Kristin Lems U NITED S TATES

Laughing All the Way: Teaching English Using Puns

nderstanding jokes is part Even native speakers need to access of the process of native lan- a great deal of linguistic information Uguage acquisition, and jokes and background knowledge to “get” are part of the charm that belongs to a joke (Aarons 2012). At the same any language. Learning to understand time, jokes that are based on word- jokes in a new language is both a play in another language can be really cause, and a consequence, of language hard to understand because they need proficiency (Cook 2000). to be processed very quickly. In a The most obvious benefit of under- social setting where everyone is stand- standing jokes is that it can help stu- ing around chatting, understanding dents feel more comfortable in their a joke that comes up may seem like new language. A shared moment of a high-stakes test. Not understand- humor lowers the affective filter, that ing a joke in this situation can make invisible barrier that makes learners feel someone feel like an outsider and cre- awkward and uncomfortable. A low ate a sense of isolation. For all these affective filter is one of the cornerstones reasons, an important part of learning of successfully learning a new language a new language is learning to enjoy (Krashen 1982). If a class can laugh its jokes. together, they are likely to learn better Puns: A special form of joke together, too. Jokes based on word- Puns are a special form of humor play have additional benefits because based on double meanings. Puns are they build metalinguistic awareness, or sometimes nicknamed “the lowest conscious awareness of the forms of lan- form of humor” and often greeted guage, and this, in turn, helps in learn- with groans, but in fact, the language ing more language (Ely and McCabe knowledge needed to understand a pun 1994; Zipke 2008; Lems 2011). In is very sophisticated (Pollack 2011). particular, metalinguistic awareness Because they require processing the boosts reading comprehension and sound and meaning of words twice, encourages higher-order thinking. puns demand considerable language

26 2013 NUMBER 1 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM agility. Unlike humor based on sight gags, betic, numeric, or simplified spelling. Using funny facial expressions, or amusing visual teacher-friendly terms, we will look at each arrangements, the humor of puns is based on of these categories in turn. It is important to language play. note that there are other kinds of jokes and Puns are also language-specific. Every lan- humorous word games that are not puns, and guage has its own puns and wordplay, includ- that not all puns fall into these four categories. ing languages that do not use alphabetic However, thousands do, and that should be writing systems. Mandarin, for example, has enough to warrant their use in the classroom. puns based on the sounds and appearance of Chinese logograms. For example, the Manda- Category 1: Soundalike puns (homophones) rin word for “fish” creates a pun based on a Soundalike puns are based on homophones, close pronunciation with the word for “abun- words that sound the same, but have different dance,” and for that reason, the fish occurs spellings and meanings (e.g., hair/hare; to/too/ in many Chinese illustrations as a symbol of two). In soundalike puns, a phrase or sentence wealth. The similarity of the sounds creates contains a word with the same sound but two the pun, and fluent Mandarin speakers under- meanings. An example of a soundalike pun is the sign for a daycare provider that reads “Wee stand it effortlessly. Care Day Care.” The words we and wee are Because it has been fed by many streams, homophones, which gives “Wee Care” two English has a wonderful reservoir of sources for meanings. On the one hand, the phrase “we puns. Puns can be found not only in children’s care” serves as a statement of philosophy by joke books and on TV, but also in environmental the business to show that they care about the print found in daily life—in menus, newspaper children they take care of; at the same time, headlines, billboards, websites, signs, advertising, the spelling of wee creates the compound noun and especially the names of small businesses. “Wee Care,” which means care of “little ones” Since puns do not transfer between languages, or “children.” The meaning of the compound they need to be taught; however, they are rarely noun, which can be paraphrased as “care of included in lesson plans or content units. One little ones,” adds an appealing dimension to reason for this is that humorous language the name of the business. The combination of is sometimes—wrongly—considered inappro- the two meanings conveys a bit of charm and priate for the language classroom. However, humor and thus makes a simple name a lot thousands of puns are perfectly appropriate more memorable. for students of any age. Another reason is that teachers of English may not understand exactly Category 2: Lookalike puns how puns work and therefore feel hesitant to (polysemous words) try to use them. Polysemous words are spelled and pro- This article lays out four categories of nounced the same and have related meanings English puns, provides some practice in clas- (e.g., “ruler” as a measuring stick or a king; sifying them, and suggests how they might “mole” as a burrowing mammal or a spy). Poly- be incorporated into the English learning semous words create lookalike puns. An exam- classroom. The puns described here are found ple of a lookalike pun can be found in a sign for in environmental print and related venues a small business, observed by the author while around Chicago, Illinois, but they are repre- driving in Montana: “Blind Man—Window sentative of many settings and locales where Blinds of Every Kind.” This lookalike pun English is spoken. attracts the attention of drivers going by on the road by implying that a blind man lives nearby Four categories of English puns and they ought to drive more slowly (American English puns generally fall into four cat- street signs often alert drivers that a blind or egories, three of which are well established deaf resident lives on that block). A second and are based on homophones, polysemous meaning of “blind,” however, is window blinds, words, and close-sounding words (Lems and put together with the word “man,” it forms 2011). A fourth, newer category of puns is a compound noun, “blind man,” or “a man now emerging through texting and instant who sells window blinds.” The second mean- messaging and is based on the use of alpha- ing identifies the nature of the small business

E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM | N UMBER 1 2013 27 (the graphic on the sign showing horizontal Texting puns are being created every day slats reinforces the idea of window blinds). The as people play with their wireless devices and combined effect of the graphic and the looka- look for ever more economical, nuanced ways like pun is that a person driving by the sign to convey their messages. An example of a reads it, ponders its two meanings, is momen- texting pun is found in the popular Ameri- tarily amused, and is more likely to remember can car insurance advertisement that reads and patronize the business—or at least that is “0 CRDT CHX.” To understand this, we what the owners hope! mentally change the first symbol into the As one can see, soundalike puns and look- word zero, then insert the missing vowels for alike puns may be based on a single word or the word credit, and insert the missing vowel one word within a larger unit, such as a com- and correct the spelling for the third set of let- pound noun. ters, to obtain the word checks. Put together, the phrase “Zero Credit Checks” informs Category 3: Close-sounding puns potential customers that they can purchase A third kind of English pun comes from this auto insurance without going through the confusion generated by similar sound- any credit checks, something which people ing words. When one word is substituted with bad credit records will be glad to know! for another that sounds like it, whether the Simplified spellings save money for sign substitution is for a single word or part of a makers, so they are always looking for ways phrase, that can create a close-sounding pun. to convey the message of a product or service An example of a close-sounding pun is a sign using fewer letters. It is easy to simplify spelling seen on a van in Chicago: “Ex-stink Sewer and in English because English bears many spelling Drainage.” This humorous title for a plumb- patterns from its Germanic and Old English ing business is based on the close pronun- origins. Many English words no longer look ciation of “Ex-stink” and the word extinct. By like they sound, so it is possible to find other looking at the words on the van (which also ways to represent the sounds of the word. For has a painted picture of a toilet!), we can fig- example, doughnut is often written as donut, ure out that “Ex-stink” must indicate that the and the word light is increasingly spelled as lite business will get rid of the bad smell, or stink, when referring to the reduced calories found in one’s plumbing, and the words “sewer and in processed food and beverages. Another drainage” on the side of the van confirm that. example of simplified spelling is the name of However, the second meaning, with a slightly the eyeglass company, “SPEX.” It takes a word altered pronunciation, is “extinct,” which sug- for glasses, specs (a short form of the word spec- gests that the unpleasant smell will not just tacles), and simplifies its spelling by swapping go away, but, like an extinct species, disap- in an “x” for the spelling pattern “cks.” pear forever. As is the case for the other two examples, this small business achieves humor Additional pun examples through its signage, and the humor of the sign As an aid to differentiating between puns, makes it memorable. Table 1 contains additional examples of puns classified into the four specified categories. Category 4: Texting puns (alphabetic, numeric, and simplified spelling) Puns inside idioms Alphabetic, numeric, and simplified spell- Many pun jokes can also be made using ing can create texting puns. These are based English idioms, which are a rich source of on the increasingly common practice of using pun humor. The difficulty level of these puns the sound and/or spelling of alphabet letters, is often high, as they require more advanced numbers or symbols, or simplified spelling as language proficiency, background knowledge, a way to represent or “spell” a word. Examples and cultural exposure to be understood. Here might be “cre8” for the word create, or are two examples of puns used in idioms: “@mosphere” for atmosphere. When we see a texting pun, first we try to silently decode it, • “Ben Franklin used to fly his kite in the and if we cannot figure it out, then we silently storm because he got a charge out of it.” “sound it out” in our minds, imagine how it This is a lookalike pun on the phrase “get would sound, and then understand the joke. a charge out of something,” which means

28 2013 NUMBER 1 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM Four Categories of Puns Soundalike Puns 1. Teacher: Tell me something that conducts electricity. Student: Why, er… Teacher: Yes, wire! Now name a unit of electrical power. Student: A what? Teacher: Yes, a watt! Very good. 2. Two peanuts were walking down the street, and one was a salted (assaulted). 3. My three-year-old daughter is resisting a rest (arrest)! 4. I practice my handwriting because it’s the write (right) thing to do.

Lookalike Puns 1. Teacher: Selma, what’s the highest form of animal life? Selma: A giraffe? 2. Barry: What travels faster, hot or cold? Mary: Hot. You can always catch cold. 3. Question: How do you stop a charging bull? Answer: Take away its credit card. 4. Question: What did the road say to the bridge? Answer: You make me cross.

Close-sounding Puns 1. The barber went to the bank and opened a shaving account. 2. Question: How did you keep your dog out of the street? Answer: I took her to the Barking Lot. 3. A skunk fell in a river and stank to the bottom. 4. Sign on a bake shop: “We bake to differ.”

Texting Puns (See the translations at the end of the article.) 1. GINVU! 2. R U L8? 3. Hotel sign: Gr8 r8s 4. Why is 10 scared? Because 7 8 9. Table 1. Examples of four pun categories

E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM | N UMBER 1 2013 29 to “really enjoy something.” This pun also 2. Elliott, R. 2010. Laugh out loud jokes alludes to the fact that we know Ben Franklin for kids. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell. once received an electric shock when a key 3. Hills, T. 2000. My first book of knock- suspended from his kite was hit by lightning. knock jokes. New York: Simon and • Knock knock/Who’s there? — Brighton/ Schuster. Brighton who? — Up Brighton early 4. Lewman, D. 2000. Joke book. New York: just to see you today. Simon Spotlight/Nickelodeon. (This is based on SpongeBob SquarePants char- This is a soundalike pun with the same pro- acters.) nunciation of “Brighton” (a name) and part 5. Rosenbloom, J. 1986. Nutty knock of the idiomatic expression “bright and early.” knocks! New York: Sterling.

How English language learners process Before building your own repertoire of puns puns, however, you might want to practice To understand any of these puns, students classifying the four categories of puns. To learning English must go through several begin, try to classify each of the ten puns steps. First, they must recognize the mean- in Table 2 into one of the four categories. ing of the original word or phrase. In many (Answers are at the end of the article.) cases, there is a common idiom or current Puns are a natural outgrowth of language phrase that needs to be explained. Then, they and word study (Lems, Miller, and Soro 2010). must recognize and be able to access a second For example, when teachers introduce homo- meaning for one of the words. If it is a close- phones, it makes sense to illustrate the idea sounding pun, students must be able to figure through examples of puns based on homo- out what the other word sounds like, which phones. Similarly, when teachers introduce the is a challenging task in one’s second language. concept that words can have multiple related Then, they need to pull together the two meanings that are sometimes very divergent, it possible meanings of the word and compare only makes sense to show how these multiple them in the context of the phrase or sentence. meanings can lead to misunderstandings and When all of those steps are complete, there point out that some of the misunderstand- is a moment where the two meanings come ings can be quite funny. As mentioned earlier, together, and it’s time to laugh. close-sounding puns are hard to process, and Once we “unpack” all these steps, we gain any examples teachers give to introduce them a new appreciation of the complexity required should be at the easiest level possible. to understand an English pun. To add to the Texting puns are a different case. They are challenge, most puns are expected to be under- probably part of your students’ lives already, stood within about a half second. As I have and simple acronyms such as “BFF” (best studied puns, I have come to the conclusion friends forever) or “LOL” (laugh out loud) that the hardest of the four categories is close- are familiar to students all around the world. sounding puns because they are spoken quickly However, not all texting puns may be in Eng- and require making an association between lish, as nearly every language has shortened two words that have nothing in common but forms of words for texting, and these can be similar sounds. This often requires an advanced used to create a lot of clever innovations. It English language proficiency level. is possible that your students will be able to locate some of them for you, and student Teaching puns input can help create a good language learn- If you want to incorporate puns into your ing activity. (Of course, we need to keep a lessons, you can start by building a pun col- sharp eye out for any inappropriate puns with lection. The following five references contain double entendres.) numerous examples of puns and other jokes Student pun collecting that can be used in the classroom: If you are in a setting in which English 1. Adler, D. A. 1988. Remember Betsy signs, product labels, and advertisements are Floss! And other colonial American rid- abundant outside your classroom, you can dles. New York: Bantam Skylark. ask students to look for puns. Puns can be

30 2013 NUMBER 1 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM Ten Puns Circle the correct pun category: S = Soundalike; L = Lookalike; C = Close-sounding; T = Texting 1. Knock Knock/ Who’s there? S L C T Wooden Shoe. Wooden Shoe who? Wooden Shoe like to hear another joke? 2. Q: What kind of bird is found at S L C T a construction site? A: A crane. 3. Q: How can you spell “cold” with S L C T two letters? A: IC. 4. Q: What kind of flower grows on S L C T your face? A: Tulips! 5. Q: How does a tree get on the S L C T Internet? A: It logs on. 6. Q: Where do sheep go to get a S L C T haircut? A: The baa-baa shop. 7. Q: What are the strongest days? S L C T A: Saturday and Sunday, because the rest are week days. 8. Q: What letter is never in the S L C T alphabet? A: The one that you mail. 9. URAQT! S L C T 10. Peek a boo — ICU! S L C T

Table 2. Pun classification exercise found everywhere, from restaurant menus to sources, puns can be created or made available advertisements at train and bus stops. Once in the classroom. You can keep a collection of students are trained to look for the double silly-joke books in the classroom and allow meanings, they will begin to notice a lot of students to look at them during their spare puns. They can jot them down or sketch or time. When they start to understand puns, photograph them and bring them into the you can ask them to illustrate one. When classroom to share. In fact, the ESL teachers I they get really good at it, they might even be teach often text me photographs of puns they moved to create a pun of their own! encounter from all around the world. Another great way to add pun work to the When students do not have access to classroom on a regular basis is through a Joke of an environment with plentiful English print the Day project. Matt Granger (personal com-

E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM | N UMBER 1 2013 31 munication) has his third-grade ESL learners and humor create a stimulating and comfort- in Illinois choose jokes from a joke book and able environment for English language learn- practice reading them in pairs. When they are ers, and they will be enriched by the exposure ready, the pairs record their jokes. Granger’s to a wealth of valuable vocabulary, idioms, lesson plan asks students to (1) perform the and other language features. Eventually, as joke once, (2) tell the source from which the students catch on to the puns, the delay until joke came, (3) explain how the joke works, and the laughter breaks out will become shorter, (4) perform the joke a second time. This kind the groans will get louder, and the grins will of fluency practice helps build students’ sense get wider. Once students understand the of humor, their class spirit, their expressive basic structure of puns, you can use them reading, and their confidence in joke telling. to animate and delight a classroom in just a Granger adds a prerecorded “laugh track” to few minutes’ time. When students are enjoy- all of the jokes and uploads them to a website ably engaged in telling and hearing puns, the where students and their families can enjoy whole class gets the last laugh. them again and again (Granger 2012). References Puns on the Internet Aarons, D. 2012. Jokes and the linguistic mind. New York: Routledge. Puns can be shown through images as well Cook, G. 2000. Language play, language learning. as in written or spoken words. One source of New York: Oxford University Press. puns based on visual images can be found in Deyber, R. 2012. Robert Deyber. www.robertdey- the work of American painter Robert Deyber, ber.com whose surrealistic paintings are usually based Ely, R., and A. McCabe. 1994. The language play of kindergarten children. First Language 14 on visual puns. They are thought provok- (40): 19–35. ing and funny, and each painting evokes a Granger, M. 2012. Joke of the day podcast: Where you chuckle. Some of his paintings can be viewed can learn English while you laugh. http://nlutie. on the Internet (Deyber 2012). When you com/mgranger/jotd/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html Krashen, S. D. 1982. Principles and practice in sec- look at the elements in his paintings and put ond language acquisition. New York: Pergamon. them together, you will find that they often Lems, K. 2011. Pun work helps English learners get create a compound word, such as his paint- the joke. The Reading Teacher 65 (3): 197–202. ing called “The Box Spring,” which shows Lems, K., L. D. Miller, and T. M. Soro. 2010. tiny wrapped packages floating down a small Teaching reading to English language learners: Insights from linguistics. New York: Guilford. stream (a spring). Pollack, J. 2011. The pun also rises: How the humble It should be noted that some humor sites pun revolutionized language, changed history, and on the Internet—a popular destination for made wordplay more than some antics. New York: jokes—may include gross or vulgar humor Gotham. or may try to cull personal information. Joke Zipke, M. 2008. Teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with riddles. The books or humor pages sponsored by estab- Reading Teacher 62 (2): 128–37. lished educational publishers are the safest and most reliable source at this time. Bear Translation of Table 1 Texting Puns: 1–Gee, in mind that you may be able to use a joke I envy you!; 2–Are you late?; 3–Great Rates; collection intended for younger children even 4–Because 7 ate 9. if you teach older learners. That is because native English-speaking children “get” many Answers to Pun Classification Exercise: jokes based on word games by the time they 1–C; 2–L; 3–T; 4–S; 5–L; 6–C; 7–S; 8–L; are four or five years old, but English lan- 9–T; 10–T guage learners may be quite a bit older before KRISTIN LEMS they reach the needed proficiency level to , EdD, is a Professor in the ESL/Bilingual Education Program at understand and enjoy the same jokes. National Louis University, Chicago. She was a Fulbright scholar doing EFL Teacher Conclusion Education in Algeria for two years and is Making jokes and puns a component of now an English Language Specialist with your language teaching introduces a special the U.S. Department of State. She is also challenge that has many rewards. Wordplay a performing folk singer.

32 2013 NUMBER 1 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM Possible Answers for Categorization Task in Figure 3 (continued from p.11 ) Instructional Enhancements… • Fredricka L. Stoller, Neil J Anderson, William Grabe, and Reiko Komiyama

TRANSITION WORD CATEGORIES To add information To show cause and To explain, give To compare and reasons effect reasons

also accordingly actually by comparison besides as a consequence admittedly likewise equally as a result certainly similarly further consequently for example furthermore then in fact in addition therefore indeed moreover thus really too of course that is

To summarize To contrast To show sequence To show chronological order

in all however first subsequently in a word instead second later in brief in spite of next next briefly anyhow then after in short nevertheless finally afterwards in summary on the contrary last then on the other hand now otherwise nowadays still concurrently simultaneously first formerly earlier previously before

E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM | N UMBER 1 2013 33