- pun
- punPunning, ‘the humorous use of words to suggest different meanings’, has been a feature of language at least since the time of Aristotle, who approved of them in some kinds of writing. Some famous historical examples include the description by Pope Gregory I (6c) of English slaves as Non Angli, sed angeli (‘not Angles, but angels’) and, from a much later date (1843) the reputed message of Sir Charles Napier to the British War Office reporting his conquest of the Indian province of Sind with the single Latin word Peccavi (‘I have sinned’). About 3,000 puns occur in the works of Shakespeare, among them Mercutio's dying words in Romeo and Juliet (iii.i.98; modernized spelling): Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man. An intentionally dreadful pun can be found in a mock epitaph of Byron, dated 1807, for John Adams, a carrier of Southwell, who died of drunkenness: For the liquor he drank, being too much for one, He could not carry off, —so he's now carri-on. In modern usage, puns occur frequently in casual conversation and are much loved by writers of newspaper headlines: see journalese.
Modern English usage. 2014.