The Pun Also Rises

A funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay's remarkable ... (more)

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. (less)