Puns, and Inexplicably Self-Declared Experts

[filkertom]

Some people simply do not get them.

I was going to make more of a point about puns here, but I realized I don't have to: If you're part of my audience, of my circle of friends, you get them.

On the other hand, this Guest Editorial in the NY Times confounds me. How does such a banal, pretentious, overwrought piece of tripe make it onto the Opinion page, and how can I get my banal, pretentious, overwrought pieces of tripe there? Did this schmuck law student actually think his bloviation was worthy of such a showcase? (Although, to be fair, he was apparently correct, or at least the editor thought so as well.) Or, inexplicably, did the editor cast a weary gaze out the window and say to him/herself, "Y'know what I need? I need some purple prose that disses puns and punning for no particular reason, and not very well. And it should have a few puns in it. Think I'll call Fordham Law School and see if they've got anybody who can do something like that."

I feel the same way whenever there's a book review on All Things Considered. Some late-college-sounding voice breathlessly informs me that this new novel of someone's trials and tribulations has fascinating characters and explores the range of the human heart. It's a modern masterwork, and the author (whom we never hear from again) is a brilliant new voice. This is NPR.

How do I get this gig?

What's your dream job? I've got it, at least in beta; I have to refine the output (the speed with which I create music) and the input (how much money I make).

Comments

[lucywiggin.livejournal.com]

My dream job...probably Henry Jenkins job (the guy in MIT who studies fen culture).

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Dream job? Luthier, working someplace like Taos or Santa Fe. While I do create things on my current job, those things are neither for general consumption nor of any real use outside the banking industry. Feh.

Who knows, if I built instruments I might even find time to practice and play them :-)

[jannyblue.livejournal.com]

What's your dream job?

Lottery Winner. So I would have time to figure out what I wanted to do without having to worry about the roof over my head or the food in my stomach.

I've been working at nothing but paycheck-generators since I was 17, largely for the reasons stated above. I kinda dug the internet place, and the FIRST law-firm I worked for, but that's because most of the people there "got" me. I'm doing the same sort of work now, and I find I need to rationalize/justify it to myself by being glad I have a job in this economy.

To be honest, I have no clue what I actually WANT to do for a living... and I've been too busy working at those paycheck-generators (due to necessity) to have time to figure it out.

[rant snippage]

...If I think about this any more, I will probably start to cry.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

We're all in the same boat with the paycheck-generators. I too have done nothing but work job after job just for the paycheck for years now. It wasn't until a very few years ago that I started to explore other options.

And you're not the first to not have decided what you want to be when you grow up - my wife is the same way and admits it.

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I suppose being a postgraduate i do not technically have a job, since nobody pays me. Ah, academia. But I get to read old books and talk about them all the time, and it looks like I'll be able to do that forever and ever and in a few years somebody WILL pay me, so there we go then. ;)

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Dream job? Inventor.

I'm halfway there now I just need to build prototypes and attract funding.

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

I think it's some type of librarian. But I'm not sure. Which is why I like the lottery winner job, because I'd like to explore without losing the paycheck.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Well-published author, with the discipline to continually have a new book at least every two years on the market.

[briansiano.livejournal.com]

The piece was overwrought... but after years of dealing with SF fans, I've learned to really _hate_ puns. Especially when they're the First Thought, the pun that comes so quickly that _everyone_ has thought of it and thought better of saying it.

The worst part about puns? They always step on the possibility that someone else has thought of a really brilliant, witty comment... but the moment's been stepped on by some lout who's limited to plays on "these aren't the droids you're looking for."

[kayshapero]

"Who gave him all this time?
The jokes he told were all mine!"

[foenix.livejournal.com]

My dream job would be getting paid to do my photography at Dragon*Con, and other comic/SF conventions. There's gotta be a way to pull that off. Starting with honing my craft, I'll admit. ;)

Heck, I'd settle for plane tickets and room paid for.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Do you shoot video? I think there's an audience for video podcasts of conventions, if it's done right.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

What's your dream job?

Not sure yet. I know the general area it's in, so I'm working towards that, and in that process I'll probably find it.

[juglore.livejournal.com]

What's your dream job?

My dream job would be to be the pastor at the Holy Temple of the Body church. Which I admit is a dream church. But as long as I'm dreaming.

Currently in paychecl generation.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Is that a fancy way of saying "personal trainer"? 'Cause I think I heard at least one high profile trainer of celebrities describe himself as that. Prescribing penance to supermodels for the confessed sins of eating cookies and all that. :-)

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Game designer. I've always been good at creating games, and found out recently that a bunch of guys I used to game with in the early 80's are _still_ playing several games I created way back then. I'm also good at spotting what works and what doesn't with games, as well as how to fix them for better play. I'd like to make computer games, especially iPhone/Touch games. Unfortunately, I don't know programming, and with this burnout-induced brain damage I can't learn anything complex like Flash without headaches. So I keep buying lottery tickets, hoping to win enough to hire some programmers.

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

I did like the picture that went with the story. It got a giggle.

My dream job would be something I haven't figured out yet, but it would involve my love for languages, travel, cooking and making computers jump through hoops of my choosing. So far I haven't figured out what to call that job, and I am still stuck (gratefully, but stuck nonetheless) in finance. I am good at the job I do now, but it doesn't make me happy.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

To get paid well for recording books.

I did it for a while once, but the books to be recorded were textbooks for community college subjects, not the books I enjoy reading, and the wages were next to nothing. I did get away with inserting a couple of "easter eggs" and editorial comments, however.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

In that article, the hair-splitting between puns and wordplay seems to be an artificial construct intended to protect Shakespeare from being disregarded for his use of puns.

My dream job? Damned if I know.

[solarbird]

I suspect the book review position is called "internship," and they may and may not pay you, and never well. So I don't think you want that gig. ^_^ (I've also been told that I got out of radio exactly before it started sucking. I REGRET NOTHING)

I'm refusing to place any expectations on my sudden and entirely unexpected music career, because having that baggage hurts fun, potential, and/or process, I think. Still... I haven't enjoyed this much of anything since, hum, almost ever. And people do seem to like to throw me money for it. So that's a good combination. If I let myself speculate... it's a bad idea to do that. I mean, I tend to speculate that I could possibly someday do things I'm actually already kinda doing. We'll see what happens, ne?

but i think i wanna to be a rawk star!!1!

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

My dream job is from a Dilbert cartoon - something where I can work at home, with no measurable goals. "So, you just want to collect a paycheck?" No, I'd prefer direct deposit.

As far as puns, like anything else, it depends on the style and execution. "Bad pun" is not, of necessity, a tautology. Marx Brothers films contain many puns, and it is difficult to watch them in a public theater because the laughter drowns out the dialogue. Myself, I can take them or leave them, or as I said in a Chinese restaurant once, Szechuan, half a dozen of the other.

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Eskimo Christians, Italians.
Eskimo Christians, Italians who?
Eskimo Christans, Italians no lies.

And, by the way, the lowest form of humor is not puns, but slapstick.

Reminds me of this poem by Thackeray:

OLD FASHIONED FUN

WHEN that old joke was new,
It was not hard to joke,
And puns we now pooh-pooh,
Great laughter would provoke.

True wit was seldom heard,
And humor shown by few,
When reign'd King George the Third,
And that old joke was new.

It passed indeed for wit,
Did this achievement rare.
When down your friend would sit,
To steal away his chair.

You brought him to the floor,
You bruised him black and blue,
And this would cause a roar,
When your old joke was new.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And, by the way, the lowest form of humor is not puns, but slapstick.

See, that's my thought. The success of a pun is based on shared knowledge. If you don't know all the references, you don't get it. Therefore, the smarter you are, the funnier and more apt the pun is.

[rook543.livejournal.com]

I want to be the successor to Ron Popiel!!

Or the Sham-Wow guy! (Vince Offer)


Seriously, if money were not a factor, I would design typefaces all day.

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

Just don't let prostitutes bite your tongue and then smack them around, whie both of you are drunk (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-bk-shamwow-vince-shlomi-arrested-032809,0,3628735.story).

Dream Job

[j-e-richards.livejournal.com]

I would like to be the person who comes up with all the names for the cosmetic colours...Raspberry Blush, Poppy Kiss, Earth Shadow...I'm easily amused..

Re: Dream Job

[brmj.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, my mom claims that her dream job growing up was also to name colors, though I think she had been thinking more in terms of paint, for example.

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

You're right. That article was just LAME. English is a rich, complex language and while that is a wonderful thing, it does make good puns difficult to produce.

In some other languages (like Japanese, for instance), puns are plentiful, used frequently and are even part of high literature. Heck, there's even punning in the Bible (which just doesn't carry over into English, so you have to read footnotes to pick up on what was being referenced.)

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

I suspect from my exceedingly limited knowledge of the language that Hebrew is one of the best languages in the world in which to pun. I know it's done (Spanish is an excellent language for punning, but apparently doesn't have the concept) because my Hebrew teacher reported that the Jerusalem post ran the headline Barak Barakh! (!ברק ברח) or "Barak Fled!") after Ehud Barak suffered some kind of electoral setback. There's also the coffee shop at the UN base that used to be in the Golan Heights (way up in the mountains) that was called Kafe Anan ("Cloud Coffee").

The article was, in fact, just completely moronic.

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

I'd like to farm influence in City of Heroes, but there's not much of a market in it. So I'll just farm it for my own alts' amusements. Or, I'd like to make music videos.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty: Joseph Tartanovsky would never get a date with me. Talk about a master of the double standard!

[leareth26.livejournal.com]

Mostly, I think he's jealous. Puns were one of the way I wooed my current husband. Obviously, he can't come up w/ very good ones, so he's bitter.

David Gerrold once said "The shortest distance between two puns is a straight line."

Also, dream job? Head minister at a moderate sized church. I'm working slowly but surely towards that.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

"The muse has a fondness for her half-wit sons/Good poets have a weakness for bad puns."--WH Auden, more or less

Read it to the end--I think the author is just having fun, myself.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I have pretty much the same issues with dream job that you have, Tom. I am just in need of some kind of day work to supplement same.