These 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.

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.

approximately May 15, 2013 One of the contestants on the reality TV show The Biggest Loser lost 120 pounds. She said: "I didn't know I had it in me."

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 had 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?

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.

May 20, 2013 As I needed to move into the lane where the small, boxy car was, I said: "I see you, my Kia Soul Brotha'."

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?

The (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.

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.

It's perfect for several reasons.

• You actually sleep "over" a pillow--Fitting.
• You use a pillow during sleep--Fitting.
• I had just lain down to sleep when I said the pun--Context
• 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.
• Maybe other reasons, which you can help me with.
• 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

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.

April 27, 2013 As I lay down to sleep resting my head on a cushion not my familiar pillow, I said to myself: "Well, it's not my regular pillow, but I won't lose any sleep over it."

Alas, I in fact did lose sleep over it, or at least near, or on it--the piece of resistance--Depth!

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.

Mrs. Malaprop and Unintended Puns

You remember Mrs. Malaprop, the fictional character who always mixed up words to hilarious effect. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about "Malapropism":

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. Malapropisms also occur as errors in natural speech. 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] The philosopher Donald Davidson has noted that malapropisms show how complex the process is by which the brain translates thoughts into language.

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.

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.

January 2, 2013 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 Browns have sights on Oregon's Chip Kelly (the article is no longer on Yahoo's site), a commenter, obviously a Browns fan, below the article said: "I will go with the flow and let the chips fall where they may. Wears me out hoping and wishing."

Please post your Unintended Puns, or give us your ideas on how they happen.

Two from Work

As 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.

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.

January 29, 2013 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: "This is a drag. Literally."

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".

February 5, 2013 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:"Making the schedule may be a little pie in the sky thinking."

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."

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.

Just 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).

January 20, 2013 At the end of a call I made to the insurance company to add a car to our policy, the representative said: "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."

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.