Puns and The Last of Us
2023-03-31
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1The popular television series, The Last of Us, is based on a video game series with the same name.
2In it, teenager Ellie and middle-aged man Joel are survivors of a disastrous pandemic.
3They travel together across an extremely dangerous, violent America to try to reach safety.
4A fungal infection has destroyed much of humanity.
5Ellie is immune and may be the only hope to develop a vaccine.
6During their travels, they often have to fight murderous zombies, security forces and robbers.
7Along the way, Ellie finds a book of word jokes, called puns.
8She reads some of the puns to Joel, who does not think they are so funny.
9Today, we will explore three kinds of puns from Ellie's book, their meanings, and how puns are created.
10A pun is a kind of figurative language that uses a play of similarly sounding or similarly spelled words to create humor.
11Puns are used in writing but we also hear them in everyday speech.
12Three kinds of puns are based on the difference between the sounds, spellings, and meanings of the words used.
13The first kind of pun is made with homophones or words that sound the same or very similar but have different meanings and spellings.
14In The Last of Us, Ellie shares a pun about a mermaid in math class:
15"What did the mermaid wear to math class? An algae bra!"
16Here the play on words is the homophones "algae bra" and "algebra."
17A bra is a piece of clothing.
18Algae are water plants.
19And "algebra" is a kind of math.
20It is funny to picture a mermaid going to math class to study algebra in her algae bra.
21Although Joel does not find that pun funny, Ellie thinks it is hilarious.
22The next type of pun is a homographic pun.
23If words are homographic, they are spelled the same, but have different meanings.
24Ellie reads Joel another pun out of her book. This time it is a homographic one!
25"I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went... And then it dawned on me."
26Here the pun is with the word "dawn."
27The first meaning of "dawn" as a verb is to grow lighter as the sun rises in the morning.
28If someone would stay up all night, they would see the dawn.
29The next meaning of "dawn" is "to begin to think or understand something."
30If something dawns on you, you think about it in the moment.
31If someone is staying up all night and thinking about something, they might realize it in the morning, or it might dawn on them.
32And lastly, we have compound or double puns.
33Compound or double puns have two plays on words within the same pun.
34The puns could be homophonic, homographic or both!
35When Ellie first finds the book of puns, she starts off with this double pun:
36"It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope; it'll still be stationery."
37This pun includes the idiom "to push the envelope," which means to go beyond the usual or acceptable limits by doing something new, dangerous, or divisive.
38An envelope is also something that contains a letter for mailing.
39The second half of the pun includes the word "stationery."
40"Stationery" is equipment used to write letters, including pens, paper and, yes, envelopes.
41There is another word that sounds the same, but has a different meaning, "stationary" ending in "-ary" instead of an "-ery."
42"Stationary," "-ary," is an adjective that means still or without movement.
43When we first hear this pun, because speakers understand the idiom "to push the envelope" they think the joke is going to go one way.
44Then they hear the second half of the pun, and they realize it is about literal envelopes, this is where the double meaning comes in.
45"No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationary."
46The first meaning is that the envelope will not physically move, by using the adjective "stationary" that ends in "-ary."
47"No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery."
48The second meaning uses the plural noun of "stationery" that ends in "-ery," the letter writing materials.
49The meaning of this pun is that we cannot change envelopes because they will always be included in a box of stationery.
50In today's Everyday Grammar report, we learned about three kinds of puns.
51One is homophonic.
52It uses words that sound alike, but have different meanings.
53Another kind of pun is homographic, meaning words spelled the same, but having different meanings.
54The final kind are the double puns or compound pun.
55Compound puns use two or more puns into one to create multiple meanings.
56Are you like Joel, who does not find much humor in the puns? Or are you like Ellie, who gets a good laugh at these jokes?
57Let us know! Or tell us if you know other puns in English! Write to us in the comments or send us an email, learningenglish@voanews.com.
58I'm Faith Pirlo.
59And I'm Caty Weaver.
1The popular television series, The Last of Us, is based on a video game series with the same name. In it, teenager Ellie and middle-aged man Joel are survivors of a disastrous pandemic. They travel together across an extremely dangerous, violent America to try to reach safety. A fungal infection has destroyed much of humanity. Ellie is immune and may be the only hope to develop a vaccine. 2During their travels, they often have to fight murderous zombies, security forces and robbers. Along the way, Ellie finds a book of word jokes, called puns. She reads some of the puns to Joel, who does not think they are so funny. 3Today, we will explore three kinds of puns from Ellie's book, their meanings, and how puns are created. 4What are puns? 5A pun is a kind of figurative language that uses a play of similarly sounding or similarly spelled words to create humor. Puns are used in writing but we also hear them in everyday speech. 6Three kinds of puns are based on the difference between the sounds, spellings, and meanings of the words used. 7Homophonic puns 8The first kind of pun is made with homophones or words that sound the same or very similar but have different meanings and spellings. 9In The Last of Us, Ellie shares a pun about a mermaid in math class: 10"What did the mermaid wear to math class? An algae bra!" 11Here the play on words is the homophones "algae bra" and "algebra." A bra is a piece of clothing. Algae are water plants. And "algebra" is a kind of math. 12It is funny to picture a mermaid going to math class to study algebra in her algae bra. 13Although Joel does not find that pun funny, Ellie thinks it is hilarious. 14Homographic puns 15The next type of pun is a homographic pun. If words are homographic, they are spelled the same, but have different meanings. 16Ellie reads Joel another pun out of her book. This time it is a homographic one! 17"I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went... And then it dawned on me." 18Here the pun is with the word "dawn." The first meaning of "dawn" as a verb is to grow lighter as the sun rises in the morning. If someone would stay up all night, they would see the dawn. 19The next meaning of "dawn" is "to begin to think or understand something." If something dawns on you, you think about it in the moment. If someone is staying up all night and thinking about something, they might realize it in the morning, or it might dawn on them. 20Compound puns 21And lastly, we have compound or double puns. Compound or double puns have two plays on words within the same pun. The puns could be homophonic, homographic or both! 22When Ellie first finds the book of puns, she starts off with this double pun: 23"It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope; it'll still be stationery." 24This pun includes the idiom "to push the envelope," which means to go beyond the usual or acceptable limits by doing something new, dangerous, or divisive. 25An envelope is also something that contains a letter for mailing. 26The second half of the pun includes the word "stationery." "Stationery" is equipment used to write letters, including pens, paper and, yes, envelopes. 27There is another word that sounds the same, but has a different meaning, "stationary" ending in "-ary" instead of an "-ery." "Stationary," "-ary," is an adjective that means still or without movement. 28When we first hear this pun, because speakers understand the idiom "to push the envelope" they think the joke is going to go one way. Then they hear the second half of the pun, and they realize it is about literal envelopes, this is where the double meaning comes in. 29"No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationary." 30The first meaning is that the envelope will not physically move, by using the adjective "stationary" that ends in "-ary." 31"No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery." 32The second meaning uses the plural noun of "stationery" that ends in "-ery," the letter writing materials. The meaning of this pun is that we cannot change envelopes because they will always be included in a box of stationery. 33Final thoughts 34In today's Everyday Grammar report, we learned about three kinds of puns. One is homophonic. It uses words that sound alike, but have different meanings. Another kind of pun is homographic, meaning words spelled the same, but having different meanings. The final kind are the double puns or compound pun. Compound puns use two or more puns into one to create multiple meanings. 35Are you like Joel, who does not find much humor in the puns? Or are you like Ellie, who gets a good laugh at these jokes? 36Let us know! Or tell us if you know other puns in English! Write to us in the comments or send us an email, learningenglish@voanews.com. 37I'm Faith Pirlo. 38And I'm Caty Weaver. 39Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 40______________________________________________________________ 41Words in This Story 42fungus - n. a kind of plant without leaves that gets its food from other living or delaying things 43zombie - n. a dead body that walks around, as portrayed in fictional stories 44figurative - adj. used with a meaning that is different from the basic meaning 45mermaid - n. an imaginary sea creature that has a woman's head and body and a fish's tail instead of legs 46hilarious - adj. very funny 47dawn - v. to grow lighter as the sun rises in the morning; to begin to think or understand something 48envelope - n. an enclosing cover for a letter, card - at the Academy Awards, the winning name is written on a card in an envelope. 49stationery - n. paper that is used for writing letters and that usually has matching envelopes 50controversial - adj. causing a lot of disagreement or argument 51literal - adj. following the ordinary or usual meaning of the words 52_______________________________________________________________ 53What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. Write to us at learningenglish@voanews.com or leave us a comment below. 54We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 55Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.