{"id":321,"date":"2012-01-18T15:42:21","date_gmt":"2012-01-18T20:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=321"},"modified":"2012-01-08T16:00:38","modified_gmt":"2012-01-08T21:00:38","slug":"having-some-fun-with-puns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/having-some-fun-with-puns\/","title":{"rendered":"Having Some Fun With Puns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently we have had a look at homophones<\/a> and homographs<\/a>. Now that we have done all the hard work, we can have a little bit of fun by using what we have learned and practised to make puns.<\/p>\n

Puns are jokes that rely on homophones and homographs for their humor.\u00a0 For example: My pony is a little hoarse today.<\/em>\u00a0 Hoarse means to sound rough and harsh, typically as the result of a sore throat or of shouting.\u00a0 But hoarse is pronounced the same way that the word horse (a four legged animal with a mane and a tail) is spelled.\u00a0 So, since a pony is a type of horse, the sentence becomes (a bit) funny.<\/p>\n

To get you started, take a look at the words below and try to come up with another word that sounds the same but has a different meaning and spelling.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know what a word means, you can always look it up in a dictionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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aloud<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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hair<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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moor<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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plane<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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sew<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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new<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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bear<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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pair<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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right<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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board<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Now that you have some words to work with, choose some of the paired words to write punning sentences.\u00a0 To get your creative juices flowing you might like to take a look at this clip from the BBC program, The One Ronnie<\/em>.\u00a0 The sketch makes a lot<\/a> of jokes and puns (hint: think about what items we use (e.g. mobile phones, computers, game consoles) that have fruit-related names).<\/p>\n