Why do puns cause pain?

[Lanzy]

@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.

[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.

[BeaMyra]

@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

[Floater]

Why did the zombie walk across the road?

[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.

[Corresponder]

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.

[Corresponder]

They’re not unpleasant, they’re PUNNY.

[Anachronism]

@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:

[jjimm]

@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).

[Oly]

Because they’re chokes.

[johnpost]

@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.

[Ludovic]

@Floater

Why did the zombie walk across the road?

What was the weather like? Was it braining?

[Colibri]

Moving from GQ to IMHO.

Please note that this thread was originally started two years ago.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

[Cheshire_Human]

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?”