The pun Also Rises : : how the Humble pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics

Locations
Call Number: 808.7 Po
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	808.7 Po	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Cutting it up : the anatomy of a pun -- Labs and retrievers : how the brain fetches meaning from sound -- To pun or not to pun : the risible fall of puns through time -- Riddles of history : how puns conquered human imagination -- More than some antics : why puns matter.
A funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay's remarkable impact on history. The pun is commonly dismissed as the lowest form of wit, and punsters are often unpopular for their obsessive wordplay. But such attitudes are relatively recent developments. In The Pun Also Rises, John Pollack--a former World Pun Champion and presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton--explains why such wordplay is significant: It both revolutionized language and played a pivotal role in making the modern world possible. Skillfully weaving together stories and evidence from history, brain science, pop culture, literature, anthropology, and humor, this is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth.--From publisher description.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Not a fun book for a pun book. submitted by GJBarnett2 on August 2, 2012, 9:25pm Not what I expected. Not a compendium of puns, good and bad, nor a humourous book, but more an exploration of the role of puns in thought, language and expression. Interesting but dry.

Local author, AND puns--perfect combo submitted by hathaway1066 on July 22, 2013, 10:17pm Although as another reviewer noted, this is not a list of puns, it's still a worthy read for those who love a good pun. Highly recommend it for giving a depth to puns and a certain dignity to these often groaned-at bits of mental creativity.

Pun and fun submitted by mamtavj on July 29, 2020, 3:46pm Wanted to know the origin of pun as one of my friends is a master of puns