# Why do puns cause pain? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304 "2009-11-04T18:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/21 "2009-11-05T19:50:44Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Puns don’t actually cause pain, of course. The reason why we groan at them is because that’s the socially accepted way to react. By groaning, you indicate you know the joke is a pun. Well, Bootrear does.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Monukuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Monukuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monukuk)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/22 "2011-12-13T08:56:17Z")
Reminds me of a study I saw where some people were exposed to 10 different puns to see if any would get a positive reaction. Unfortunately no pun in ten did. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/23 "2011-12-13T09:18:44Z")
> [@FishStampede](#): > > You know you’ve all felt it. Someone shows you a picture of a bruin afflicted with mange, and then, with a slight pause, describes it as a “BARE!” He laughs, you groan, and feel this strange pain in your chest like someone just punched your soul in the kidney. What causes that feeling? Is it related to similar emotional pains, like heartache and butterflies in your stomach? Curly) There’s a bear in the hole Moe) How can a bear be in that hole Curly) It’s BARELY possible OK now groan ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/24 "2011-12-13T09:46:42Z")
Why did the zombie walk across the road? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/25 "2011-12-13T10:43:23Z")
Around the time of the Milgram experiment there was a controversial scientific study with a reasonable sample size (\>500) of university students that was carried out with the subjects wired up to EEGs. They used ten neutral statements selected at random from the Wall Street Journal as a control, ten regular one-liner jokes that had been chosen by a voting panel of contemporary stand-up comedians, and ten puns taken from a randomized sample of popsicle sticks. The neutral statements acted as expected, with a no-greater-than-chance uplift in neural activity in the majority of the subjects. The unusual thing revealed by the tests, however, was that whereas a statistically significant number of the one-liner jokes generated measurable activity in the prefrontal cortex in more than 60% of the subjects, no pun in ten did. ---
**Author:** ![Corresponder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Corresponder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corresponder)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/26 "2011-12-13T11:37:02Z")
I think we react in a pain-response way to puns because they are an insult to our thinking. The premise of the pun gets us thinking in a serious way about something, and then the punchline insults us for trying to be serious, tells us, in effect, that the punster doesn’t give a damn. ---
**Author:** ![Corresponder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Corresponder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corresponder)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/27 "2011-12-13T11:42:02Z")
They’re not unpleasant, they’re PUNNY. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/28 "2011-12-13T12:36:39Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Around the time of the Milgram experiment there was a controversial scientific study with a reasonable sample size (\>500) of university students that was carried out with the subjects wired up to EEGs. > > They used ten neutral statements selected at random from the Wall Street Journal as a control, ten regular one-liner jokes that had been chosen by a voting panel of contemporary stand-up comedians, and ten puns taken from a randomized sample of popsicle sticks. > > The neutral statements acted as expected, with a no-greater-than-chance uplift in neural activity in the majority of the subjects. The unusual thing revealed by the tests, however, was that whereas a statistically significant number of the one-liner jokes generated measurable activity in the prefrontal cortex in more than 60% of the subjects, no pun in ten did. I want that 20 seconds of my life back :mad: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/29 "2011-12-13T13:07:18Z")
> [@Anachronism](#): > > I want that 20 seconds of my life back :mad: You’re right: time flies like an arrow (though fruit flies like a banana). ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/30 "2011-12-13T13:58:07Z")
Because they’re chokes. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/31 "2011-12-13T14:39:14Z")
> [@Monukuk](#): > > Reminds me of a study I saw where some people were exposed to 10 different puns to see if any would get a positive reaction. Unfortunately no pun in ten did. > 😛 very punny, was worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/32 "2011-12-13T15:31:47Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Why did the zombie walk across the road? What was the weather like? Was it braining? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/33 "2011-12-13T15:41:11Z")
Moving from GQ to IMHO. Please note that this thread was originally started two years ago. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304/34 "2011-12-14T17:20:21Z")
Any time you read “no pun intended”, you can be sure the author really meant “OMG! Look at this GREAT PUN I made! Ain’t I smart and amusing?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-puns-cause-pain/516304.md?page=1)