Pun not intended. Actually it is.

Merriam-Webster defines a pun as “the usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound.”

Puns are everywhere.

Shakespeare has proven that puns have a place. They can add to the story. His work is a balance of deep issues and crude jokes.

This has been the attitude for centuries. Jared Anthony, an English professor at SFCC, explained. The generation that followed Shakespeare didn’t like his writing. They thought it had too many puns. It wasn’t sophisticated enough for them.

John Dryden, an English poet and playwright, went so far as to rewrite some of Shakespeare’s work.

Anthony remarked on how many people see puns.

“I’ve never really fully understood what all this hostility towards puns is,” he said. “(They’re) considered lowbrow.”

Jason Nix, a journalism professor at SFCC, has no love lost on puns. The play on words doesn’t appeal to him. He thinks that millennials appreciate them more than his generation, Generation-X, does. Irony is what he prefers. He suggests that Generation-X does as well.

Puns have been a part of life for awhile now. Some love them and some hate them. This is true for many, if not all, things. It’s a personal preference with neither side right or wrong.

To pun or not to pun? That is the question.

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