The Mycenaean

Did you hear about the guy who got hit in the head with a soda can? Luckily it was only a soft drink.

Puns, or play on words, are an important part of the English language. enjoyment

“They are jokes for clever people,” said Sean Bryant, a junior and pun fanatic. “I just like to whip them out in random situations.”

Certain teens seem to find in spouting these jokes to their friends and family.

Bryant said, “I recently started subscribing to punoftheday.com.I go up to my friends in the morning and enlighten them with a pun. One of my favorites is ‘What do you call a melon that is not allowed to get married….Can’t-elope.’”

Natalie Williams, a junior and victim of Bryant’s jokes, said, “We will be in a situation, and he will just slip a pun in. Sometimes it is really funny, but sometimes it just gets annoying.”

Although some people believe that puns are the “lowest form of humor,” they are not always your average, juvenile jokes.

Influential, sophisticated people, such as Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, and Jesus often utilized these play on words. Puns can be a very high form of intellectual jokes because they craftily create a secondary meaning to what they are actually saying.

For example, in Romeo and Juliet Romeo says, “Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes
With nimble soles. I have a soul of lead. So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.”

Shakespeare cleverly has Romeo complain that his soul is made out of lead, which weighs down the soles of his shoes.

Mr. Robert Phillips, an English teacher at Leesville, said, “They are punny. But puns are often times vulgar, and there is a time and place for vulgarity.”

If you can catch them, puns are often utilized in a bawdy way. At the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Gregory and Sampson are discussing fighting men and being promiscuous with the maids at the same time.

Not everyone enjoys puns, though.

Scott Kreis, junior, said, “Puns are really lame. I feel awkward when someone tells them to me because I just don’t feel like laughing at the dumb little sayings.”

While not everyone says they can see the humor in these sophisticated jokes, people always say “No pun intended”–which actually shows they meant it by cleverly drawing attention to the joke.

If you need an interesting way to break the tension: Puns. If you need a joke to tell to your friends: Puns. If you need to look clever: Puns. If you need quick break from the stress of high school life: Puns.