VOA日常语法2023--Puns and The Last of Us

Puns and The Last of Us

The popular television series, The Last of Us, is based on a video game series with the same name. In it, teenager Ellie and middle-aged¹ man Joel are survivors² of a disastrous³ pandemic. They travel together across an extremely dangerous, violent America to try to reach safety. A fungal infection has destroyed much of humanity. Ellie is immune and may be the only hope to develop a vaccine⁴.

During their travels, they often have to fight murderous zombies, security forces and robbers. Along the way, Ellie finds a book of word jokes, called puns. She reads some of the puns to Joel, who does not think they are so funny.

Today, we will explore three kinds of puns from Ellie's book, their meanings, and how puns are created.

What are puns?

A pun is a kind of figurative language that uses a play of similarly sounding or similarly spelled words to create humor. Puns are used in writing but we also hear them in everyday speech.

Three kinds of puns are based on the difference between the sounds, spellings, and meanings of the words used.

Homophonic puns

The first kind of pun is made with homophones or words that sound the same or very similar but have different meanings and spellings.

In The Last of Us, Ellie shares a pun about a mermaid⁵ in math class:

"What did the mermaid wear to math class? An algae⁶ bra!"

Here the play on words is the homophones "algae bra" and "algebra⁷." A bra is a piece of clothing. Algae are water plants. And "algebra" is a kind of math.

It is funny to picture a mermaid going to math class to study algebra in her algae bra.

Although Joel does not find that pun funny, Ellie thinks it is hilarious⁸.

Homographic puns

The next type of pun is a homographic pun. If words are homographic, they are spelled the same, but have different meanings.

Ellie reads Joel another pun out of her book. This time it is a homographic one!

"I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went... And then it dawned on me."

Here the pun is with the word "dawn." The first meaning of "dawn" as a verb is to grow lighter⁹ as the sun rises in the morning. If someone would stay up all night, they would see the dawn.

The next meaning of "dawn" is "to begin to think or understand something." If something dawns on you, you think about it in the moment. If someone is staying up all night and thinking about something, they might realize it in the morning, or it might dawn on them.

Compound puns

And lastly, we have compound or double puns. Compound or double puns have two plays on words within the same pun. The puns could be homophonic, homographic or both!

When Ellie first finds the book of puns, she starts off with this double pun:

"It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope; it'll still be stationery¹⁰."

This pun includes the idiom "to push the envelope," which means to go beyond the usual or acceptable limits by doing something new, dangerous, or divisive.

An envelope is also something that contains a letter for mailing.

The second half of the pun includes the word "stationery." "Stationery" is equipment used to write letters, including pens, paper and, yes, envelopes.

There is another word that sounds the same, but has a different meaning, "stationary¹¹" ending in "-ary" instead of an "-ery." "Stationary," "-ary," is an adjective that means still or without movement.

When we first hear this pun, because speakers understand the idiom "to push the envelope" they think the joke is going to go one way. Then they hear the second half of the pun, and they realize it is about literal envelopes, this is where the double meaning comes in.

"No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationary."

The first meaning is that the envelope will not physically¹² move, by using the adjective "stationary" that ends in "-ary."

"No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery."

The second meaning uses the plural¹³ noun of "stationery" that ends in "-ery," the letter writing materials. The meaning of this pun is that we cannot change envelopes because they will always be included in a box of stationery.

Final thoughts

In today's Everyday Grammar report, we learned about three kinds of puns. One is homophonic. It uses words that sound alike, but have different meanings. Another kind of pun is homographic, meaning words spelled the same, but having different meanings. The final kind are the double puns or compound pun. Compound puns use two or more puns into one to create multiple meanings.

Are you like Joel, who does not find much humor in the puns? Or are you like Ellie, who gets a good laugh at these jokes?

Let us know! Or tell us if you know other puns in English! Write to us in the comments or send us an email, [email protected].

Words in This Story

fungus¹⁴ – n. a kind of plant without leaves that gets its food from other living or delaying things

zombie – n. a dead body that walks around, as portrayed¹⁵ in fictional¹⁶ stories

figurative – adj. used with a meaning that is different from the basic meaning

mermaid – n. an imaginary sea creature that has a woman's head and body and a fish's tail instead of legs

hilarious – adj. very funny

dawn – v. to grow lighter as the sun rises in the morning; to begin to think or understand something

envelope – n. an enclosing cover for a letter, card – at the Academy Awards, the winning name is written on a card in an envelope.

stationery ­– n. paper that is used for writing letters and that usually has matching envelopes

controversial – adj. causing a lot of disagreement or argument

literal – adj. following the ordinary or usual meaning of the words

1 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

5 mermaid   

n.美人鱼

参考例句：

• How popular would that girl be with the only mermaid mom!和人鱼妈妈在一起，那个女孩会有多受欢迎！
• The little mermaid wasn't happy because she didn't want to wait.小美人鱼不太高兴，因为她等不及了。

6 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

7 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

8 hilarious   

adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed

参考例句：

• The party got quite hilarious after they brought more wine.在他们又拿来更多的酒之后，派对变得更加热闹起来。
• We stop laughing because the show was so hilarious.我们笑个不停，因为那个节目太搞笑了。

9 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

10 stationery   

n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封

参考例句：

• She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
• There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多，心里自会觉得踏实。

11 stationary   

adj.固定的，静止不动的

参考例句：

• A stationary object is easy to be aimed at.一个静止不动的物体是容易瞄准的。
• Wait until the bus is stationary before you get off.你要等公共汽车停稳了再下车。

12 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

13 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

14 fungus   

n.真菌，真菌类植物

参考例句：

• Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
• This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。

15 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。