The other day, I laughed for at least a minute after hearing an amazing joke consisting of puns. I love puns. I think that they’re the cleverest and funniest jokes ever. I know a lot of people don’t really find puns to be amusing, but I really enjoy them. The play on words is sometimes really clever and at other times really bad, but I find both to be equally punny. I loved it so much that I decided to share it with my friend and her cousins, who I had never met before, since they were the first people I saw after learning this new joke. After a brief introduction with my friend’s cousins, we were sitting quietly so I asked them if they wanted to hear a joke and the three said “sure”.
I was thrilled to tell it because I knew the joke was great. I mean it made me laugh for a quite some time so it was probably pretty good. First, however, I had to control my excitement to tell the joke calmly and correctly for even more hilarity. I looked at my dull faced audience, who I was ready to amuse. I then began,
“What did the vegetables say at the garden party?” I posed.
I received one semi-interested “what?” I grinningly glanced at my friend and her cousins and replied to the timely question,
“Lettuce turnip the beet.”
I let out a roaring laugh with the belief that the others were laughing with me. Once I began to gather myself, I saw slightly bemused faces. My first thought was that I had told the joke incorrectly, but I knew I hadn’t. If not that, maybe they didn’t understand the joke. I tried to explain how it was supposed to sound like “Let us turn up the beat,” but they said that they understood it. Consequently, I was in a slightly awkward situation because joke I promised to be hilarious turned out to be a flop in their eyes and I made strangers uncomfortable. I didn’t really know what to say, so we sat silent.
After a while I said, “I carrot believe you guys didn’t like the joke! In my op-onion it was hilarious.” I could sense that my friend and her cousins weren’t really amused and that they weren’t big fans of puns. One of the cousins then smiled, and said “Peas stop with the vegetable puns, they’re pretty bad.” We laughed the uncomfortable moment off and they decided that I shouldn’t use this joke again.
I guess the situation did become awkward, but in the end, we all had a fun time. So, if you ever are in a situation where you don’t know what to talk about with strangers, you can always tell a joke and have a pun-filled time! Okay, I’ll stop now for those of you who think these puns are corny. :)
Hooray! Few things excite me as much as a good pun, and now "lettuce turnip the beet" ranks among my favorites.
ReplyDeleteLet us punners stand up and proudly join arms against the tide of groaners. Don't let them squash your spirit. If they think it's corny, give them an earful. What the worst that can happen? Even if there's a pun police, they haven't collard anyone yet.
Of course, I yam of the op-onion there is mushroom in even the most arti-choked of hearts for puns.
AMEN
DeleteHonestly, I started laughing when i read that pun... well not out loud cause we were in class but in my head I was. I mean who in their right mind doesn't like puns?!? Anyway, great post! :)
ReplyDeleteI laughed so much at the puns in your post, and I totally understand the awkward situation it can create if others don't find it as amusing as I do. This was a really fun and relatable post!
ReplyDeleteI'm a person who just really hates puns so I can relate to the people you told the pun to. Something about puns just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's because I see it as not being clever and just making some just using some word association. Still, too each their own, I guess.
ReplyDeleteJokes are hard... Even if you pull one off perfectly and it gets a positive response, the results only last for a short time period :/
ReplyDeleteI'm going to say that your relatives should have at least given you smiles. It's only polite -- otherwise you get awkward moments (as you did).
I also think that puns are really great in some circumstances, but I'll admit that a lot of the time they can be pretty bad. Personally, whenever someone is talking my mind is just working to try and think of puns as responses, which I think are the best kind. Puns are better when they're not really planned, but you can just casually say them without putting too much emphasis on it, and then see if anyone else is clever enough to get them, although this often leads to getting frustrated when nobody does and having to point it out. Planned puns, though I like some of them, generally just seem sort of disappointing when they're sort of lame or too obvious, and a lot of people won't really be happy when you tell them, as I know from personal experience. They can still be good if they don't have an expected outcome, though.
ReplyDeleteTo finish up, here's a pun that I made up.
Why is it hard to get off of a Dutch plane?
Because it Netherlands.
I personally find your joke very funny, in part because of the vegetables' diction (it's so quaint to imagine someone wanting the volume of the presumably bass-heavy jams to be louder beginning their request with "Let us..."), in addition to the puns (which are pretty fresh, rather than of the groaner variety... no pun intended with "fresh" and "variety" in relation to vegetables : )
ReplyDelete(Also, Will, that's a pretty good puny joke! I think it's hard to come up with an original joke.)
I love your pun, and puns in general. I've never been quite skilled at the art of pun-making, but I know a good one when I see one :) Keep on making wonderful puns, and you're sure to find some wonderful people who will make puns with you! I wish you a more responsive audience next time.
ReplyDeleteIn some cases I agree with you, puns are the greatest, but sometime puns are just so cringe worthy, especially when the pun is extremely bad haha. I feel like puns can add a good humorous tone to the conversation, but like you said, if the pun is really bad, it can make the conversation really awkward.
ReplyDeletePuns are really risky, so kudos to you for trying them out. Sometimes I like telling a pun if I'm confident that the other person will laugh no matter what I say, but most of the time I'd rather forego the cringeworthy attempts and keep my mouth shut.
ReplyDeleteI was reading this and remembering how excited you were to tell this pun when we walked back from Kenney a few days ago:) I loved it (only, okay, this is embarrassing, I only realized there was the "turnip" part the next day, sitting in creative writing class)! I think puns are great, even though you don't know if you'll make a conversation awkward. And, of course, the best puns are the ones a teacher makes during a serious lecture in class:)
ReplyDeleteMariam, this is adorable! When you told me this pun the other day, I really enjoyed it! (But I also didn't get the turnip part until I read this post. That's probably because I don't eat turnips very often!) Did you come up with this pun yourself?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not. One of my friends told it to me (but I'm not sure where they got it from.)
DeleteOh my gourd, this post exceeded my wildest expectations. Your puns just can't be beet! In all seriousness, though, I've always found great puns to be impressive rather than cringey. Pun making is a hard skill, and I wish I could make clever puns whenever I wanted to. Even if your audience wasn't very amused at the time, I applaud your taste in humor.
ReplyDelete