Hm, I can't decide if the Victorian era would ultimately have taught me to "hear" a pun, or if I would have spent my life even more off-kilter about them. (For whatever reason I mostly don't "hear" puns...) I feel a bit guilty now about having tormented you with mine ^__^ But that's kind of interesting that you don't hear them. I certainly think I had to learn what puns and word play were all about when I was younger - I think perhaps getting the joke doesn't come naturally. I wonder if some people are more inclined to puns than others...
...and policemen too, as they represented authority, and they were shown as lazy, eating pies in the kitchen... Hee, which since has been updated to doughnuts. (Although that's probably an American variation of the trope, yeah?) I think so... Obviously British people eat doughnuts but policemen and their box of doughnuts feels innately American ^__^
in the 1954 TV series, Watson is an acknowledged wizard with Bradshaw: he can rattle off train times at the drop of a hat. :-) That was most impressive ^__^ And it was a lovely bit of history to know how flaming difficult the Bradshaw was for everyone ^__^
Well, to quote the play:
Algernon. Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it. You should leave that to people who haven’t been at a University. They do it so well in the daily papers. What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyists I know.
Jack. What on earth do you mean?
Algernon. You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with you at Willis’s to-night, for I have been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week.
I gather The Importance of Being Earnest is where the term originated. ...and I want to add a canon story to the list... Are you thinking of The Man With The Twisted Lip...? Not quite the same thing I suppose.
I remember when I was 13 borrowing Three Men in a Boat from the school library. And sitting in my classroom and reading it, and laughing out loud because it was so funny ^___^
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...and policemen too, as they represented authority, and they were shown as lazy, eating pies in the kitchen... Hee, which since has been updated to doughnuts. (Although that's probably an American variation of the trope, yeah?) I think so... Obviously British people eat doughnuts but policemen and their box of doughnuts feels innately American ^__^
in the 1954 TV series, Watson is an acknowledged wizard with Bradshaw: he can rattle off train times at the drop of a hat. :-) That was most impressive ^__^ And it was a lovely bit of history to know how flaming difficult the Bradshaw was for everyone ^__^
Well, to quote the play:
Algernon. Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it. You should leave that to people who haven’t been at a University. They do it so well in the daily papers. What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyists I know.
Jack. What on earth do you mean?
Algernon. You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with you at Willis’s to-night, for I have been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week.
I gather The Importance of Being Earnest is where the term originated. ...and I want to add a canon story to the list... Are you thinking of The Man With The Twisted Lip...? Not quite the same thing I suppose.
I remember when I was 13 borrowing Three Men in a Boat from the school library. And sitting in my classroom and reading it, and laughing out loud because it was so funny ^___^