is there such a thing as a good pun?
I've noticed something. Any pun I laugh at is immediately followed with a groan for disbelieving that I could laugh at it. Puns can be clever, of course, but that doesn't mean they're GOOD. I use puns quite often because my dad has a terrible sense of humor and it's easy to make him laugh, so I was wondering if I was just overanalyzing it or are puns just so dumb that none of them are any good.
These are the questions I ask myself
http://www.punoftheday.com/cgi-bin/disppuns.pl?cat=0&ord=F=1?=0
Just found it, have a laugh.
@Animasta said:
@NTM said:
So, you can't laugh at something dumb?
see, this is what I was wondering. Are dumb jokes good? what makes a joke good, that it's funny? if I groan afterward doesn't that make it not funny? is everything I know about humor a lie!?
It doesn't matter, laugh at what you think is funny. If you do as you are, you're just trying to conform with what you believe others think is right and wrong, even when no one is there to notice it. Everyone's different, just laugh if it's funny to you.
@Animasta said:
@NTM said:
So, you can't laugh at something dumb?
see, this is what I was wondering. Are dumb jokes good? what makes a joke good, that it's funny? if I groan afterward doesn't that make it not funny? is everything I know about humor a lie!?
This is one of the things I hate about humanity trying to reach new levels of "sophistication": We have to over analyze comedy and make sure that the things that make us laugh are good and clever instead of being happy about the fact that we laughed, and we ruin video games by asking for too much story and turning them into movies instead of admitting that games are to be fucking played interactively, not watched.
IMO, and this is a general statement not one pointed at you personally, the moment you question a pun just to make sure you're mature and sophisticated is the moment you should realize you're still childish for worrying that you might be childish.
Just enjoy the laughs Animasta!
Puns are a bit like sarcasm: people tend to look down on them as a form of humour, but an appropriately applied pun of sarcastic comment (or a sarcastic pun!) can be totally fuckig hilarious.
I love a bad pun and admit it freely. Indeed, I make it my mission at work to ensure everyone throws bad puns around constantly (such as constant comments like "need a hand", "there's trouble afoot", "at least you've been forearmed for that meeting", etc for a colleague's contract he is running on artificial limbs)
Did you make this thread due to GaymerCon?
Yeah it crosses the line of so-bad-its-good and circles right back around to just being terrible@Tim_the_Corsair: I did! god it's SOOOOOOOO bad.
@AhmadMetallic said:
@Animasta said:
@NTM said:
So, you can't laugh at something dumb?
see, this is what I was wondering. Are dumb jokes good? what makes a joke good, that it's funny? if I groan afterward doesn't that make it not funny? is everything I know about humor a lie!?
This is one of the things I hate about humanity trying to reach new levels of "sophistication": We have to over analyze comedy and make sure that the things that make us laugh are good and clever instead of being happy about the fact that we laughed, and we ruin video games by asking for too much story and turning them into movies instead of admitting that games are to be fucking played interactively, not watched.
IMO, and this is a general statement not one pointed at you personally, the moment you question a pun just to make sure you're mature and sophisticated is the moment you should realize you're still childish for worrying that you might be childish.
Just enjoy the laughs Animasta!
*Slaps AhmadMetallic*
Shut your mouth, you may want to entertain yourself purely through a self-satisfactory avenue of entertainment that barely passes the Miller Test but some of us would like to see video games furthered as a narrative experience. Also comedy analysis exists so comedians can create new and effective material by having a deeper understanding of how people prefer their jokes, and a exceedingly well crafted joke just feels great to tell.
Lastly puns are funniest if you manage to nest them really well into your speech, it's why accidental puns always seem funnier.
Also sorry if I offended Metallic.
I like low-brow humor.
Therefore I like really awful puns. Like, a Max Scoville level of punster. So I guess what I'm saying is the best puns are the worst ones.
Puns are the highest form of comedy. So high brow in fact that the reason most people moan is because they lack the intelligence to understand the complexities and intricate beauty that goes into a great pun. I'm playing Guild Wars 2 at the moment, and my first class was the engineer. My default name for any engineer class I make is always Fungineer, but it was taken. So instead I used Pungineer. I was rather proud of that one.
I think every pun is hilarious. I don't care how much of a low-hanging fruit it is, just the fact that you went out of your way to make a pun out of whatever it was is fucking hilarious.
It doesn't really work unless you say it out loud. As long as it makes you laugh it's good, even if you're laughing ironically. There's an awesome one about a frayed knot.
@Blackout62 said:
@AhmadMetallic said:
@Animasta said:
@NTM said:
So, you can't laugh at something dumb?
see, this is what I was wondering. Are dumb jokes good? what makes a joke good, that it's funny? if I groan afterward doesn't that make it not funny? is everything I know about humor a lie!?
This is one of the things I hate about humanity trying to reach new levels of "sophistication": We have to over analyze comedy and make sure that the things that make us laugh are good and clever instead of being happy about the fact that we laughed, and we ruin video games by asking for too much story and turning them into movies instead of admitting that games are to be fucking played interactively, not watched.
IMO, and this is a general statement not one pointed at you personally, the moment you question a pun just to make sure you're mature and sophisticated is the moment you should realize you're still childish for worrying that you might be childish.
Just enjoy the laughs Animasta!
*Slaps AhmadMetallic*
Shut your mouth, you may want to entertain yourself purely through a self-satisfactory avenue of entertainment that barely passes the Miller Test but some of us would like to see video games furthered as a narrative experience. Also comedy analysis exists so comedians can create new and effective material by having a deeper understanding of how people prefer their jokes, and a exceedingly well crafted joke just feels great to tell.
Lastly puns are funniest if you manage to nest them really well into your speech, it's why accidental puns always seem funnier.
Also sorry if I offended Metallic.
AhmadMetallic was not talking about narrative, he was talking about games becoming nothing more than a sightseeing tour where you push some buttons to move between each set; this is as opposed to, say, Deus Ex, where you feel like you're given a goal, a set of toys, and an area to complete that goal in however manner you like. There isn't anything wrong with expanding narrative in games, what's wrong is exchanging gameplay depth for action set pieces or cutscenes that try to pass as gameplay by making you push X to not die.
On the topic of puns, if someone thinks lesser of me for laughing at them then fuck those guys. I'm having fun.
If James Bond knew about this thread he'd simultaneously be spinning in his grave and vomiting in disgust. It'd be a mess. That guy loves puns
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