THE PUN

Shannon News, 29 June 1926, Page 2

THE PUN

AN ANCIENT FORM OF WIT.

Professor Stephen Leacock - has poured scorn on the English predilection for making puns, a form of humour, lie declares, unintelligible as mch in the New World. We can plead tradition, but perhaps Professor Leacock is justified, for even the most amusing pun does cause the smile that is wry; tine, lured faintly with irritation; and the worthy John Dennis, who vowed that a man who would make a ■ pun would pick a pocket, must have the sympathy of many for his peevish outburst.

And yet more witty sayings are puns than puns are witty sayings. There is the famous grace spoken at dinner by Charles I’s Court Jester: “Great praise to God and little Laud ! o the devil.” One -imagines the stately archbishop’s irritation iu this case!

A pun attributed to Gregory the Great on seeing British captives for sale at Rome was “Not Angles, but angels,” so we may assume that the habit was not unknown in those days, whether regarded as wit or otherwise. In mediaeval times, too, punning must have been rife, as witness the humorous heraldic instances. In Henry lll.’s reign Adam de Swynebourne was granted three boars as his armorial cognizance, the family of Knyvotte three silver knives, and that of Hopton a lion hopping on a tun, all undeniable puns though the last is very crude wit. However, a glance through Faii-bairn will reveal scores of simi. lar examples. I Punning seems to have reached a fever-heat about fifty years ago with the publication of “Puniana,’’ under the editorship of the Hon. Hugh Rowley, a two series magnum . opus containing, according to the publishes announcement .over 10,000 out. rageous puns—and the adjective is Italian, French and English, some fully merited. There are puns in of them puerile in the extreme, though others can perhaps claim ingenuity if not humour. Thus: This is what you -Macaulay rid.

die. if you saw a house on fire what three celebrated authors Avould you feci disposed to name? Answer: Dickens Howitt Burns! And so oil, ad lib. We will suppose our fathers laughed even if we cannot. It is more refreshing to recall the bon mot attributed to a certain witty celebrity, who, on being asked if he had ever been to Cork, replied: “No, but I’ve seen many drawings of it.” But of the making of puns there can bo no end.