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Yes, puns are perhaps the lowest form of wit.
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Still, we have William Shakespeare using from 1000 to 3000 puns¹ in his plays and other writings to keep the pun treading water and our English language afloat.
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• In the opening of Julius Caesar a commoner identifies himself as a cobbler: “a mender of soles,” and then adds, “Truly sir, all I live by is with the awl. I meddle with no tradesman’s matters, nor women’s matters, but with awl. I am indeed a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger I recover them.”
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For more use the DOOR.
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[MORE]
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Hamlet [in Hamlet] distressed about his mother, the Queen’s, hasty marriage to his uncle, King Claudius:
King: “But now my cousin Hamlet, and my son–“
Hamlet: “A little more than kin and less than kind.”
King: “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?”
Hamlet: “Not so, my lord, I am too much in the ‘son'”
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Now let’s go lower with some punny slogans from businesses & such:
On a diaper service truck: Rock a dry baby.
On an electric company van: Power to the people.
On a plumber’s truck: A flush is better than a full house.
In front of a church: Stop here for your holiday spirits.
In a Catholic church: Litany candles?
In a bar: I’m not a slow bartender. I’m not a fast bartender. I’m a half fast bartender.
In a sporting goods store: How about a boomerang for the girl who returns everything?
Outside a strip tease theater: Here the belles peel.
On a peanut stand: If our peanuts were any fresher, they’d be insulting.
Over an antique shop: Remains to be seen.
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¹ Richard Lederer, Get Thee To a Punnery p. 9 and p.8. (Wyrick & Co., Charleston, SC, 1988).
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