h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Much ado about nothing" played on the pronunciation of the last word, which was pronounced "noting," a practice of tattle-telling that was in the play itself.

In "Richard III," "Son of York" would sound like "sun of York," which would be short-lived in Winter, hence the discontent.

Shakespeare's puns can be really dreadful.

I once stopped dead in the middle of a speech during a rehearsal and yelled, 'Can we PLEASE take about half of this dialogue out? The cutesy wordplay and flower symbolism are going send the audience right to sleep. After all, this dialogue...'

'Isn't Shakespeare?' (The director, ironically.)

'Well, it is, but it isn't, you know?'

We shortened the speech. People do it all the time, with good reason. It is rare for a play to be performed with all the text intact. Father John's full-length version of one of the history plays was legendary on campus - and not in a good way.

Just wondering if I should feel guilty, pun-wise. Probably. Maybe some credits can be earned by a non-native speaker, being less aware of clichés. Probably not.

I see your point. It is just that I sometimes can't help myself. Something to do with how the brain is wired up inside. (rather random, I suspect).

Good joke though...

Definitely credits for non-native speakers! International humour is WORK.

Back in the 70s I went on a 10-day student tour from Bonn to Munich and back during the Christmas holidays. There were two busloads of us, half Germans and half people from everywhere. I got to know a really lively Malaysian girl with amazing language skills, some guys from the Philippines who went crazy in the snow at Garmisch because they'd never seen any before, and some very funny German guys. The ringleader of those was Rene. No, I don't remember if anybody asked why his name was Rene.

Rene organised a group that held a soiree in the evenings at a pub wherever we were - Rothenburg, Nurnberg, Munich, wherever - where conversation was had over wine. And there was Bill. Bill was from the Midwest. Bill was a friendly, outgoing guy. And Bill loved to tell jokes.

The problem is: you can't translate a pun. So you have to get creative.

So Bill told the funniest story he knew that was internationally comprehensible. It was a sort of visual pun. Oh, and his German was pretty bad, which made it funnier.

The joke consisted of introducing the wide-mouth frog. 'Hello,' (making a comical wide mouth), 'I'm a wide-mouth frog. Who are you?'

In turn, the wide-mouth frog meets many different animals - the rabbit, the robin, whatever - and asks them what they feed their children - grass, worms, etc. The entire time, the joke-teller makes like a wide-mouth frog. Finally, the frog meets a stork.

'What do you feed your children?' 'Wide-mouth frogs.'

'Oh!' (Suddenly pursing his lips.)

This joke, I promise you, cracked up every kindred, tribe, and nation on the globe as we journeyed around southern Germany. Every night, we'd egg Bill on to tell his joke.

I have heard that joke long ago. Since it was the seventies, I might have heard a descendant of Bill's joke that spread across Europe...

Thanks for reminding me, I'll go and tell it to a new generation

A great idea!