Amuse-bouche:

I once entered ten puns into a contest, hoping one of them would win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.

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Today’s Wonderful Word(s): « jeu de mots » (m)

Literal translation: “game of words”

Figurative translation: “pun”

(m) = masculine. The word « jeu » is a masculine noun in French.

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“Pun” can also be a verb meaning to make a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word. Example sentence: Her first puzzle punned on composers, with answers like “Handel with care” and “Haydn go seek.” 

The words “double entendre” and “pun” are both about double meanings. The origins of “pun” likely come from the Italian word “puntiglio” meaning “fine point, quibble.”

Our amuse-bouche today is a great example of a pun. No pun in ten did. No pun intended. Ha. And the picture above it? Toilet trees. Toiletries. Ha.

Another example – as briefly explained in a previous post – the French word for “Saturday” is « Samedi, » which puns with « ça me dit » (or « ça m’dit » in spoken French).

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Side note: Don’t forget that you can listen to the audio block at the bottom of this page to hear the subtle differences in pronunciation.

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Other jeux de mots:

• Don’t take those countertops for granite.
• We should get French ship tattoos!
• I didn’t realize those were real eyes telling me reel lies.

I once saw a custom license plate in a parking garage near the San Antonio riverwalk. It said “314rat.” The driver had used a Sharpie to add a decimal point between the 3 and the 1.

Get it???

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There are enough puns online to make a bun dance. You could say the internet’s got an abundance of puns, but that’s not to say I’m not always looking for more. Send me your favorite pun in the comments below.

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Answer to Saturday’s riddle:

Corn on the cob

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A+