tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1238029576745562592024-03-08T01:00:54.974-08:00. . . Baring My SoleBob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-68715816995799461682014-07-09T20:43:00.002-07:002014-07-09T20:43:57.672-07:00Johnny Manziel--Bust of Epic Proportions?The Cleveland Browns drafted Johnny Manziel with their second pick of the first round of this year's NFL draft, if nothing else possibly getting their quarterback of the near future, and definitely assuring more coverage than in years past on internet sports pages. As a Browns fan, I really don't care much about the silly "news items" that detail Johnny's latest trip or indiscretion, but I did read an article in which Doug Flutie compared Johnny Football and Andrew Luck, the Colts' quarterback. Besides Flutie having had a great NFL and CFL quarterback career, he played a lot like Manziel, so I thought his views would be interesting and insightful, as indeed they were. You can read the article <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/doug-flutie-on-the-differences-between-andrew-luck-and-johnny-manziel-175505179.html">here.</a>
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For the purposes of this blog, one of the comments was quite pertinent, and very funny in the bargain. Andrew Luck is probably about three or four inches taller than Johnny Manziel, in case you aren't familiar with the two players in question.
<blockquote><i>July 9, 2014</i> Ted, the commenter, gave his opinion of the differences between Andrew Luck and Johnny Manziel: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"About 2 feet in height, and that's just for starters! Johnny Football will be a BUST of epic proportions!" </span></b><br />
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Given that a bust can mean a sculpture, the comment could mean that Johnny will have a bust in Canton (where the Pro Football Hall of Fame resides) commemorating his Hall of Fame career, though I suspect not. Anyway, I think the comment is a nice juxtaposition of pointing out Manziel's relatively small stature (he's actually about six feet tall, so we're not talking about a small person here), with claiming he will be will be a huge football bust (that is, a big disappointment, of gargantuan size).
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Tell us what you think, either about the pun or about Johnny Football. Heck, every other internet page has debated his merits or lack thereof!Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-31129931493911242882014-03-09T22:09:00.000-07:002014-07-09T20:44:15.023-07:00Cars and PunsIn the Annual Auto Issue, Consumer Reports has an article titled "The road to self-driving cars." That title, of course, is a pun, as are most of the sub-titles within the article ("Taking control," "Looking down the road"). So it's possible the Unintended Pun that I am recording here is actually intended, and the article writer is cleverer than I am willing to admit. But Consumer Reports is not known, at least by me, for its snappy writing style, so I'm going to stick with my guess that it's Unintended.
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The paragraphs in question occur in the sidebar "Behind the wheel of a self-driving car." The person in the driver seat, after turning control of the car over to the vehicle's "traffic-jam assist feature" said that he could do other things, but "sleeping was not one of them...he pretended to sleep, and after about 10 seconds the vehicle noticed. An audible alert sounded, and when he still didn't open his eyes the vehicle shut down in the middle of the highway and activated the hazard lights." There would be a better system on production vehicles, but for now, that's how the car reacted.
<blockquote><i>March 9, 2014</i> A couple of sentences after the article said he hadn't opened his eyes, the same person: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"pointed out an eye-opening reminder of how quickly the technology is advancing." </span></b><br />
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I think that's perfect, and pretty funny, too. Tell me what you think.
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I also think it's sad that in the same issue, Consumer Reports wants its readers to believe that safety features are free:
<blockquote><i>P. 81: </i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"After all, if a small car such as the Honda Civic can come with [a backup camera] at no extra cost, why shouldn't every car?" </span></b><br />
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Would you take financial advice (Consumer Reports gives plenty of it) from a company that somehow believes car features come to the consumer for free? I realize they are just showing the same lack of understanding of how economics works as all mainstream economists and typical lobbyists do--we are supposed to be glad because they say they lobbied the government to make sure backup cameras are "required" by the government. Of course, when backup cameras are required, the price of a new car will be higher, so people will drive their older cars longer, making cars less safe--see required air bags and electronic stability control, and you won't wonder why the average age of cars on the road has increased.
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Please post your puns or your harangues any time.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-52702852519958566542014-01-25T07:06:00.003-08:002014-01-25T07:06:53.206-08:00Two New Puns for the New YearLast time I said I'd blog about "missionary positions" and "grasping handshakes." But I've got two newer ones--you see, the Unintended Pun really does enter into everyday life if you just pay attention. So those will have to wait for another time.
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Today's first Pun comes from an on-line discussion my son was having about a Sopranos episode. The other person had just described the plot, which included the characters discussing how best to carry out a hit.
<blockquote><i>January 10, 2014</i> My son, who had seen the episode, replied with regard to the other person's description of the plot: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"That's dead on." </span></b><br />
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The best part? The target of the hit didn't die, making the pun sort of a double pun, or a reverse pun, or something.
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Today's second Unintended Pun comes from the radio waves. Declaring it "Unintended" is always a bit dicey, since I can't know for sure that the speaker didn't intend it; please know that I try to err on the side of caution--there are enough Unintended Puns in my own life that I don't have to add more just to have something to blog about. In this case, it occurred during improvised patter, so I think I'm pretty safe.
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If you are a Christian, and haven't listened to Brant Hansen on Air1, you really should give him and it a try. He's often funny, usually insightful, and has great discussions with listeners and his producer, Sherry. And Air1, a national network of radio stations, plays a nice selection of Christian rock and pop music. He's the DJ in the afternoons
<a href="http://www.air1.com/blog/brant/"><b> Brant's Page on Air1's Web Site</b></a>
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The Pun occurred when he was describing how you know when you've gone too far as a sports fan. It's a question I've asked myself many times over the decades. His answer was pretty simple, as many of his answers are: <em>you've gone too far as a sports fan when your team loses, you let your grumpiness affect the way you treat your family and friends.</em> I think that's very helpful, and I suspect a lot of sports fans would feel the same way.
<blockquote><i>January 120, 2014</i> Here's how Brant described how you should approach being a sports fan: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"When your team loses, you slough it off. When your team wins, you celebrate woo-hoo! It's a no-lose situation." </span></b><br />
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The humor/pun of course, is that if your team lost, it is, in fact, a lose situation... for your team. But if you deal with it properly, it is a no-lose situation for you and your family--you had fun watching the game, or at least were able to pour some passion into something you enjoy, and afterwards, just go on with life. That's the right attitude.
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Please post your Unintended Puns here, or comments on these Puns. Thanks for reading.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-62643065736444211142013-12-14T07:57:00.000-08:002013-12-14T07:57:42.558-08:00The False PresumptionI have a couple of good Unintended Puns to blog about--one involves "missionary positions" on a job posting web page and the other "handshakes" being "grasped" by someone from a culture where hugs are the common form of greeting--so they're both good candidates to discuss. But along with puns, another of my hobbies is to figure out human nature. This is perhaps a somewhat arrogant endeavor, I know, but one has to do something while one navigates the NASCAR race tracks around here, seeing human nature in its rawest, most anonymous form. That is, watching drivers, anonymous behind their tinted windows, race from one traffic light to the next, jockey to save fractions of a second while risking their own and others' lives on the freeways, driving recklessly while texting or otherwise distracted.
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And because I recently came to a deeper understanding of human nature, I wanted to blog about it right away; happily for this blog's sake, it involved a play on words as I thought about how to describe it. First, a few definitions to get us started:
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MacMillan Online Dictionary definitions:
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<li>presume upon: to expect more than you should get or have a right to, especially in your relationships with other people.
<li>presumption: an act or instance of taking something to be true or adopting a particular attitude toward something, esp. at the start of a chain of argument or action; also: Acceptance or belief based on reasonable evidence; assumption or supposition
<li>assume: to believe that something is true, even though no one has told you or even though you have no proof
<li>assumption: something that you consider likely to be true even though no one has told you directly or even though you have no proof
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Drivers, and therefore perhaps people in general if drivers represent people hiding behind tinted windows, go around <em>presuming upon</em> other people. They "assume" that everybody else will behave as non-variables in their equation of life (thanks to my son for helping me with that wording). As they zip in out of lanes, they assume everybody else will continue <em> exactly </em> as they are going. This, of course, is ridiculous and actually impossible. It amounts to saying A is not A. Thus, it is a <em>False Presumption</em>. How can each person on the planet, or in a driver to driver exchange, be a non-variable to every other person? We can't, because we are all agents, agents of action, so therefore we bother each other, sometimes to the point of traffic accidents, sometimes to the point of arguments, etc.
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<em>False Presumption</em> is the somewhat Unintended Pun/play on words that I named my insight. The term False Assumption is well known, and I think my brain hit upon that when I was looking for a name; but since I had already been thinking about "presumption", the term came out False Presumption, which is much better anyway.
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To conclude: People <em> presume upon</em> others, what they wouldn't let others <em> presume upon </em>them. That is, they expect the others to let them drive like fools and not care. Thus, to generalize, I believe we can dub this The Era of Presumption. When we are not driving, we pretend we are not presumptuous by putting on a veneer of civility, which is a good thing--but that doesn't change human nature. At the bottom, we all want to be the ruler of all we can see (we all presume upon others), <em>me included</em>, and presuming upon others is just the beginning.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-76661387551345067272013-10-21T20:41:00.000-07:002013-12-14T06:59:14.719-08:00Seriously Punny and Don't Harass Me about ItMy company requires me to take (I won't say "suffer through," because that would create a negative impression) several on-line training courses every year. They are designed to make sure that I am aware of company policy and legislative laws (not to be confused with God's common sense Laws as written in my heart and conscience), and therefore that I don't get in trouble with the company, and much more importantly, that the company get in trouble with the government.
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If you guessed based on my flippant attitude that I took one of these today, you would be right. Today's was about Workplace Harassment, usually my favorite. It's my favorite, because right at the beginning I am told that I will learn not only what harassment is, but also what it isn't. In my ironic/warped way of viewing the universe, that means to me that I will be learning exactly what it is I can do that will bother/offend other people, but that will not be considered legal harassment. I find that deeply humorous, for two reasons:
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<li>The designers of the course certainly do not intend to teach me how to legally harass.
<li>The designers of the course have no sense of humor.
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Thus, when I came across the scenario that was meant to teach that one can harass someone of the same race, and found an Unintended Pun, I was elated. What better prize in such a course as this could there be than fodder for my blog?
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<blockquote><i>October 21, 2013</i> In a fake work scenario, an employee said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"Hi, it's me, Valentina. Can I ask your advice about something? Julia, Sylvia, and I are all Latina. Julia always teases Sylvia and me about how dark our skin is. She says that we need to stop hitting the tanning booth so we don't get any <em>darker</em>. When I mentioned it to Sylvia, she laughed and told me to <em>lighten up</em> and stop taking everything so seriously. Maybe I am being too sensitive, but it still bothers me." </span></b><br />
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I guess it's minimally possible the course designers threw this in there to see if anybody was paying attention. But assuming not, this is a truly great pun--because of course, if Sylvia and Valentina would indeed lighten up (if their skin tone would lighten), then Julia would have nothing to tease them about. The phrasing chosen by these course designers is beautiful, though Unintended.
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It's a perfect metaphor for government rules and regulations. If the bureaucrats would just lighten up and give up their desire for political correctness in the ideal world (the course was full of references to an imaginary "reasonable person" who "might" be offended by something--that is, the Ideal Person), we could just get along with our lives. If we don't like what Julia says, we can tell her to buzz off. If we don't like a joke somebody tells us, we can stop hanging around him. If we don't like somebody touching us, we can slug him or walk away. We don't have to wonder if we should tell HR, or if we should confront the person and worry about "retaliation" or other official terms. This kind of official speak just makes us all question and doubt each other, and turns us all into a bunch of snitches.
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We don't need the Nanny State teaching us what true harassment is--we know it when we see it, and it's disgusting. It isn't somebody telling a bad joke that supposedly makes fun of some group--people aren't that easily offended unless they go around looking for something to offend them. True harassment involves tangible intimidation that makes an individual's life intolerable. When that happens, people of goodwill step in. We can take care of ourselves, and don't need layers of bureaucracy to "help." And most of all, we don't need another legal layer of unenforceable laws making us all spy on each other while we sit at our desks and try to get work done.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-36119906158128606842013-09-27T22:25:00.000-07:002013-10-21T20:42:09.485-07:00Arizona PunHomeowners in Arizona share their property with many critters you don't see just anywhere: scorpions, rattlesnakes, javelinas, bobcats, geckos, lizards, tarantulas, etc., along with a bunch of more familiar friends, such as birds, crickets, black widows, brown recluses, etc. Fortunately for this homeowner and his family, from these lists, we share with just geckos, crickets, birds, and maybe the occasional lizard or two.
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Others aren't so fortunate, so are often discussing their battle and/or fascination with the goings-on of the wildlife they witness in their yards and houses. Just the other day at work I heard two colleagues discussing the circle of life and the way the various prey and predators kind of keep things in balance. It had gotten out of balance at one point, leading one of my colleagues to notice interesting proportions of critters.
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<blockquote><i>September 25, 2013</i> In describing the new opportunities for the one critter to feast on another, he said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"Out of the clear blue sky the birds started eating all the geckos." </span></b><br />
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This had then led to further complications, since the geckos were now not around to eat the crickets, which then invaded his house.
<br><br>I thought it was pretty funny in a gentle sort of way, but of course true to the philosophy of this blog, didn't point it out to anybody, knowing that would lead to boring and misunderstood explanations. This Unintended Pun Factors pretty nicely, since it is self-contained, doesn't need context to be a pun, and provides humor in and of itself.
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Please leave your comments, especially if have come across any Unintended Puns in your daily life, or invading your house or conversations.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-26553626384498683522013-08-28T21:37:00.002-07:002013-09-27T22:25:37.983-07:00A Great Punkin of a PunInvoking one of my all time favorites, Charlie Brown and the gang by the great Charles Shultz, today's post involves none other than a Great Pumpkin. A man in Alaska has made it his main purpose in life to grow gargantuan pumpkins, and I don't use the word the word "gargantuan" lightly, if you'll pardon the pun, which I'm sure you will given the nature of this blog. The Pumpkin in question weighs over 1400 pounds.
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Anyway, assuming the article still exists, read all about it here:
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/hole-giant-pumpkin-ineligible-fair-211213282.html"><b> Great Pumpkin Article</b></a>
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<blockquote><i>August 27, 2013</i> In describing her brother-in-law's disappointment that his gigantic pumpkin would not be eligible for this year's weigh-off, she said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"It's just killing him," said Pam Elkins, Megchelsen's sister-in-law. "He eats, sleeps and dreams pumpkins. All he does is pumpkins." </span></b><br />
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<br><br>I realize that this isn't one of the funnier or more knock'em dead puns that we've had here on the Unintended Pun blog. But the subject matter is so vivid and the man is so serious in his quest that I thought it deserved recognition. And the sister-in-law's quote certainly qualifies as a pun. Then throw in the fact that if Mr. Megchelsen really did eat his pumpkins, it would take him a very long time, and he would probably gain a lot of weight--it's a fairly humorous image.
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And of course--it lets me talk about Charlie Brown and Snoopy--the best combination of a boy and his dog in history. Here's to you, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M._Schulz"><b> Charles Shultz</b></a>.
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Please leave your comments, especially if have come across any Unintended Puns in your daily life.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-1834990940783282612013-07-20T09:32:00.000-07:002013-09-27T22:09:42.439-07:00A Very Tall PunI'm beginning to wonder if I should reference news pages. They seem to be actively edited, so that for the second pun in a row, I can't find the page I want to quote, even though this time I just read it the other day. I'm wondering if the writer or the editor had the pun pointed out, and that particular sentence was removed, or if more prosaically, the article was simply edited for brevity.
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Anyway, once again, I can't point you to the actual utterance, almost certainly an Unintended Pun, and in this case, pretty funny if you can picture the context. So, you'll have to trust me, once again. But ask my friends--I'm pretty trustworthy.
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As a fan of Cleveland sports teams, I have been following news of Cleveland's NBA team's pursuit of an oft-injured center named Andrew Bynum. He is 7 feet tall, and plays at a weight of about 280 pounds. He has had quite a bit of success early in his career, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers on several playoff teams alongside NBA great Kobe Bryant.
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<blockquote><i>approximately July 18, 2013</i> At the press conference to introduce the newly signed Andrew Bynum, General Manager Chris Grant said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"It is a pleasure adding a player of Andrew's stature to our roster." </span></b><br />
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<br><br>I was not in Chris Grant's mind when he said this, but I am positive when he said "stature," he was not referring to the player's height, but rather to his playoff experience and general success in the league. But, when you are standing next to a man who is 7 feet tall, and currently weighs over 300 pounds, what other word would come to mind? I submit this as a stellar example of the <a href="http://pun-forum.blogspot.com/2011/02/actual-science-behind-unintended-pun.html"><b>activation web</b></a> at work--Mr. Grant's mind surveyed the landscape of words to capture his thought to express "success, experience, exposure to great players" and came up with the only word it could when in the presence of such a massive person.
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Please leave your comments, especially if have come across any Unintended Puns in your daily life.
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Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-25016910066747885182013-07-04T09:43:00.001-07:002013-11-23T21:18:23.566-08:00Huh? A Study in Obfuscation<blockquote><i>approximately June 23, 2013</i> An NBA draft prospect said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"My weakness is my strength." </span></b><br />
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"My weakness is my strength." Without context, and even with context, this sentence can have so many different meanings, it's almost mind-numbing. In this case, I think the player was saying that he knew he needed to work out more so he could get physically stronger--he was using the word "weakness" in its metaphorical sense, and the word strength in its actual, physical sense.
This play on words/almost-impossible-to-understand-sentence sent me on a research project, looking on the Web for "my weakness is my strength", resulting in a lot of hits. Apparently, most uses are the more standard fare, using both "weakness" and "strength" in their metaphorical senses--that is, "one of the worst things about me is one of the best things about me," and then the author explains what he or she means. In some cases, it has a spiritual meaning, others, some kind of internal awakening, in another, it was political of some kind. But I didn't find any cases where the words were mixed, as in the NBA prospect's quote above, so I think we have something of an Unintended Pun.
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The multiple meanings I alluded to above:
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<li> The one I already mentioned--my metaphorical weakness--the thing I'm not so great at, is my physical strength
<li> The opposite--my physical weakness is my metaphorical strength--because it keeps me humble, or relying on my family or God
<li> Both metaphorical (seems to be the most common)--my metaphorical weakness--the thing I am not very good at--is my metaphorical strength--is the thing I end up being the best at.
<li> And then it gets really interesting, because if we decide that the last item is the case, that both "weakness" and "strength" are being used metaphorically, we have then to learn what is the weakness and what is the strength. But the player was quoted only one more sentence, with no further explanation.
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So I think the activation web comes into play here. The player knows he has an area of his basketball game that needs to improve--he needs to get physically stronger so he has more stamina, so he can withstand the more physical play at the NBA level vs. college, so he can drive to the basket and not have the ball knocked out of his hands as easily, etc. He chose the word "weakness" instead of "area of improvement" or some such because, of course, it is close in his mind's web to the word "strength." But the result is obfuscation, and a pretty good entry for our blog.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-2222403388747957912013-06-09T18:59:00.000-07:002013-06-09T18:59:44.367-07:00These Aren't Really Puns, So What Are They?Today's entries don't seem to be exactly puns, but they nonetheless have the "feel" of somebody choosing words that "fit" the previous words they used, in the same way that I've tried to define and describe Unintended Puns. So I would appreciate your feedback on how they fit this blog's intent.
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For the first one, I wrote it down, but don't have a link for it. If you find a link, please post it in a comment so we can give credit to the right person.
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<blockquote><i>approximately May 15, 2013</i> One of the contestants on the reality TV show The Biggest Loser lost 120 pounds. She said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"I didn't know I had it in me." </span></b><br />
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She means, of course, that she didn't realize she had the courage and perseverance to lose that much weight. But here on the Unintended Pun Forum, we notice the irony in the world, especially in how people word things. So, as I said, it's not really a pun, though I suppose you could make a case that "it," if you look at it in the pun sense, refers to the weight she lost, and of course that is what she <em>had</em> in her, so in that sense, there is a pun. But I wouldn't usually allow that the word "it" can qualify as a pun, since it's a pronoun, and also very short. What do you think?
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The second one came out of my mouth, as many of these puns do--I am quite a purposeful punster, and maybe that "practice" results in many Unintended Puns as well. This happened as I was driving on the notorious AZ Loop 101--I have referred to it as a NASCAR raceway in previous posts. I noticed a small, boxy car in my rear view mirror. It then disappeared in my blind spot. For some reason, I spoke out loud, though nobody else was in the car with me, and I chose a "jive" accent.
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<blockquote><i>May 20, 2013</i> As I needed to move into the lane where the small, boxy car was, I said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"I see you, my Kia Soul Brotha'." </span></b><br />
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Why in the world did I choose the jive accent and wording? That one made me laugh out loud to myself. Of all the cars it could have been (I am something of a car buff, so I usually can recognize cars), it was a Kia Soul, and I chose to add "Brotha'" to my little expostulation. Again, not really a pun, but something happened in my brain to make me choose this combination. What was it? Was it the same activation web that results in Unintended Puns? <br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-40937284737817664472013-04-27T09:17:00.001-07:002013-04-27T09:45:19.808-07:00The (Almost) Perfect Unintended Pun?Okay, pefection basically doesn't happen within the human realm. Outside the human plane, you've got Plato's Ideal Forms, God's immutable character and will, maybe one or two others I can't think of right now. Inside the human plane, you have chocolate cream pie, chicken tikka masala over basmati rice...I already gotcha, because you're thinking "Those aren't perfect, but [insert something here] is." So anyway, when I say that I've got the "almost" perfect pun, I realize that perfection on this human plane is in the eye of the beholder. The way to assess, of course, is by using the Pun Factors: Fitting, Humor, Context, Depth, and Subtelty (this last I'm not sure is a good factor). This one we'll see works in all but Subtlety.
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As I type, I am looking at pine trees, hillsides, and blue skies beyond. No, I'm not looking out the back window of my Phoenix home, but rather of our new weekend getaway home in the mountains north of Phoenix. And when I sleep away from my own comfortable bed, I try to remember to bring my own comfortable pillow. This time, I forgot, thus setting us up for the almost perfect Unintended Pun.
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It's perfect for several reasons.
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<LI> You actually sleep "over" a pillow--Fitting.
<LI> You use a pillow during sleep--Fitting.
<LI> I had just lain down to sleep when I said the pun--Context
<LI> I had tried to say a different metaphor, but couldn't get the words right, so I switched into the pun-ic metaphor--just plain Awesome.
<LI> Maybe other reasons, which you can help me with.
<LI> And finally, perhaps because I was so tired, but I think more because of the beauty of the pun, I actually laughed out loud-- and I never laugh at my own jokes--Humor
</UL>
The metaphor I was trying to say was "don't cry over spilled milk." But I was very tired, so the words would not quite form themselves into a coherent sentence. As we know here on the forum, the brain has a way of subconsiously helping us out of our verbal dilemmas, making its associations far better than we could have consiously, thus bringing us to the almost perfect Unintended Pun.
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<blockquote><i>April 27, 2013</i> As I lay down to sleep resting my head on a cushion not my familiar pillow, I said to myself: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"Well, it's not my regular pillow, but I won't lose any sleep over it." </span></b><br />
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Alas, I in fact did lose sleep over it, or at least near, or on it--the piece of resistance--Depth!
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I'd appreciate your grading of the perfection of this pun, as well as submitting more reasons for its beauty and perfection. Thanks for helping me have fun with this.
Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-83249521176530053472013-03-09T09:36:00.000-08:002013-06-09T20:36:49.160-07:00Mrs. Malaprop and Unintended PunsYou remember Mrs. Malaprop, the fictional character who always mixed up words to hilarious effect. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about "Malapropism":
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The word "malapropism" comes from the French "mal à propos" meaning "inappropriate", and was personified by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in his comedy The Rivals (1775) as "Mrs. Malaprop", a character who habitually misused her words, while Dogberryism comes from "Officer Dogberry," the name of a character in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing who also makes this kind of error. These are the two best-known fictional characters who make this kind of error--there are many other examples. <em>Malapropisms also occur as errors in natural speech.</em> Malapropisms are often the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals.
When used intentionally, malapropisms can be an example of irony.[citation needed]
<em>The philosopher Donald Davidson has noted that malapropisms show how complex the process is by which the brain translates thoughts into language.</em>
</blockquote></b>
I highlighted a couple of the sentences, given that one of the purposes of this blog is to explore the neuro-electro-mechanical origins of Unintended Puns. I suspect that malapropisms have much the same origin as Unintended Puns, as we have discussed in many past posts, and therefore could be researched in much the same way.
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I'll leave you with a pun from a sports article forum. It's the kind we love here at the Pun Forum in that beyond just being a simple pun, it expresses a truth as it makes the pun--enriching the sentence in a way the writer did not intend, and perhaps would not understand without an explanation.
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<blockquote><i>January 2, 2013</i> I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, so I follow the Cleveland professional sports teams. Earlier this year, the Browns pursued Chip Kelly to become their next head coach. In an article entitled <b>Browns have sights on Oregon's Chip Kelly</b> (the article is no longer on Yahoo's site), a commenter, obviously a Browns fan, below the article said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"I will go with the flow and let the chips fall where they may. Wears me out hoping and wishing." </span></b><br />
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Please post your Unintended Puns, or give us your ideas on how they happen.
Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-56118237715572743202013-02-09T09:34:00.000-08:002013-02-09T09:34:13.028-08:00Two from WorkAs I've mentioned in past blogs, I work a lot with computers. So today, I'll share a couple of Unintended Puns dealing with my job and computers, one that I said, and one I swallowed right before I said it.
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Usually, I am able to get my job done with minimal frustration. Our company has launched a big initiative in an attempt to join the virtualization craze, meaning that I am often using my desktop computer to remote to another computer, and then remoting from there to a third computer. That third computer has a very small window, and despite my large, high resolution monitor, I usually have to re-position and re-size the window several times, working the mouse quite a bit in order to see what I want to see.
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<blockquote><i>January 29, 2013</i> As I was showing a colleague something on the squeezed screen so I could then ask her a question about it, and struggling a little bit getting the window positioned so the right information was on the screen, I said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"This is a drag. Literally." </span></b><br />
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The second Unintended Pun didn't make it past my lips, only because it was very bad, and I guess my brain formulated it soon enough for my body to stop it. Anyway, I was talking to a colleague about a test suite written in the Python language. I am attempting to adapt the suite for our use, knowing that we have a tight schedule. I had also just told my colleague that the extension for Python files is ".py" or phonetically ".pie".
<blockquote><i>February 5, 2013</i> I was explaining that it could be tough to get the test suite working for our purposes, but I would do my best. I was about to say:<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"Making the schedule may be a little pie in the sky thinking." </span></b><br />
</blockquote><br />
I changed the wording at the last second to something like "The schedule is tight, but I think we can make it, and it's probably worth it."
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I've asked before--have you stopped yourself from saying something, assuming it would be perceived as a pun, and figuring your audience would take you for a fool if you said it? Let us know here at the Pun Forum.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-14377265805824346152013-01-24T18:00:00.001-08:002013-01-24T18:04:22.833-08:00Just had to post this one...This one rates pretty high--it's funny, it states a truth, and it doesn't need any context. There's only one problem: I just realized that the person may use this as a planned comment that he says to everybody. So I'll need some help from the jury. Without further ado, I'll get to today's Unintended Pun (I think).
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<blockquote><i>January 20, 2013</i> At the end of a call I made to the insurance company to add a car to our policy, the representative said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"If you run into anything else you want to discuss, just give us a call here at [name withheld to protect me from lawsuits] auto insurance." </span></b><br />
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What do you think? Is this something the guy thought about and now says to everybody, putting one over on his clients, as well as his boss? Let us know here at the Pun Forum.<br>
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-19541157400515441042013-01-01T14:23:00.000-08:002013-01-01T14:23:11.121-08:00Puns for the New YearHappy New Year, everyone! I've got a couple of recent Unintended Puns to share with you, both said by me. I guess one of them isn't so much a pun, but it's kind of a pun (perhaps you can give me your opinion of its pun-ness). In saying it, I realized another way that one can tell that one is saying, if not an Unintended Pun, at least a word play.
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On to the puns, to start the New Year on the right foot.
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<blockquote><i>November 19, 2012</i> To be honest, I can't remember the full context, but while discussing the nature of desert plants and their defense mechanisms with a work colleague, I said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"I wouldn't want to get on the bad side of a cactus, and I do mean the bad side." </span></b><br />
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This made me think that a way to tell that you've just said a pun is that you repeat yourself: "and I do mean the bad side." I could have said the much more mundane, "I wouldn't want to get stuck by a cactus." But as I realized that the "bad side" of course had a double meaning--the outside, as well as the mean side, I repeated myself to accentuate the humor.
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The second one comes from me just talking to myself. (Yes, I do that, and have most of my life. What can I say? I'm doing it right now.) I had been trying to decide whether or not to buy an extra long twin-sized bed for my son, the advantage of which would be allowing him to sleep better than on a regular length twin-sized bed, but of course take less room than a queen-sized bed. But as a I contemplated the extra cost of less common-sized sheets, I decided against the purchase.
<blockquote><i>November 21, 2012</i> I said to myself: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"When you throw the (extra cost of) sheets on top of it, we should just buy another queen." </span></b><br />
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I actually laughed out loud at that one.
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If you catch yourself repeating something, or discover some other method of noticing word play or better yet, Unintended Puns, drop us a line.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-25255898106717735382012-12-08T14:23:00.000-08:002012-12-08T14:23:23.995-08:00A Seasonal Word StudyDuring this season of gift-giving, I want to pause from the Puns, and instead give you a gift in the spirit of this blog--a word study meaningful to the Christmas story.
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The Bible accounts describe the "birth" of Jesus of Nazareth--born in a manger with cattle and hay all around. It was a humble, quiet scene, except perhaps for a baby wailing for its mother. But other parts of the account give more details about this "birth" that should make us think about Christmas much more deeply:
<ul>
<li>A host of angels appeared to shepherds and told them about this newborn baby, announcing that he would bring peace.
<li>An old man named Simeon, having spent most of his life waiting "for the consolation of Israel," upon seeing and holding the baby Jesus, was moved to pray to God, "For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
<li>And of course, even how Mary became pregnant is a great mystery--"The Holy Spirit will come upon you."
</ul>
So, this was no ordinary "birth." It was, however, necessary, that Jesus of Nazareth be "born" as a human being, to have both a human nature and a God nature within Him. He could then live as a human being--live a perfect life, to become the perfect sacrifice, to fulfill God's perfect justice, and therfore be Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the savior of the world. Instead of ordinary, this "birth" was extraordinary in ways beyond our imaginations: it represented the insertion of God into the world, the collision of the eternal with the temporal, the King of kings entering His kingdom.
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Given all this, when you think of the "birth" of Jesus over the next few weeks, think of God entering the world, or a King entering His domain. Snow, and reindeer, and trees, and lights are all fun and festive. But please think of God and this birth on a deep level during this Christmas season.
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I'll return next time with some great Unintended Puns.
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Merry Christmas.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-69763504886519413132012-10-12T18:55:00.000-07:002012-10-12T18:55:29.298-07:00No Predictive Puns, But Some New OnesTurns out the deck didn't have to come down after all, though it was touch and go for several weeks. So last blog's pun didn't have actual Predictive Power, just the potential. We still don't own the property, either, but that's a story for another time, perhaps if someone utters a great Unintended Pun during closing.
This time, I'll just post a couple of great recent puns, the first is one I thought, and the second was reported to me by a work colleague that he heard on the radio. We'll have to take his word on it, since I didn't hear it myself. If he made it up, he needs to start writing fiction--it's awesome.
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<blockquote><i>October 4, 2012</i> As I was driving on one of the local NASCAR circuits on my way to work last week, everybody was passing a relatively slow-moving truck, which was dominating the road by taking the center lane. I thought to myself: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"Trucks are a real problem on the 101. Everybody has to dodge them right and left." </span></b><br />
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I guess my favorite Unintended Puns, except probably for the ones that are truly hilarious (see below), are the ones that state a simple truth. "Dodge right and left" of course is exactly what drivers had to do to get around a truck in the middle of three lanes, but I just meant it in the sense of "dodging all over the place."
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The second one comes from my work colleague, who heard it during an interview on the radio. Police in the subject city are going to be wearing minicams on their uniforms, to record all they do as a way to prevent unwarranted lawsuits, as well as to provide a sense of accountability for the police.
<blockquote><i>October 10, 2012</i> The interviewee said something like: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"The camera makes the police press the pause button as they go about their work..." </span></b><br />
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Assuming he didn't say it on purpose, which is unlikely, this is <em>really</em> funny. The speaker reached into the part of his brain where recording equipment resides, looked for a metaphor to help describe the police's need to think twice about what they were about to do, and chose the exact right image to fit the situation for the speaker--and one that is the exact wrong thing to do in the situation that the police would be in. He or she is about to do something really bad to somebody (Taser a homeless person, punch somebody slumped over their car, or worse.): "I'll just press the pause button on this darn minicam. Nobody will ever know. bwahahahaha." Hilarious pun. And scary for the rest of, what with editing equipment available to splice something together to make the paused and re-started recorded session seem benign.
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Please follow our blog, and report the Unintended Puns you come across. They'll help us understand our brains--and much more importantly, lighten our burdens and give us a laugh.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-38834014308792958142012-07-08T17:06:00.001-07:002012-07-08T17:06:58.800-07:00A Pun with Predictive Power?My wife and I are in the somewhat long and somewhat unpleasant process of buying a property in the very pleasant town of Prescott. The house in question is very nice, backs to National Forest land, has most of the features we were looking for, all at a price we are willing to pay. After the home inspection conducted by a private inspector hired by us, we requested a number of items be repaired. This list, incorporated on a form called a "BINSR," included our request that two additions to the house, which had not been "permitted" by the county upon construction, now be formally submitted and approved for permits.
As regular readers would suspect, I don't care much about the county issuing these permits. It's mostly a formality, allowing the local municipality to collect its fee for doing very little. But most people <em> do </em> care, so that later when we sell the house, we would need to get the permits. So we want to get the additions permitted now, before we purchase the house.
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<blockquote><i>June 18, 2012</i> As my wife described her thoughts on this, she said: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"If the seller isn't willing to do the permit work, things kinda fall apart." </span></b><br />
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Besides being a nice pun, as the process has moved forward since she said this, it has turned out to be something of a predictive pun. One of the additions is a deck--a deck that spans most of the back of the house--a great place to spend time out of the Phoenix heat, admiring the National Forest/Scrub, enjoying the great outdoors. But, turns out that the deck needs some shoring up, so would potentially fall apart if it were not worked on and properly repaired.
Christine of course meant that the deal could fall apart if the seller were not willing to do the permit work, and the reason it was a pun in the first place was because we knew at least the railing and stairs had to be repaired. But I am giving this pun the Power of Prediction due to the added need for beams being replaced. So, we have a first--A Pun with Predictive Power.
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Anyway, please post your puns. We love a good pun, especially when it's Unintended. I know they are out there. Just add them in your comments.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-38274277858700708032012-04-28T12:50:00.002-07:002012-04-28T12:53:40.363-07:00Political Pun-entaryRegular readers of The Unintended Pun Forum will not be surprised to learn that I am not a fan of minimum wage laws. As with most do-gooder government intervention, forcing employers to pay a minimum wage has had not only unintended consequences, but to have had the reverse impact that its orignators wanted. Before any further comment, let me present today's pun-entary, which when analyzed to its core, provides all the comment needed.
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After a months-long search, my son recently obtained a minimum wage job working at a nearby grocery store. As part of his in-processing, he was required to provide his Social Security card, to prove to the company that he is an American citizen.
<blockquote><i>April 9, 2012</i> As my son described this process, he said, with sarcasam in his voice: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"Paying somebody $7.75 who isn't a citizen would be un-American." </span></b><br />
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Besides being a nice pun, this statement covers so much ground, and provides subtle and profound political commentary that you'll rarely find in the mainstream media. It gets at so many things in America today that are indeed un-American, that so many Americans just accept as "American":
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<li>It gets at the illegal immigration problem--are illegal immigrants "taking" jobs from American citizens, or just doing jobs that Americans wouldn't take anyway, and therefore just making life more pleasant at an inexpensive price?
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It reminds us of one of the core beliefs that founded this country: "Don't Tread on Me"--and yet forcing employers to pay a certain wage, regardless of the employee's skill or experience is a great example of treading.
</li>
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It hints at how entwined the government is with companies--they have to follow so many regulations, becoming part of the bureaucracy and essentially agents of the state in enforcing those regulations, or face fines and penalties if they don't enforce them.
</li>
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Then, to move beyond the pun-entary a little: Minimum wage laws actually raise unemployment and decrease the incentive to work--as I have read in the on-line pages of <a href="http://dailyreckoning.com"><b> The Daily Reckoning</b></a>, to get rid of unemployment, you only need to do two things:
<ol>
<li>Get rid of minimum wage laws.</li>
<li>Get rid of programs that provide incentives to not work.</li>
</ol>
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Please share your Pun-entary, or any other Unintended Puns. There's nothing better than a good commentary, especially when told in the form of a pun.
<br>Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-77716965748289891742012-03-23T19:14:00.000-07:002012-03-23T19:14:55.575-07:00The Pun as Truth--New Category or New Factor?Before I reviewed some of my previous posts, I thought we would be discussing a new category of pun today--<b>The Pun as Truth.</b> That is, a phrase that not only states something that is true, but also in the context is a lovely pun. But as I looked through previous posts, I noticed that a better way to caracterize this kind of pun would be just to add it as a <a href="http://pun-forum.blogspot.com/2011/01/evaluation-of-unintended-puns.html"><b> Pun Factor</b></a>--"does the pun tell a truth?" And I had just blogged one in a <a href="http://pun-forum.blogspot.com/2011/12/puns-just-keep-on-comin.html"><b> recent post</b></a> without realizing it--when I shared that I was concerned how I, as a city slicker, would look wearing boots, and I said, "I don't think I could pull off boots." As a matter of fact, I do have have trouble pulling off anything tight from my feet, probably because I have high arches and fairly wide feet.<br />
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On to the Truth Telling Puns, which have a "does the pun tell a truth?" answer of YES:<br />
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I was discussing the long-running BBC television show <em>Dr. Who</em> with a work colleague.<br />
<blockquote><i>March 14, 2012</i> I mentioned that I never can remember which actor is from which era of the show, which has been on since 1963: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">"I have trouble telling who's who." </span></b><br />
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This second one, as many, was a thought, in the privacy of my own car. I don't know about you, but one of my pet peeves as a daily commuter is to have people pass me only to have me catch up them at the light. How ridiculous is this? They have created an interaction that doesn't need to happen--if they are a daily commuter, which is most likely the case, they should know the light timing as well as I do. So they know the light isn't going to change just because they are driving faster. But they choose to add to the danger of the world--in this case, me and them--so they can get to the red light in the car ahead of me, sometimes just to block me from making my right on red. Take a word from your intrepid blogger--don't do this. Anyway, as somebody was doing this, the pun happened.<br />
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<blockquote><i>March 15, 2012</i> I said to myself as the guy slipped into my lane ahead of me: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "These people pass me like this all the time. It's like a rite of passage." </span></b><br />
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Please share your Puns as Truth, or any other Unintended Puns. I know they make my day more enjoyable, and your puns will let all of us more in on the brain's intricate workings.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-13679843005122542462012-02-11T08:20:00.000-08:002012-02-11T08:20:31.985-08:00More Fun PunsI know it's not just me. You all are saying and hearing, and more importantly, noticing, Unintended Puns all the time, or at least I hope so. Otherwise, just I and a few of my closest associates are having fun with these lovely little verbal gems, and the rest of humanity is missing out one of my life's great pleasures. <br />
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Today I'll share two private, and one very public pun, one that many of you would have heard if you watched the Republican debate in Tampa a few weeks ago. If you noticed the Unintended Pun that Mr. Santorum said, please post a comment at the Pun Forum so I'll know there are more of us paying attention.<br />
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First, the fun private ones.<br />
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Claire, my daughter and one of the close associates I alluded to above, had grown weary of her mother and father watching a Youtube video that altered the ending of the movie <em>Titanic</em>, making it happy. <br />
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<blockquote><i>January 17, 2012</i> As the music finished, with images of the people and ship being hit with rushing water, pouring in from the <b>high seas</b>, Claire said:<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "And on that note, probably a high-C..." </span></b><br />
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This second private one never made it out of my mind, and actually the word that completed the pun didn't even become fully formed, since I realized that it was about to make an Unintended Pun.<br />
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I'll have to give a little background. I read an article that claims that wheat is bad for humans to consume, which may or may not be true. The article went on to claim that when farming became common five or ten thousand years ago, the farmers somehow convinced the rest of humanity that eating wheat was better than eating what people had been eating, which was a very primal diet of meat and not much else. I don't think I'll comment on the article, except to say I always find it interesting/amusing when people claim to know what was going through someone's mind a long time ago.<br />
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So, this morning I was thinking about that article after I noticed a loaf of whole wheat bread on our kitchen counter.<br />
<blockquote><i>February 11, 2012</i> I said to myself with regard to the author of the article: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "I guess you have a beef with wh....." </span></b><br />
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The last pun for today was very public. It took place toward the end of the Tampa Republican debate, when Brian Williams, the moderator, asked the candidates to describe their role in furthering conservatism:<br />
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Brian Williams: "This has been called, in addition to this unprecedented primary contest the GOP is in the midst of, a battle for the soul of the Republican Party. Governor Romney, the question is, about that soul, what have you done to further the cause of conservativism as a Republican leader?"<br />
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After Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich gave their answers, it was Rick Santorum's turn. (See below for political commentary.)<br />
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<blockquote><i>February 11, 2012</i>Part of Santorum's answer:<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "They didn`t stand tall for the conservative principles that they argued that they were for. And as a result, we ended up with this bailout that has injected government into business like it had never been done before.<br />
They rejected conservativism when it was hard to stand. It`s going to be hard to stand whoever this president is going to be elected. It`s going to be tough. There is going to be a mountain of problems. It`s going to be easy to be able to <b>bail out</b> and compromise your principles." </span></b><br />
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Political commentary: I really don't care about major either political party, though I do care about the government getting smaller, much smaller. I watched the debate to see how Ron Paul would do compared to the other much more famous and polished candidates.<br />
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The answers to this particular question totally fascinated me, but didn't surprise me at all--I mean, these guys are politicians, and they want to stay politicians, so they have to persuade us to vote for them, which means saying what they think we want to hear. So their answer of what they have done "for" conservatism, Romney basically said what he had been doing was conservativism, because after all, they figured that's what Republicans want to hear, at least somewhat. Gingrich followed suit, then Santorum. Basically, none of them have done anything to <em>further</em> conservativism, except in the sense that they have done what they have done--furthering anything would be to actually have vision and take chances, and maybe actually lose an election because they took a stand, not just because their particular take on public opinion was wrong for a given election.<br />
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Finally, Ron Paul had his chance, and he did just what I thought he would do--he said, <br />
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PAUL: Well, I think the problem is, is nobody has defined what being conservative means.<br />
WILLIAMS: Go ahead.<br />
PAUL: And I think that is our problem. Conservative means we have a smaller government and more liberty. And yet, if you ask, what have we done? I think we have lost our way.<br />
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So, there you have it--a couple of fun private puns, which of course you didn't hear, and one very public one, which you may have heard. If you did, let us know here on the Pun Forum, and definitely share your private puns as well.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-11284070929335992662012-02-03T20:37:00.000-08:002012-02-03T20:37:41.699-08:00Depressing Subject; Still Some PunsI just finished listening to a set of CDs from The Teaching Company called "Utopia and Terror in the 20th Century." It's part of The Great Courses/Modern History series, this particular one taught by Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius of the University of Tennessee. He covers many of what I have thought of in the past as The Top Ten Bad Guys of the 20th Century--Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, others--suggesting that their attempt to remake their societies into something of a utopia led them to use terror and violence, and of course often turning the death and destruction inward, on the very people they had supposedly hoped to re-make into "the perfect people." As with all the Great Courses, it is excellent, and in this case, makes for sobering and at times very uncomfortable listening--how could sane people follow these obviously insane "leaders," to the point, in the case of China during the Cultural Revolution in the time of Mao, where an entire population dressed exactly alike for fear of offending somebody?<br />
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Despite this serious and difficult topic, Dr. Liulevicius was unable to avoid during his 24 lectures saying a few Unintended Puns. One of them barely counts, as explained below, one of them I misheard a mispronounced word into an Unintended Pun, and one of them is blatant.<br />
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This first one kind of doesn't count, because there may not be another way to say it. I include it as an interesting historic note.<br />
<blockquote><i>January 15, 2012</i> Said the professor in explaining how one of the most unintelligible, but at the same time somehow powerful and motivating and destructive, pieces of writing was put to paper:"<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "Hitler dictated <em>Mein Kampf</em>." </span></b><br />
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This second one is a new case for the Pun Forum. The Professor pronounced the word "totalitarianism" two different ways. The first time he used it, at least when I noticed it, he said it such that the word "total" was pronounced as usual, followed by the rest of the word. Sort of like "total-it-arianism." <br />
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<blockquote><i>January 10, 2012</i> As I got to thinking about this word later, I thought he had said<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;">" 'total-Aryanism,' which fit perfectly with the subject at hand, which was Hitler's attempt to re-make the German people into 'total Aryans.' " </span></b><br />
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Okay, now back to our usual brand of Unintended Pun, though again quite sobering in its context and meaning. The Professor was explaining the practice of eugenics "good born," which sadly for Americans, had its roots in the United States. It was made use of by many of the utopian madmen examined in the lecture series, most widely by the Nazis. <br />
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<blockquote><i>January 12, 2012</i> In explaining the idea behind eugenics, and how it took hold in the scientific community as a way to "improve" on human nature by among other things the sterilization of certain "unfit" people, the Professor said"<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "Eugenics was seen as the cutting edge of science." </span></b><br />
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The 20th Century saw some horrible and widespread violence, almost all of it brought about by a very few men attempting to create a legacy of...what? Mao Tse Tung, who must be in the Top Five, said "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." All of these "leaders" knew the only way to reach their goals was to seize control of their governments, and in most cases, they then tried to move outward from there. They persuaded millions that the utopia/perfection they sought was not only reachable, but if reached, would make all of them happier, feel better about themselves, and perhaps make them remembered forever--despite obvious evidence all around those millions that they were causing suffering and bloodshed and unhappiness. Since human nature doesn't change--there will always be insane men who want to "lead" us to some new utopia--may the average sane person find within the ability to resist the barrel of the gun.<br />
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Thank you for reading these Unintended Puns, and please resist the calls for utopia.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-86399861707321799582012-01-07T08:52:00.000-08:002012-01-07T08:52:49.192-08:00New Year, New Category of Unintended PunDespite millions of people having as their number one resolution for the New Year to stop saying Unintended Puns, nothing can stop the subconscious mind from uttering them. (Okay, I doubt even one person made that even their lowest resolution, but I had this image of people contorting their lips, tongue and jaw, trying vainly to stop from saying what they know is about to be an Unintended Pun--and it made me laugh.) Reminds me of Mr. Universe in Firefly: "Nothing stops the signal."<br />
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Anyway, I think we've run across a new category--the Mixed Metaphor Unintended Pun, contributed by our favorite punster, my daughter Claire. She is a big fan of Ron Paul (as am I), and has been following the news coverage of his campaign. Of course, if you pay attention to the news about the Republican primaries, you know that finding information about Ron Paul requires quite a bit of persistence--the mainstream media seem determined to keep him out of their stories about the primaries, whether because they don't know what to make of him (definitely part of the problem) or because they hope by keeping him out of their stories he won't win the nomination.<br />
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But thanks to Claire's persistence, we have a lovely Unintended Pun, which even if it weren't a pun, would make a funny combination of metaphors.<br />
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From <em>Ron Paul’s Secret Plan To Actually Win</em> in BuzzFeed. <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpolitics/ron-pauls-secret-plan-to-actually-win"><b> Click here for the story</b></a><b>.</b><br />
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<blockquote><i>January 3, 2012</i><br />
“One of my running mates is a Paul supporter and there’s nobody in the world that works harder and she doesn’t just work for him – she does a lot of the heavy lifting in my district,” said Karen Karls, a Republican member of the Idaho House of Representatives, a state where Paul’s campaign is focused on validating the candidate with the endorsements of local elected officials. "I know some people maybe think the Paul supporters <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> are sitting in the weeds taking pot shots at us, </span></b> but seriously a lot of the people that probably would support him would be very likely to get involved long term, and that’s really what a political party needs." </blockquote><br />
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I love the mixed metaphor by itself; the bonus of its making a pun qualifies it as one of the finest quotes ever. With humor like this, maybe the media will start looking more to Ron Paul supporters for their stories; then maybe they'll start noticing that what Ron Paul himself has to say makes more sense than what the other candidates are saying.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-83887864585217913012011-12-30T09:20:00.000-08:002011-12-30T09:20:52.011-08:00The Puns Just Keep on Comin'As 2011 draws to a close, and the first year anniversary of Baring My Sole beckons, herewith are a number of puns I have collected recently. They come from all quarters, socio-economic strata, and lifestyles. Unintended Puns, in fact, know no comfort zones, and rear their delightful heads wherever our brains are taken by their utterers' association webs. <br />
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These first two would be interesting to rate in our <a href="http://pun-forum.blogspot.com/2011/01/evaluation-of-unintended-puns.html"><b> Pun Factoring scales</b></a><b>.</b><br />
--they are funny, at least based on context, they are fitting, and they are subtle. <br />
<blockquote><i>December 17, 2011</i><br />
I wanted to dress warmly to an office Christmas party, which I thought might be held outside (remember, this is Phoenix--it was a high of 70 degrees that day), but I also accept my city-slicker fashion sensibilities: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "I don't think I could pull off boots." </span></b><br />
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<blockquote><i>November 14, 2011</i><br />
My daughter Claire had recently moved into an apartment with two other girls. Since there wasn't a lot of furniture, including no kitchen table chairs, she started thinking about how she could make the apartment more comfortable: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "I wonder what I can bring to the table." </span></b><br />
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This next one brings up another way to notice that you have just said or are about to say an Unintended Pun.<br />
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<blockquote><i>November 14, 2011</i><br />
A colleague at work explained that he never knows if the product he gets at the cafeteria will be fresh:<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "The potato chips, for lack of a better term, are a mixed bag." </span></b><br />
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Continuing in the potato vein, this one is from an e-mail chain in which various contributors to a Christmas dinner were discussing what they would bring. The pun may be on purpose, but I don't think so.<br />
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<blockquote><i>December 13, 2011</i><br />
To end the back and forth about a particular item on the menu, one of the dinner guests suggested to the hostess:<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "I can make the mashed taters if you want that off your plate." </span></b><br />
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So, that's a wrap on the first year of Baring My Sole. I hope you have enjoyed reading and thinking about these creations of our subconscious minds, fabricated by the very neurons that make up our brains. I suspect that, just as with dreams, headaches, personality types, and just about everything to do with the mind and brain, Unintended Puns will never be understood much beyond the behavioral level. But it's fascinating and fun to dig into them as much as we can.<br />
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Happy New Year, everybody!Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123802957674556259.post-50008375348935668832011-11-06T17:56:00.000-08:002011-11-06T17:56:09.407-08:00Two More Fun PunsOur daughter woke up with horrible abdominal pain a few weeks ago, so bad in fact that we took her to the ER. The problem was not life threatening, but something that required a procedure (an endoscopy, or "scope" in the gastro-intestinal biz) that my wife the physician had suspected might be necessary based on symptoms from the previous day, and therefore had already set up an appointment for later that day. But because Claire had been admitted to the hospital, we cancelled the appointment, and therefore needed to set up another appointment with a different doctor.<br />
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<blockquote><i>October 11, 2011</i><br />
Christine explained that she wanted to do a little research into this second doctor's practice: <b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "I want to scope up the new doctor's office before I make the appointment." </span></b><br />
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Here is another one, also with a medical theme.<br />
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<blockquote><i>October 10, 2011</i><br />
A colleague at work explained that he wanted to know the cost of the glasses before he bought them:<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394;"> "I wanted to know what I was looking at." </span></b><br />
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These Unintended Puns are so much fun--just don't point them out to anybody who isn't familiar with this blog. As we have discussed, they'll just look at you with a strange expression. But as you create a circle of friends and family (as with my family), you can point them out to each other and get a good laugh as you say them, or even get a good laugh as you stop yourself from saying what you were about to say.Bob H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12618047415836522250noreply@blogger.com0