“I used to want to be a structural linguist, but now I’m not Saussure.” This was how a former professor of mine once started off the semester—I’m not so sure if class numbers shrunk significantly ...

Puns are divisive in comedy. Critics groan that they are the “lowest form of wit,” a quote attributed to various writers. Others—including Shakespeare—pun with abandon. The brain itself seems divided ...

A good pun is like a good steak — a rare medium well done. In such a prey on words, rare, medium, and well done are double entendres, so that six meanings are packed into the space ordinarily occupied ...