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Old joke: Three bachelors were kidding their married friend. . . ."You've been married five years now, George," said one, "and still no childeren? Is your wife" (and here he tried a very bad pun) "unbearable?" . . .Or," interjected another, "perhaps she's inconceivable?" . . ."Maybe she's, uh, impregnable," joked the third. . . .George shook his head sadly. "No, boys, you're all wrong. She's insurmountable and inscrutable." A thorough logophile would have more puns here. Let us look at some words that would fit punningly, and look at their true meanings. George shook his head sadly. "The woman never even stops talking. She's simply not mutable." A pun, because in fact mutable is not a form of to mute, make silent. mutable – prone to change; inconstant; also, capable of change or of being changed [The antonym, immutable, is more frequently used.]
– The Times, Jan. 5, 2005 | ||
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<Asa Lovejoy> |
I dare say this is an abortive thread! | ||
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George added, "She doesn't like bedabbling." George is punning on these two words: bedabble - (trans. v, from 'dabble') to dabble upon; to sprinkle or wet beddable - (informal, from 'bed') sexually attractive or available
I stared upon his blood-bedabbled breast And sang my malediction with the rest. - William Butler Yeats, A Woman Young and Old He still runs away from danger when he can, still seduces, or is seduced by, every beddable woman, still lies, flatters, and cajoles without scruple. - Anthony Lejeune, book review in National Review, July 10, 1995 Adrienne Shelley, star of Sudden Manhattan, says: "I got a call in my car on my way to an audition from my agent. He said, 'The important thing is that they think you are beddable.'" - Nigel Reynolds, Hollywood femmes fret about 40, London Daily Telegraph, May 18, 2002 | |||
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