A pun is a clever play on words. We'd try to jot one down here, but we just can't get it write... If that (hilarious!) joke made sense to you, congratulations, you understand the art of pun writing. If you're skilled enough at creating them yourself, you might wind up at the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championship. This annual spoken word competition is held every May in Austin, Texas, and it's reserved for the funniest of the punny. Do you have what it takes?
Contronyms Are Words That Are Also Their Own Opposites
These could lend themselves well to puns.
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One word can often mean different things. But what about one word that also means its exact opposite? Words like this are called contronyms, or "auto-antonyms." Perhaps one of the most famous examples is cleave, which means both to split apart and to stick together. Another example is trim, which can mean to put something on (think "trim the tree"), or to take something off. We've collected some awesome videos on this topic. Watch them now to learn more.
Hear more examples, and how they happen arrow_forward
Written by
Curiosity Staff
October 17, 2016
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