4 ms·

I had interpreted the GP as specifically talking about maritime captains, which I imagine could be a very different boat (pardon the pun).

Aerbil313 3y ago
Can someone please explain why native English speakers always feel the need to indicate and express the pun? Literally every single time I see “pun intended” or “no pun intended” I stop for a while and try to understand why the author felt the need to wrie that.
- pugworthy 3y ago
  If they weren't joking they'd say "No fun intended" but they are joking (and meta-joking that they aren't joking).
  - BalinKing 3y ago
    I assume "fun" should read "pun"—but this new version is funny too :-P
- Taek 3y ago
  Often times you can increase the humor by calling attention to the joke, even if the joke is already obvious. Puns in particular seem (at least to me) to get funnier the longer you think about them so prompting the reader to think about them longer can have positive effects.
  - hulitu 3y ago
    > you can increase the humor by calling attention to the joke My opinion is that ruins everything. Just like those american comedies where the virtual audience laughs like goats.
    - wholinator2 3y ago
      Yeah, i think most people agree about laughtracks these days. Well, i hope cause i hate it too. But i think the pun thing is mostly just culturally translated. I think if you asked most people why, some would have a vague idea that it might be more funny but i bet the number of people that could give a plausible reason would be very small. People do it in hacky comedies so that they can place a pause and a laugh track to force the audience to laugh. A lot of humor is socially constructed and our own sense of what is funny is certainly no where near the same across the globe. I think sitcom TV culture has influenced us Americans in many ways, including how we handle puns in speech. Most people think of it as camaraderie, like I'm nudging you into the joke with me
- nullsense 3y ago
  Sometimes we say puns on purpose, and sometimes we realize what we're saying is a pun as we're saying it, so we often distinguish which is which.
- protomolecule 3y ago
  In interpret both as "don't miss the pun".

Aerbil313 3y ago

Can someone please explain why native English speakers always feel the need to indicate and express the pun? Literally every single time I see “pun intended” or “no pun intended” I stop for a while and try to understand why the author felt the need to wrie that.

pugworthy 3y ago
If they weren't joking they'd say "No fun intended" but they are joking (and meta-joking that they aren't joking).
- BalinKing 3y ago
  I assume "fun" should read "pun"—but this new version is funny too :-P
Taek 3y ago
Often times you can increase the humor by calling attention to the joke, even if the joke is already obvious. Puns in particular seem (at least to me) to get funnier the longer you think about them so prompting the reader to think about them longer can have positive effects.
- hulitu 3y ago
  > you can increase the humor by calling attention to the joke My opinion is that ruins everything. Just like those american comedies where the virtual audience laughs like goats.
  - wholinator2 3y ago
    Yeah, i think most people agree about laughtracks these days. Well, i hope cause i hate it too. But i think the pun thing is mostly just culturally translated. I think if you asked most people why, some would have a vague idea that it might be more funny but i bet the number of people that could give a plausible reason would be very small. People do it in hacky comedies so that they can place a pause and a laugh track to force the audience to laugh. A lot of humor is socially constructed and our own sense of what is funny is certainly no where near the same across the globe. I think sitcom TV culture has influenced us Americans in many ways, including how we handle puns in speech. Most people think of it as camaraderie, like I'm nudging you into the joke with me
nullsense 3y ago
Sometimes we say puns on purpose, and sometimes we realize what we're saying is a pun as we're saying it, so we often distinguish which is which.
protomolecule 3y ago
In interpret both as "don't miss the pun".