What’s the internal temperature of a Tauntaun? Lukewarm. A pun is so much more than your average joke. It demonstrates an ability to expertly maneuver your way around language for humorous or rhetorical effect. Whether you want to add a dad joke or a hidden Easter egg to your script, you should learn the answer to, “What is a pun?”
Pun Definition and Pun Examples
First, let’s define a pun
Humor takes many forms. Satire aims to reveal a truth about society and/or human nature. Slapstick mocks violence and invites laughter from watching someone else get hurt. But what is a pun and why should you use them at any opportunity you have?
PUN DEFINITION
What is a pun?
A pun is a type of joke where the meaning of words is exploited or interchanged for humorous effect. While puns can be found in every language, English is particularly useful for forming them due to how it takes a little bit of various other languages, meaning there are plenty of wordplay opportunities among disparate definitions.
Take the following joke: “Why did someone lose their job at the Pixar cinema? They forgot to show Up!” The joke works on two levels, implying the employee forgot to arrive at the job at all and also that they didn’t show the Pixar film Up. You can avoid making the same mistake by reviewing our Up script analysis here.
Pun Examples With Movie Titles:
- Ratatouille
- The Aristocats
- Maid in Manhattan
- An American Tail
- Face/Off
- Shaun of the Deads
Puns have been around pretty much since the dawn of language. You can even find puns in the Bible, and at one point in time, they were considered the epitome of sophisticated rhetoric, as explained in this Just Write primer.
Just Write • Writing Puns
These days, puns tend to elicit groans rather than praise, but if you know what you’re doing, then you can showcase your mastery of the English language within your next screenplay made using StudioBinder’s screenwriting software.
Don’t let modern thinking prevent you from throwing in a good pun if you think of one. After all, you may just bring them back into high society.
PUN MEANING
Pun Examples in Literature
You can find puns everywhere, but they’re perhaps most easily digestible in literature since you can see them in writing. This means they can also be more subtle. Or not. Let’s take a page out of some of these writers’ books (pun intended).
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
“Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling; Being but heavy I will bear the light.”
Did you catch the pun there? Shakespeare (who may be the king of puns, among other things) uses light in two ways– as a source of illumination, but also as a descriptor of weight, the opposite of heavy.
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
“We had breakfast in the town of Soda, pop.”
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Soda, pop, fizzy drink, and so on.
Life of Galileo, Bertolt Brecht
“Only last night he was arguing that the earth goes round the sun. He’s got it into his head that some gentleman called Copper Knickers worked that one out.”
Here famed playwright Brecht has one of his youngest characters commit an inadvertent pun, referring to Nicolaus Copernicus as Copper Knickers.
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
“They seemed to think the opportunity lost, if they failed to point the conversation to me, every now and then, and stick the point into me.”
Both definitions of “point” at play in this passage from Great Expectations. If Dickens is using puns, you know they’re a good idea.PUN MEANING
Modern pun examples
When it comes to modern comedy, you may initially think of dark humor and political satire. But puns still have their place, and you can find them in some of the most critically-regarded pieces of work in the modern day.
Take Bob’s Burgers. Every episode has a different “Burger of the Day” on the chalkboard, which typically contains some kind of pun. Some of the best ones over the years have included the “Cauliflower's Cumin From Inside the House Burger” and the “Chile Relleno-You-Didn't Burger.”
Not only is there typically a pop culture reference to be found, but the name tells you precisely what makes that particular burger different.
However, when it comes to TV shows and puns, few are able to top Arrested Development. Puns are everywhere in this show like the name of the lawyer being Bob Loblaw, which is a play on “Blah blah blah” and incredibly appropriate for a lawyer who talks all of the time.
Arrested Development • Crafting Puns
There’s also the “very literal doctor,” who provided this gem of telling the Bluth family that Tobias would be “all right.”
Arrested Development • What Does Pun Mean
However, puns can be used in more ways than a quick joke. If used correctly, then you can use puns in your work to hide Easter eggs and foreshadow plot points. Let’s take a look at a film that ranks high on our list of best Pixar films of all time: The Incredibles.
In the movie, Bob is taken to Syndrome’s secluded island known as Nomanisan. It would be easy to assume it’s just a made-up place, but when you look closely and sound everything out, then Nomanisan Island becomes “No Man Is an Island.”
The whole point of the movie is that the Parr family is stronger when they work together as opposed to Syndrome, who works by himself. This is the lesson Bob needs to learn because early in the film, he tries to do everything on his own. He doesn’t tell them he lost his job, and he goes off on superhero adventures without his wife. He has to learn to embrace his family and that he shouldn’t expect himself to do everything all of the time.
Bob learns to work with his family
It’s not the kind of pun to make you burst into hysterics. But it may make you scratch your chin and say, “Ohhh, I see.”
WHAT DOES PUN MEAN?
Different pun examples in movies
Not all puns are created equal. While you may be tempted to refer to anything that plays with various words and their meanings as a “pun,” you may not exactly be on the mark. Here are some similar concepts you may want to wrap your head around.
Malapropism
A malapropism involves using the wrong word with an entirely different meaning than what you were going for in a sentence. This often results in a humorous outcome.
As an example, take this scene from Back to the Future, which we’ve imported into StudioBinder’s screenwriting software:
Back to the Future • Whats a Pun
The expression Young Biff was going for was, “Why don’t you make like a tree and leave?” That would’ve been a pun because “leave” refers to both departing an area and “leaves” that hang from trees.
Instead, he says “get out of here,” which doesn’t relate to trees at all and is therefore a malapropism. Since the audience was expecting the other phrase, it suddenly becomes funny all over again. You can check out more of our BTTF screenplay analysis here.
Double-Entendre
A double-entendre is a very specific type of pun where different meanings come into play, but they’re of a crude or sexual nature. It’s never a bad time to watch Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, so let’s take a look at this scene.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story • Pun in Literature
Dewey’s married, but he’s about to have an affair with another woman. And we know that temptation is there because him and the other woman sing a song called “Let’s Duet.” Get it? Like, “duet” as in a song sung by two people, and “Do it” as in… you know.
Spoonerism
A spoonerism is when the speaker swaps sounds within two different words. For example, if you were to accidentally call a “sad ballad” as a “bad salad,” then you would’ve just made a spoonerism.
It’s typically nonsensical and involves just having fun with sounds. It’s like in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star where the titular character’s catchphrase is, “That’s nucking futs!” You can figure out what that’s supposed to mean on your own.
WHY ARE PUNS CALLED PUNS
How to write puns well
Puns can help beef up your comedy screenplay. There are even pun competitions where you can get a standing ovation for the right turn of phrase. Here are a few tricks for honing the craft.
Understand the different kinds of puns
Literary puns come in all shapes and sizes. For starters, you have homophonic puns, which rely on interchanging words that sound the same. Take the old George Carlin joke: “Atheism is a non-prophet institution.”
There can also be visual puns, like this moment in Toy Story.
Toy Story • Pun Poetry
In this instance, the pun helps tell a more PG-13 joke within the confines of a children’s film, and it can only be done visually. On the page, it doesn’t have the explicit “kiss ass” connotation.
Toy Story PDF • Pun Example
Doesn’t sing in quite the same way, does it?
Free associate
Here’s a fun writing exercise you can do. Get a notebook and jot down various words. You can have a dictionary handy to help you out.
From there, find other words that could relate. For instance, we could write down “StudioBinder.” That makes us think of that one Phil Collins song that goes “Su-Sussudio.” Call us Weird Al because we’re thinking a parody could be in the works.
Listen to rap
Hear us out. Some of the best puns you’ll ever hear can be found in rap. Take a hint from one of the best punners in the game: Lil Wayne.
Lil Wayne Music Video • Writing Puns
“Real Gs move in silence like lasagna.” Not only is he talking about how his homies move quietly, but the “G” found in lasagna remains silent also. Of course, there’s also this line from Jay-Z’s “Brooklyn.”
Jay-Z • Pun Poetry
“I jack, I rob, I sin. Aw man, I’m Jackie Robinson.” It doesn’t get much better than that. Much like every facet of writing, you can get better by emerging yourself in the works of others. When you’re not typing out your next screenplay, you should be reading books, listening to music, and watching other films to give yourself new perspectives in language.
A pun done well is bound to impress. Hey, if it’s good enough for Shakespeare, it’s good enough for you.
Up Next
What is an Oxymoron?
The great thing about the English language is how it’s so malleable. In addition to playing around with words and sounds, you can combine seemingly disparate words together to create an oxymoron. No, that’s not a dumb person who somehow got into Occidental College (although that would make a pretty good pun). With a pen in your hand and an imagination big enough, words are your plaything, so keep reading to see how you can incorporate oxymorons into your writing, too.
