language evolution. It's all guesstimates at this point.
Third, Pollack credits punning with being the impetus for the invention of the alphabet. Yes, punning and breaking words up into component parts use some of the same linguistic skills. That in no way means that one caused the other. In fact, since puns involve whole words and alphabets involve breaking words down to the meaningless components of words, it's highly unlikely puns had anything to do with the alphabet. Also, alphabets have been devised for few languages. Punning exists in every language we know
June 18, 2011
I was very disappointed. What little history Pollack could scape together was mostly used to set up unimpressive puns. The writing was mostly dull and the author seemed much more impressed with himself than I was. The best part was his account of the national punning competition at the beginning of the book. An entire volume dedicated to that event would have been a much better read.
January 8, 2013
I’m going to start this review with some self-indulgence, which is really par for the course when it comes to my style of reviewing. I’m just a tiny bit drunk, and I could swear I've already written a review for this book. But I can’t find that review anywhere. I have a phrase in my head, that I feel I must have written already, something about how John Pollack peppers The Pun Also Rises with puns, which is to be expected. But I can’t for the life of me find on any of my several hard drives and cloud drives and others depositories for expository writing any such file. So, I apologize if this winds up being redundant.
I also apologize for discussing other than the book at hand in this review. The truth is, there’s not much to the book itself. Which is not a castigation on my part. More of a revelation, or whatever the appropriate word is for when someone shows you what you already knew was there: what can really said about puns, at book length? Their history and development over the course of the evolution of language itself warrants not much more than a Wikipedia entry. Puns are, simultaneously, too vague and too specific a subject to say much about, other than to denote their usage. As analyses go, The Pun Also Rises does its best, but can’t help to wander around.
A more philosophical or even argumentative treatment might a larger tome make, but Pollack ’s book is not that. He does start off with an engaging anecdote, and frankly, I would have liked to see more of that kind of thing. A biography of a man’s life in punning would have been worthy of several hundred pages. Instead, we get a kind of history of social attitudes towards puns, some of the rationale behind their usage, a tiny bit of the linguistics involved. But not much else.
And yet, for all that, the book was engaging. I started it when I was on a visit to a friend, came upon the paperback edition, and decided to finish via the ebook. Pollack doesn't bog the reader down with too much, and treats the subject for what it’s worth: quasi-lightly. It’s a quick read, and a good read, and not a waste of time in the least.
As I write this, I have to say, I’m becoming less and less convinced that I wrote anything about this before now, afterall. Don’t know what that says about me, or about the pilsners I’ve just swallowed. But never mind all that. The dedicated Punshmith will find in Pollack's book a nice light history, and the language enthusiast, too, will find enough of a treatment to speak on the subject with a tiny bit of requisite authority.
As for me, an unabashed fan of puns and punning, I liked the book enough to get drunk and write about it. Enough said.
I also apologize for discussing other than the book at hand in this review. The truth is, there’s not much to the book itself. Which is not a castigation on my part. More of a revelation, or whatever the appropriate word is for when someone shows you what you already knew was there: what can really said about puns, at book length? Their history and development over the course of the evolution of language itself warrants not much more than a Wikipedia entry. Puns are, simultaneously, too vague and too specific a subject to say much about, other than to denote their usage. As analyses go, The Pun Also Rises does its best, but can’t help to wander around.
A more philosophical or even argumentative treatment might a larger tome make, but Pollack ’s book is not that. He does start off with an engaging anecdote, and frankly, I would have liked to see more of that kind of thing. A biography of a man’s life in punning would have been worthy of several hundred pages. Instead, we get a kind of history of social attitudes towards puns, some of the rationale behind their usage, a tiny bit of the linguistics involved. But not much else.
And yet, for all that, the book was engaging. I started it when I was on a visit to a friend, came upon the paperback edition, and decided to finish via the ebook. Pollack doesn't bog the reader down with too much, and treats the subject for what it’s worth: quasi-lightly. It’s a quick read, and a good read, and not a waste of time in the least.
As I write this, I have to say, I’m becoming less and less convinced that I wrote anything about this before now, afterall. Don’t know what that says about me, or about the pilsners I’ve just swallowed. But never mind all that. The dedicated Punshmith will find in Pollack's book a nice light history, and the language enthusiast, too, will find enough of a treatment to speak on the subject with a tiny bit of requisite authority.
As for me, an unabashed fan of puns and punning, I liked the book enough to get drunk and write about it. Enough said.
October 22, 2024
Μια φορά κι έναν καιρό, ένας τύπος, graphic designer, και μια τύπισσα, όχι graphic designer, μπαίνουν σε ένα μπαράκι. Ο τύπος κοιτάει τον κατάλογο με τα ποτά, το χαϊδεύει, το ξανακοιτάει έντονα. Πολύ έντονα, τέτοιο παθιασμένο βλέμμα δεν το έριξε στην τύπισσα όσο ήταν μαζί, λέμε. Η τύπισσα τον πετάει κάτι του στιλ "Έτσι όπως το κοιτάς, θα αρχίσει να τραγουδάει το Sans με κοιτάς, ηλιοβασίλεμα στα μάτια σου, φωτιά". Μικρή παύση, γέλια, ουφ, έσπασε ο πάγος του πρώτου ραντεβού.
Λοιπόν, το παραπάνω δεν το γράφω για να μιλήσουμε για ραντεβού. Αλλά για λογοπαίγνια, τα οποία, τα τελευταία χρόνια, αντεπιτίθενται. Όπως και η Αυτοκρατορία, στο V επεισόδιο του Star Wats. Και ποιος μιλάει για αυτά στο βιβλίο με τον ΠΟΛΥ μικρό τίτλο The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay Than Some Antics; Ο Τζον Πόλακ, speechwriter του Μπιλ Κλίντον ΚΑΙ πρώην world pun champion.
Και τι γράφει ρε συ; Πολλά και ωραία, και με τρόπο που είναι ΚΑΙ informative ΚΑΙ pure fun. Ξεδιπλώνει την ιστορία των λογοπαιγνίων, πώς εμφανίστηκαν, ποια η σημασία τους, γιατί πολλ@ δεν είναι φαν τους, τη σημασία τους, αλλά και πώς δουλεύει ο εγκέφαλος. Το πιο ενδιαφέρον σημείο του βιβλίου είναι αυτό που εξηγεί πώς τα λογοπαίγνια ήταν -σε έναν βαθμό- υπεύθυνα για την εξέλιξη του γραπτού λόγου. Ναι, τα λογοπαίγνια δεν είναι silly. Ε, κάποιος έπρεπε να το πει ρε παιδιά. Αν σ' αρέσουν και εσένα αυτά, ξέρεις, σηκώνεις χεράκι.
Και για να κλείσω όπως ξεκίνησα (με κρυάδα δηλαδή):
- Τι τρώνε για πρωινό πολλοί κωμικοί;
- Puncakes.
Mic drop, ΑΝΤΕ ΓΕΙΑ!
Λοιπόν, το παραπάνω δεν το γράφω για να μιλήσουμε για ραντεβού. Αλλά για λογοπαίγνια, τα οποία, τα τελευταία χρόνια, αντεπιτίθενται. Όπως και η Αυτοκρατορία, στο V επεισόδιο του Star Wats. Και ποιος μιλάει για αυτά στο βιβλίο με τον ΠΟΛΥ μικρό τίτλο The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay Than Some Antics; Ο Τζον Πόλακ, speechwriter του Μπιλ Κλίντον ΚΑΙ πρώην world pun champion.
Και τι γράφει ρε συ; Πολλά και ωραία, και με τρόπο που είναι ΚΑΙ informative ΚΑΙ pure fun. Ξεδιπλώνει την ιστορία των λογοπαιγνίων, πώς εμφανίστηκαν, ποια η σημασία τους, γιατί πολλ@ δεν είναι φαν τους, τη σημασία τους, αλλά και πώς δουλεύει ο εγκέφαλος. Το πιο ενδιαφέρον σημείο του βιβλίου είναι αυτό που εξηγεί πώς τα λογοπαίγνια ήταν -σε έναν βαθμό- υπεύθυνα για την εξέλιξη του γραπτού λόγου. Ναι, τα λογοπαίγνια δεν είναι silly. Ε, κάποιος έπρεπε να το πει ρε παιδιά. Αν σ' αρέσουν και εσένα αυτά, ξέρεις, σηκώνεις χεράκι.
Και για να κλείσω όπως ξεκίνησα (με κρυάδα δηλαδή):
- Τι τρώνε για πρωινό πολλοί κωμικοί;
- Puncakes.
Mic drop, ΑΝΤΕ ΓΕΙΑ!
September 10, 2021
I expected a light-hearted punny book, but John Pollack takes his puns quite seriously. He takes us to a ride through history from the humble punt-of-view of word play, its impact on the development of language, writing, and culture.
Punning was serious business from time immemorial. Ancient Babylonians punned to the death, and eighteenth century wit-seekers likewise duelled over dual meanings. Pardon my pun. Humor only came into it sometime during Shakespeare’s time, when puns were considered a sign of wit and a requirement for courtly conversation. A good pun is clever - it requires knowing of multiple meanings, and combining different, unusual contexts. This is no task for the dimwitted. Yet puns have aquired a bad reputation during the time of enlightenment. Pollack asserts that puns can be employed quite subversively, as they are the very expression of ambiguity, which goes against orderly thinking that requires precise meanings. But language and human thinking is never one-track: in fact, those who are able to think creatively, make unusual connections, are the ones driving human progress.
This was not what I expected, nevertheless I enjoyed it. While I would not go as far as saying that punning is the force that made us human (which Pollack slightly implies), I can get behind the idea that creative thinking and making new connections is what makes us adaptable.
Punning was serious business from time immemorial. Ancient Babylonians punned to the death, and eighteenth century wit-seekers likewise duelled over dual meanings. Pardon my pun. Humor only came into it sometime during Shakespeare’s time, when puns were considered a sign of wit and a requirement for courtly conversation. A good pun is clever - it requires knowing of multiple meanings, and combining different, unusual contexts. This is no task for the dimwitted. Yet puns have aquired a bad reputation during the time of enlightenment. Pollack asserts that puns can be employed quite subversively, as they are the very expression of ambiguity, which goes against orderly thinking that requires precise meanings. But language and human thinking is never one-track: in fact, those who are able to think creatively, make unusual connections, are the ones driving human progress.
This was not what I expected, nevertheless I enjoyed it. While I would not go as far as saying that punning is the force that made us human (which Pollack slightly implies), I can get behind the idea that creative thinking and making new connections is what makes us adaptable.
May 17, 2012
I was very excited to read this book when I ran across the title on a blog recently. It was fine, a nice little overview of how and why we may have come to pun. Neither obsessive and terribly thorough history nor simple humor writing, the book occupies for me a weird spot that falls short of rigorous scholarship (which would have been interesting) but goes beyond the simply light-hearted treatment. I sort of found myself wishing Pollack had picked one extreme or the other. It's a quick and pretty entertaining read. Sometimes he sneaks puns in that I wish he hadn't. Puns do belong in a book like this, and there were plenty that made me giggle -- some that I shared with my family -- but some he sprinkled in were too big a reach for the payoff. He could have let those go. (I will say that it's less annoying even at its worst than Lederer's pun book, which I read years ago.) I'm glad I read it but think my expectations may have been too high.
August 25, 2021
An enjoyable little book about the pun, far more for its chapters about language development biologically and cross culturally than most of the puns themselves.
May 8, 2021
The Pun Also Rises - How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More than Some Antics by John Pollack kicks off with a bang! Recalling his attendance at the eighteenth annual world pun championships, the author had me chuckling early on and it continued throughout the book.
Pollack explains many different types and styles of puns, why they're clever, why we find them funny and naturally how they've been decried by some circles throughout history. In basic terms, a pun is a phrase or word that contains layers or multiple meanings. Sometimes it can be a word that has multiple meanings, such as: "An architect in prison complained that the walls were not built to scale." Other times it can be a play on words or the sound of words, such as: "The excitement at the circus is in tents."
"So what's the alchemy at work here? How do the best puns manage to layer so much meaning, humor, even irony into just a few words? And why in the world is punning so intrinsic to human expression that it sparks such mischievous delight?" Page xxiv
There are many different types of puns and early on in the book Pollack also takes pains to say:
"And while linguists have defined the pun's principal forms, its many variations actually defy easy categorization." Page xxiv
Pollack outlines the many ways we can manipulate language for our own amusement and the entertainment and enjoyment of others. The author explains that puns fall into two principal categories, homophonic puns and homographic puns. Homophonic puns are those using words that sound alike (such as 'in tents' and 'intense') and homographic puns involve a word that is spelled the same but contains more than one meaning. There are also paradigmatic puns requiring the listener to grasp a greater context in order to get the joke, and syntagmatic puns where a sequence of similar or identical words are used. A great example of a syntagmatic pun is provided:
"The wedding was beautiful. The bride was in tears, and the cake was in tiers, too." Page 12
It was fun to visit spoonerisms in the book, which is when a person speaking transposes letters or words in a sentence that still manages to makes sense, but in a new and funny way. A well known example from the Oxford don after which spoonerisms are named, occurred when he met Queen Victoria and thanks to a slip of the tongue, said "a half-warmed fish" instead of "a half-formed wish". Whoops!
Pollack gives the reader two definitions of puns from a 1719 essay by Thomas Sheridan the first of which was an absolute highlight of the book. Sheridan described the physical definition of punning as the:
"art of harmonious jingling upon words, which, passing in at the ears, and falling upon the diaphragma, excites a titillary motion in those parts; and this, being conveyed by the animal spirits into the muscles of the face, raises the cockles of the heart." Page 81
Brilliant! I just love this description!
As soon as I started reading this book, I began to notice puns everywhere. I've noticed copious puns showing up in news headlines and articles and they're definitely a firm favourite of the TV host of Lego Masters.
John Pollack clearly loves puns and provides a detailed history in The Pun Also Rises. I'll admit much of the content was a little dry, however Pollack keeps whetting our appetite by weaving in clever little puns throughout the content. I chuckled at the 'harmonious jingling upon words' reading this, and finished the book with a newfound appreciation for this linguistic talent.
So, where do you sit when it comes to puns? Chuckleworthy or groan inducing?
Pollack explains many different types and styles of puns, why they're clever, why we find them funny and naturally how they've been decried by some circles throughout history. In basic terms, a pun is a phrase or word that contains layers or multiple meanings. Sometimes it can be a word that has multiple meanings, such as: "An architect in prison complained that the walls were not built to scale." Other times it can be a play on words or the sound of words, such as: "The excitement at the circus is in tents."
"So what's the alchemy at work here? How do the best puns manage to layer so much meaning, humor, even irony into just a few words? And why in the world is punning so intrinsic to human expression that it sparks such mischievous delight?" Page xxiv
There are many different types of puns and early on in the book Pollack also takes pains to say:
"And while linguists have defined the pun's principal forms, its many variations actually defy easy categorization." Page xxiv
Pollack outlines the many ways we can manipulate language for our own amusement and the entertainment and enjoyment of others. The author explains that puns fall into two principal categories, homophonic puns and homographic puns. Homophonic puns are those using words that sound alike (such as 'in tents' and 'intense') and homographic puns involve a word that is spelled the same but contains more than one meaning. There are also paradigmatic puns requiring the listener to grasp a greater context in order to get the joke, and syntagmatic puns where a sequence of similar or identical words are used. A great example of a syntagmatic pun is provided:
"The wedding was beautiful. The bride was in tears, and the cake was in tiers, too." Page 12
It was fun to visit spoonerisms in the book, which is when a person speaking transposes letters or words in a sentence that still manages to makes sense, but in a new and funny way. A well known example from the Oxford don after which spoonerisms are named, occurred when he met Queen Victoria and thanks to a slip of the tongue, said "a half-warmed fish" instead of "a half-formed wish". Whoops!
Pollack gives the reader two definitions of puns from a 1719 essay by Thomas Sheridan the first of which was an absolute highlight of the book. Sheridan described the physical definition of punning as the:
"art of harmonious jingling upon words, which, passing in at the ears, and falling upon the diaphragma, excites a titillary motion in those parts; and this, being conveyed by the animal spirits into the muscles of the face, raises the cockles of the heart." Page 81
Brilliant! I just love this description!
As soon as I started reading this book, I began to notice puns everywhere. I've noticed copious puns showing up in news headlines and articles and they're definitely a firm favourite of the TV host of Lego Masters.
John Pollack clearly loves puns and provides a detailed history in The Pun Also Rises. I'll admit much of the content was a little dry, however Pollack keeps whetting our appetite by weaving in clever little puns throughout the content. I chuckled at the 'harmonious jingling upon words' reading this, and finished the book with a newfound appreciation for this linguistic talent.
So, where do you sit when it comes to puns? Chuckleworthy or groan inducing?
February 9, 2024
I love puns, and this slender little volume provides a great history and defense of punning through the ages. The author, John Pollack, was the champion at the 1995 world pun-off (yes, there is such a thing!) and it shows. Not only does he provide a detailed (pun-by-pun) account of that victory, but the book itself is littered with puns that lighten some of the more tedious history of the form. At bottom, though, this book is primarily an argument against those who dislike and criticize puns as lowly or immature. As we learn, some of the greatest minds in history were inveterate punsters (e,g., Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Orwell), and this oft-maligned form reflects a degree of sophistication and ability to plumb the ambiguities inherent in all language. While some puns are undeniably bad (deserving of the traditional groan), Pollock persuasively argues that, "To argue against all puns indiscriminately makes about as much sense as arguing against eating any meals while traveling based on the fact that quality can be unpredictable." Puns reflect a particular type of creativity, the ability to synthesize multiple meanings in imaginative new ways, and they ultimately prevent us from taking ourselves too seriously. We could all use a bit more punning in our lives because wordplay is really just a special form of play. And all work and no play makes language a dull thing indeed.
March 28, 2024
Most people who love crossword puzzles also love puns. That’s certainly true of me! This book is a history of puns and why people love or hate them. It lost me a little at times, but that’s because the author is a primarily a punster. He probably needed some more editing help. It’s like what they say about fairy tales — they tend to dragon.
September 10, 2019
Given that I married into a family of punsters, this book was a must-read...
Certainly not a captivating page-turner, but it was interesting to learn about the history of the pun, and I picked up some new material along the way!
Certainly not a captivating page-turner, but it was interesting to learn about the history of the pun, and I picked up some new material along the way!
August 28, 2011
My father loved to pun, and he promoted such fun, zany good times punning together as a family. We were silly, true, but it was often smart humor, that made us think on our feet. Once my sister, father, and I tried to see how long we could keep a balloon up in the air, hitting it upward each time we made another pun. If you failed to make a pun when you hit the balloon, you were out. We kept it up for over an hour. The mental gynmastics it required to think like that are akin to speaking a foreign language while traveling about. It keeps you on your toes.
I loved that someone took the time to write an in-depth book on the art of the pun. Author John Pollack won the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships in the mid-nineties. He was a novice competitor then, and since has given a lot of thought to the history, nature and importance of punning. I can do no better than to repeat here some of what he said at the conclusion of his book.
"Koestler, in "Act of Creation", wrote that punning requires regression to "earlier, more primitive levels in the mental hierarchy, while other processes continue simultaneously on the rational surface." Tapping into these deeper, hidden mental resources while still operating one's conscious mental machinery is, Koestler argued, intrinsic to the creative process itself.
A great deal of creativity, whether in the arts, science or comedy, requires a subtle interplay between both conscious and unconscious mental processes. Often, these yield spontanious insights-sometimes in the shower, or just after waking up-that often seem to spring from nowhere. "The prerequisite of originality," Koestler wrote, "is the art of forgetting, at the proper moment, what we know."
"Human beings love uniting things that seem disparate... We love finding significance in what appears to be swirling data." "...Lederer believes that the increasing us of digital technology actually heightens people's inclination and ability to make connections, both logically and lexically. "I think we're in a renaissance for puns..."
"Research has suggested that the single most important predictor of intelligence, academic performance and later social success is how many words a baby hears on a regular basis, as long as those words are spoken by an engaged and present person, not broadcast over radio or TV. So if encryption theory-the idea that humor requires shared, unspoken information to "get" the joke-actually explains the evolutionary advantages of verbal humor, the most verbal among us might just end up getting in the last word for generations to come.
If such wordplay does offer an evolutionary advantage, a propensity for it might well be hardwired within us."
"Inevitably, some people will never like punning because it fogs up the lens of clarity through which they view the world and impose order, or at least the illusion of order. But if puns seem, at times, to confuse, they actually enlighten us through both laughter and insight. They keep us from taking ourselves too seriously, and sharpen our capacity for creative thinking. Ultimately, puns keep our minds alert, engaged and nimble in the quickening world, revealing new connections and fresh interpretations. And that's why, even as we hurtle into a future of uncertain opportunity, puns will always be more than some antics."
Pollack says he owes a special debt of gratitude to the New York Public Library, and especially to librarian Jay Barksdale.
I loved that someone took the time to write an in-depth book on the art of the pun. Author John Pollack won the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships in the mid-nineties. He was a novice competitor then, and since has given a lot of thought to the history, nature and importance of punning. I can do no better than to repeat here some of what he said at the conclusion of his book.
"Koestler, in "Act of Creation", wrote that punning requires regression to "earlier, more primitive levels in the mental hierarchy, while other processes continue simultaneously on the rational surface." Tapping into these deeper, hidden mental resources while still operating one's conscious mental machinery is, Koestler argued, intrinsic to the creative process itself.
A great deal of creativity, whether in the arts, science or comedy, requires a subtle interplay between both conscious and unconscious mental processes. Often, these yield spontanious insights-sometimes in the shower, or just after waking up-that often seem to spring from nowhere. "The prerequisite of originality," Koestler wrote, "is the art of forgetting, at the proper moment, what we know."
"Human beings love uniting things that seem disparate... We love finding significance in what appears to be swirling data." "...Lederer believes that the increasing us of digital technology actually heightens people's inclination and ability to make connections, both logically and lexically. "I think we're in a renaissance for puns..."
"Research has suggested that the single most important predictor of intelligence, academic performance and later social success is how many words a baby hears on a regular basis, as long as those words are spoken by an engaged and present person, not broadcast over radio or TV. So if encryption theory-the idea that humor requires shared, unspoken information to "get" the joke-actually explains the evolutionary advantages of verbal humor, the most verbal among us might just end up getting in the last word for generations to come.
If such wordplay does offer an evolutionary advantage, a propensity for it might well be hardwired within us."
"Inevitably, some people will never like punning because it fogs up the lens of clarity through which they view the world and impose order, or at least the illusion of order. But if puns seem, at times, to confuse, they actually enlighten us through both laughter and insight. They keep us from taking ourselves too seriously, and sharpen our capacity for creative thinking. Ultimately, puns keep our minds alert, engaged and nimble in the quickening world, revealing new connections and fresh interpretations. And that's why, even as we hurtle into a future of uncertain opportunity, puns will always be more than some antics."
Pollack says he owes a special debt of gratitude to the New York Public Library, and especially to librarian Jay Barksdale.
July 11, 2019
This is a nifty swifty: it's only 150 pages, a highly readable dissertation on the etymology, history, anthropology, and taxonomy of puns, itself replete with subt(it)le wordplay. The last 30 pages or so feel extraneous (they read like Pollack is padding for publication), but the whole is worth the weekend it will take you to consume. A representative sample from pages 109-110:
So much for "some antics." For moron puns, see my review of Away with Words.
So just when exactly do people groan at puns, and what does it mean? ...[T]hat response can spring from several distinct urges. These include the listener's desire to acknowledge that he or she got the joke, however lame; irritation at having been momentarily taken in by the punster's verbal subterfuge; displeasure at a punster's perceived overreach; frustration at the punster for interrupting the listener's train of thought; a desire to discourage further punning; or even to disguise the fact that he or she didn't actually get the joke…. In addition to conveying criticism, a groan can also signal a listener's grudging admiration of a pun's cleverness, or even reflect someone's need to suppress deserved praise because to praise a pun outright would violate a common social norm.See? As a famous lithographer might have said, it's etch-ucational.
So much for "some antics." For moron puns, see my review of Away with Words.
May 22, 2020
Who knew the literary device for majority of dad jokes could have such nuance and dramatic history! It's hilarious to me how people get so worked up about puns and its implications. But I guess those who takes everything seriously can and will make even the most fun and creative things solemn.
I really enjoy learning about the history behind puns, and how our brain works when it comes to "getting" the pun. I find multilingual puns to be the most interesting. Every time my mom and I come up with a good one, there's always that wink wink and raise brow, it's like a secret handshake only you and the people who gets it enjoys.
My nerd heartstrings got super tickled learning there's a PUN-OFF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP! That is amazing! I went to the author's website and saw clips of the competition. Dorky as it seems, I think it is so fantastic and I have mad respect for folks who can spit out witty puns right there on the spot. Guess who's going down a YouTube pun rabbit hole after this review! (haha, me, I'm going down the rabbit hole...)
Sadly, no puns in this review. As much as I would like to be, I'm not one of the witty punister. I just groan at dad joke puns other people come up with, out of envy for their wit. Here's a borrowed pun: go tohttp://www.punpunpun.com/ to check out the O.Henry Pun-Off World Championship news!
I really enjoy learning about the history behind puns, and how our brain works when it comes to "getting" the pun. I find multilingual puns to be the most interesting. Every time my mom and I come up with a good one, there's always that wink wink and raise brow, it's like a secret handshake only you and the people who gets it enjoys.
My nerd heartstrings got super tickled learning there's a PUN-OFF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP! That is amazing! I went to the author's website and saw clips of the competition. Dorky as it seems, I think it is so fantastic and I have mad respect for folks who can spit out witty puns right there on the spot. Guess who's going down a YouTube pun rabbit hole after this review! (haha, me, I'm going down the rabbit hole...)
Sadly, no puns in this review. As much as I would like to be, I'm not one of the witty punister. I just groan at dad joke puns other people come up with, out of envy for their wit. Here's a borrowed pun: go tohttp://www.punpunpun.com/ to check out the O.Henry Pun-Off World Championship news!
February 6, 2024
This is a deep dive into the world of puns. Pollack explores the history of the pun as well as their employment in modern-day writing and speaking. Along the way, he touches on knock-knock jokes, shaggy dog stories, spoonerisms, and wordplay of all sorts. He even talks about puns in the Bible and in Shakespeare's work as well. There is a tad bit of vulgarity/sexual innuendo as he occasionally references off-color puns from ancient history to newspaper headlines to puns from The O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships. While a little dry at moments, this is an overall interesting and punny exploration of wordplay throughout human history.
April 14, 2024
More academic than I expected but a very enjoyable read. I love a good pun, and the author shows how it's not only humorous but also intelligent. He argues that our ability to pun is an art, because like art, punning breaks the rules in its creation. In fact, modern language itself is a pun. Consider that hieroglyphics (pictograms) morphed into a system of phonetic representation, breaking apart symbols, meanings, and sounds. This morphing itself is a kind of pun.
My brief summary doesn't do this book justice. You'll just have to read it.
My brief summary doesn't do this book justice. You'll just have to read it.
February 1, 2022
A very fun read, especially if you like puns or if you enjoy thoughts and history about humor and wordplay in general. While a few of the connections the author made felt like a bit of a stretch, the book makes a great case for puns as a time-honored tradition across civilizations and millennia. It is also a joy to read, not least because it includes a good number of puns worked into the prose—usually sufficiently subtle to only add to the charm.
January 15, 2020
This book is a lot of fun to read. It is peppered throughout with puns, of course. Beyond that, Pollack refers to many other books that amateur linguists will want to also read. My "to-read" list grew by at least 10 books while reading this one. This book is very well-researched. Even so, it is straightforward and easy to read.
January 10, 2021
At times this was way over my head (a deeper dive into linguists than I wanted/needed/cared about), but I learned a lot about the history of puns and further solidified why I think wordplay in general is so important for young and old learners alike. My bucket list got a new item: attend the Pun-Off World Championships in Texas (as a spectator).
April 12, 2023
In The Pun Also Rises, John Pollack argues that puns—frequently viewed with disdain and met with groans—have played a valuable role in society throughout the ages. After defining the word, he looks at "how the brain fetches meaning from sound," the rise and fall of puns in societies throughout history, and concludes by arguing that punning played a formative role in humanity's advance throughout the ages.
Ultimately, this book is fascinating and humorous—make no bones about it. Though such ribbing isn't within the radius of what some consider amusing, I argue they are too sternum—I demandible they reconsider. Others, though, may back me up and lumbar along with my brand of humor, recognizing it as hip, tibia honest with you. Do you femur puns are coming? I'll stop . . . nobody should have a bone to pick with me.
Ultimately, this book is fascinating and humorous—make no bones about it. Though such ribbing isn't within the radius of what some consider amusing, I argue they are too sternum—I demandible they reconsider. Others, though, may back me up and lumbar along with my brand of humor, recognizing it as hip, tibia honest with you. Do you femur puns are coming? I'll stop . . . nobody should have a bone to pick with me.
February 16, 2025
2025 52 Book Challenge - 1) A Pun In The Title
This honestly felt like a pointless book on a pointless topic. What little history the author cobbled together is literally just used to set up more puns, which were quite frankly, uninteresting, and disappointing.
I honestly contemplated DNFing this book every other page.
This honestly felt like a pointless book on a pointless topic. What little history the author cobbled together is literally just used to set up more puns, which were quite frankly, uninteresting, and disappointing.
I honestly contemplated DNFing this book every other page.
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