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...eustasy is at the core of the frightening plot.

I used to see them but now I'm desensitized. (running, ducking, profusely apologizing-e)

>profusely apologizing

Why?

Well, *I got it. Come here, musick, and get a nice hug and a pat on the back.

Splutter. Splutter. He has no reason to apologize for a pun, particularly a really nice one like that. That's why I said, "Why?"

I apologize. [grovel]

Sorry to quibble, but is musick's wordplay there really a pun in the strict sense?

is there a difference then between a play on words and wordplay?

I've often heard it said that puns are one form of wordplay.

Well I have to admit that after looking it up, punning includes polysemy ("The King is not a subject") as well as near-homonymy ("Oh, the huge manatee!.")

Now how on earth did that spark an add for maternity hose?

we should form a group to annotate musick's posts.

Oh, there's enough of yous already to, at the very least, formulate a transcription.

KIWI!
Apteryx!!

Neuron connection restored!

I now remember years ago coming across the Kiwi in the dictionary with its little picture (much like that one) and thinking it was adorable. Then I came across "apteryx" and thought it was a cool alternative name. I also found the idea of apterygial birds as ironic and I felt bad for them.
Poor kiwi can't fly. :'(

mechanesthesia, your whole entire post is just asking for numerous ripostes from our Kiwi brethren! [getting hastily out of the way e]

I'll say one thing--you and Ari sure have livened up the place!

Now am wondering what a prescriptivist definition of 'pun' would be. Maybe we ASCII the Faldage you pointee?

FWIW I had understood puns to be jokes based on two words with different meanings that sounded similar but were not identical, such as the example above "I never sausage a thing." A play on words uses actual dual meanings, and I somehow had understood to be a little higher than a pun. For example, "In preparation for the party, Doris watered the flowers, and David, the drinks." This uses two slightly different meanings of the verb "to water." (Or at least slightly different motivations for pouring water.) In comparison, the question "Water you looking at?" is a pun because it relies on the phonetic similarity between "what are" and "water." In short, puns are wordplay based primarily on the way words sound and nothing more. More sophisticated wordplay involves invoking dual meanings from a single word.

That said, the actual dictionary definition of a pun is broader than I had believed and does include wordplay in general.

Punning is a science which teaches men how to pervert the meanings of words and phrases; and by a dexterous sleight of tongue, make them subservient to their own purpose. This art, though very much esteemed by some; by the generality of the world is held in very great abhorrence, and its professors viewed with secret fear and distrust.
- G. R. Wythern Baxter (1842)

science? art? Baxter goes on to refer to punning as a liberal science.

I eustacy lots of goofy puns here...[shaking head walking away-e]

I understand by "pun" what you do by "word play," AW.

This discussion of punning reminds me of a film which I am pretty sure I have praised here on AWAD before, Ridicule, which centers around life at court during the reign of Louis XVI. Wit and wordplay are very important but puns are considered the antithesis of wit. One young noble who is known for his wit, and who has been hoping to meet the King, does meet him unexpectedly on a morning walk around Versailles. The King remarks to him that he has heard of his renowned wit, and commands him to say something witty for his amusement there on the spot. The surprised young noble asks the King, on what subject shall he make a witty remark? Louis XVI replies that he should make it on himself, the King. The young noble, somewhat thunderstruck, replies, "But the King is not a subject. He is the King." Louis XVI smiles approvingly, but as he walks away he asks his retainers "That wasn't a pun, was it?" (or words to that effect). "Oh no, sir," they assure him, "it was a play on words."

ridicule was a wonderful movie.. (i don't know what other regular contributors here have seen it..

i saw it many years ago--when it first came out--one advantage of being in NYC is an abundance of movie houses that play a wide variety of films!--(even if i rarely go!)

Based on your recommedation, Alex, I've added Ridicule to my Netflix queue. Of course, it's at the bottom of a list of 394 items, so it might be a while before I get to see it. But the anticipation will be fun.

Sparteye, I hope you-all are not frequent Netflix users. According to an article in our paper a few weeks ago, it didn't take the company long to realize that they were losing money in postage as well as potential rentals of popular movies to people who request lots and lots of movies. So they started putting automatic holds on people who request, say, 3 movies a week, and also bump any requests they make for recent releases to the bottom of the list. Thus, if you typically request 3 movies a month, you're much more likely to get what you want when you ask for it. Some way to reward good customers...

I've never had a problem with them in the couple of years I've used their service. Of course, I don't tend to rent new-to-DVD films from them, but from the mom and pop's around the corner. All in all, a much better choice than the local chain video store, where the workers are unhappy and the management rude.

Whatever Netflix's shortcomings, it's the best thing to ever happen to movie rental here in the Valley of the Shadow of Blockbuster Video. I love the way you can search by genre, director, actor, language, etc. And by the way, you can always bump, er, move a film to the top of your queue by renumbering it #1 over on the right side and then click on update queue.

>And by the way, you can always bump, er, move a film to the top of your queue by renumbering it #1 over on the right side and then click on update queue.

it's on the left side on my queue; or, you can click the "move to top of queue" button, which is over on the far right.

I've never had a bit of a problem with Netflix. They even sent me a replacement DVD this week before I'd returned one which arrived broken.

And it's the only way I'll ever see many films and TV shows.