# Subtle Puns **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735 "2006-10-08T19:51:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/21 "2006-10-10T19:32:48Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] OK, I know what “the dog days of summer” are, but I still don’t get it. This thread is making me feel a little dense. [/QUOTE] Reread the Wikipedia article. [Posts 306 and 307](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7856122#post7856122) in this thread were pretty sublime, I think. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/22 "2006-10-10T19:33:17Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] OK, I know what “the dog days of summer” are, but I still don’t get it. This thread is making me feel a little dense. [/QUOTE] The dog days of summer are so-called because they happen during the time you can Sirius (The Dog Star) before sunrise. The rest of the year it’s too close to the sun, or something, and you can’t see it. Sirius is pronounced “serious”. Hence the punnage. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/23 "2006-10-10T19:33:58Z")
Sirius-ly ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/24 "2006-10-10T19:36:23Z")
Ohh. Sirius. Duh. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/25 "2006-10-10T19:58:56Z")
[QUOTE=Finagle] Another example is Errol, the whittle in “Guards! Guards!” “Whittle” sounds like a derogatory term unles you know [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Whittle). [/QUOTE] That’s also good foreshadowing. Another Discworld one. In 'Soul Music, the troll who acts as general dogsbody for the Band With Rocks In is named Asphalt. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/26 "2006-10-10T20:11:18Z")
I still maintain that, in a discussion of kilts and their wearers, covering irish kilts and others, a description of someone insisting only that Scotsmen wore them properly, is best called a ‘Nae Trews’ Scotsman post. Nobody got it. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/27 "2006-10-10T20:22:42Z")
I once wrote a message to a friend that said “I wish I could play the piano. You might say I have pianist envy.” It took him three weeks to realize that was a pun. And he married me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/28 "2006-10-10T20:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=flodnak] I once wrote a message to a friend that said “I wish I could play the piano. You might say I have pianist envy.” It took him three weeks to realize that was a pun. And he married me anyway. [/QUOTE] During the fall carnival, the university I attended had the ever popular jail, wherein, for a small donation, one could have another student or even (under certain circumstances) a faculty or staff member “arrested” and held for a short period of time (25¢/15 minutes). Unless, of course, they paid their “bail” (50¢/15 minutes) and earned an early release. One day I passed by the jail to find our resident assistant (who happened to be Australian) staring morosely out the barred window. Unable to resist, I smiled at him and said “Remind you of home?” He glared at he and informed me that Americans, one and all, had penal colony envy. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/29 "2006-10-11T14:50:13Z")
As my final trick in my close-up magic set, I move a punched out hole from one of my business cards to another one. When I’m done I give the card to the spectator and say, “And that’s the whole trick.” Not many get it, but then you have to have a few jokes in there just for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/30 "2006-10-11T14:58:37Z")
In a recent strip of the webcomic _Ugly Hill_, the main character and his best friend went to the local store: “Fieffinger’s Discount Store” ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/31 "2006-10-12T00:31:01Z")
**CalMeacham’s** previous sig was another brilliant one, understood only by fans of Cordwainer Smith, such as myself. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the current one refers to. Here’s a story I’ve related on the board before. Around 1960, when I was about 10, I saw the Ernie Kovacs shows being broadcast at the time. I saw this skit. I thought it was moderately funny. It had no dialog and was set to music I didn’t recognize. I saw the skit again one evening in 1977 when it was broadcast on PBS, and I’ll describe it fully now. I must emphasize, I now recognized the music. The music started out quietly and spooky. A surgical operation was beginning, and the usual visual cliches were used. [Spoiler]This went on for a minute or two, when the music suddenly became lively, and the doctors and nurses appeared to be laughing under their masks. Then the music became triumphant, and the camera revealed not an operating room, but a dining room table, and the operation was really the carving of a roast turkey. The next day at work, after morning break, I thought to myself, “Hmm, that sketch was funny. Operating room, roast turkey, music by Igor Stravinsky from his ballet “The Firebird”. Yeah that was…” Then, out loud I screamed “OH NOOOOOOO!!!”[/spoiler] At one time I e-mailed my story to his widow, Edie Adams, via the Ernie Kovacs Fan Club. She got a big kick out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/32 "2006-10-12T14:02:34Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] \*\* Around 1960, when I was about 10, I saw the Ernie Kovacs shows being broadcast at the time. I saw this skit. I thought it was moderately funny. It had no dialog and was set to music I didn’t recognize. I saw the skit again one evening in 1977 when it was broadcast on PBS, and I’ll describe it fully now. I must emphasize, I now recognized the music. The music started out quietly and spooky. A surgical operation was beginning, and the usual visual cliches were used. [Spoiler]This went on for a minute or two, when the music suddenly became lively, and the doctors and nurses appeared to be laughing under their masks. Then the music became triumphant, and the camera revealed not an operating room, but a dining room table, and the operation was really the carving of a roast turkey. The next day at work, after morning break, I thought to myself, “Hmm, that sketch was funny. Operating room, roast turkey, music by Igor Stravinsky from his ballet “The Firebird”. Yeah that was…” Then, out loud I screamed “OH NOOOOOOO!!!”[/spoiler] At one time I e-mailed my story to his widow, Edie Adams, via the Ernie Kovacs Fan Club. She got a big kick out of it. [/QUOTE] I don’t get it. Too subtle for me to pick up on. Care to explain? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/33 "2006-10-12T14:06:30Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Pun with Cheese: Cooking Knowledge and Straight Dope Knowledge. But explaining, of course, causes Humor Molecules to be leaked off into the atmosphere, so it’s no longer funny. (If it ever was funny to anyone but me.) [/QUOTE] I saw this joke. I thought it was funny. > [@Noone Special](#): > > Hijack of hijack – “Disecting Humor is like disecting a frog in biology lab. Nobody really enjoys it, and the frog usually dies as a result” > [/ H.o.H.] But I liked _dissecting_. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/34 "2006-10-12T14:19:02Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] But I liked _dissecting_. [/QUOTE] Oh, OK, mee know spel gud. But at least I’m punny. Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/35 "2006-10-12T19:00:50Z")
**rowrrbazzle** , I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/36 "2006-10-12T19:53:24Z")
> [@](#): > > CalMeacham’s previous sig was another brilliant one, understood only by fans of Cordwainer Smith, such as myself. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the current one refers to. 1.) Why, thank you. 2.) It refers to the end of the Shyamalan movie **Signs** , which many Dopers are annoyed with (and which many seem to love), drawing a parallel between the fate of the ugly-looking green alien in that and the ugly green witch at the end of the 1939 **Wizard of Oz** , using her lines from the end. I especially liked the idea of the alien shouting “What a world! What a world!”. It’s not a great sig, but I needed to change the old one. 3.) I have to third the comments about your spoilered post – I don’t get it, either. You’ll have to explain it. C’mon – I explained mine! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/37 "2006-10-12T20:05:31Z")
NPR plays little musicle clips after stories that sometimes relate to the story. Once, after a story about a guy who developed a way to tenderize meat using exlplosives in a water tank (I kid you not) they played something I recognized, but didn’t think about too clearly. About 5 minutes later it hit me. It was Carl Stalling’s version of the Raymond Scott tune “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals.” I like to think that I’m one of 5 people who got the joke. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/38 "2006-10-12T20:07:20Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] **rowrrbazzle** , I don’t get it. [/QUOTE] Roast Turkey = Fire Bird. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/39 "2006-10-12T20:09:10Z")
**rowr** – Okay, I got that much. I thought there must be something more subtle I was missing. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735/40 "2006-10-12T20:38:09Z")
So what vegetable is this place? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-puns/375735.md?page=3)