puns that you had missed

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when was the last time you realised that you missed an obvious pun? not necessarily a pun involving the word "obvious".

1. For about two years I never realised/thought of the product "Micro Chips" was a pun. I just thought "oh microwaveable chips!! great!" and then one day i was like OMG MICROCHIPS! and felt really embarrassed

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess, if you have longed for an old pun that you hadn't heard for ages, you can post about it here too.

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think I realised the Beatles was a pun until I was about 25.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't realise "Yerself is Steam" by Mercury Rev was a pun until someone mentioned it on ILM.

My brother never realised that Manda Rin out of Bis was a pun either.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

yerself is steam. ha. i get it now.

― peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a mattress company here in NYC called "Sleepy's" and their more recent ad campaign has following tagline:

Trust Sleepy's For the Rest of Your Life!

I thought, "hmmmm.....that's an awful lot to ask of their customers...lifelong brand loyalty!" The pun of it being the rest of your life (as in relaxed slumber) was completely lost on me until just recently.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

the arrow in the FedEx logo

― Frankenstein On Ice (blueski), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

The arrows in the old British Rail logo. The shame.

― beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

my roomate got this silly mailing from cingular announcing their merger with at&t but it was in the format of a wedding invitation. At the bottom it said 'reception to follow' and I thought 'so where's the party at?' - little did I know that I was stupid.

on arrested development joe or whatever his name is bought a boat called the 'seaward.' my other roomate pointed out that it was a pun for c-word, that I didnt pick up on.

― still bevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

The michaael jackson video where MJ and girl are eating popcorn. The film ends and the announcer says "See you next tuesday".

Mmmm.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Frank's APA.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm still wondering if 'Rock The Vote' is an allusion to the phrase 'rock the boat'.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

The fact that there was a link between the alter egos of the rappers Blak Twang and Fallacy (Tony Rotton and Danny Vicious) escaped me until about a week ago.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)

is 'Trading Spouses' (the american version of 'Wife Swap') a pun on 'Trading Spaces' (the american version of 'Changing Rooms' (which is itself a pun) which is itself a pun on 'Trading Places')?

my brain hurts.

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Mother of god, I can't believe I had to sit here and say 'yerself is steam, I don't get it' about four times before I got it. Me am tick.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I only realised THIS MORNING that Adam Ant was a pun.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I still don't get 'yerself is steam' :( :( :(

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Your self-esteem.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

(That's a pretty bad pun, innit?)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't get that either, Archel.

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:11 (twenty-one years ago)

It took me decades to figure out the joke in "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

your self esteem -- it's not a very good pun.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

[i]I only realised THIS MORNING that Adam Ant was a pun.[/i]

OMG!!! I hadn't seen that either! How embarrassing.

― Hanna (Hanna), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, neither had I!

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Conclusion: all these puns are rubbish.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

"Don't think twice, it's alright" I was listening to this last night and *ding* it's saying both "don't bother" and "don't even begin to think leaving me was okay."

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:32 (twenty-one years ago)

That's not a pun; it's just ambiguity

― caitlin (caitlin), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

the self esteem one works better in certain accents.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I only got Aladdin Sane ("A lad insane") like last year or something. That was embarassing.

― papa november (papa november), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I never got that... wow.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

It took me decades to figure out the joke in "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

Yep, me too.

― papa november (papa november), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i knew the "insane" bit but never thought of "a lad"!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

isn't it about bowies brother, who had severe mental problems & committed suicide?

― DJ Salinger (joni), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, I never got any of these before (Yerself is Steam, Adam Ant, Aladdin Sane)!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

It was "See you next Wednesday" in the Thriller video, which isn't a pun, but it is a phrase director John Landis puts in every one of his movies.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:21 (twenty-one years ago)

The michaael jackson video where MJ and girl are eating popcorn. The film ends and the announcer says "See you next tuesday".

I so don't get it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

i think the answer lies in mark's tenuous grasp of 'pun'.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

.. and I was fibbing anyway.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

that's like C U Next Tuesday, right?

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I never got the visual pun of the 7-Up "Uncola" glass until some advanced age of decrepitude.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 16:07 (twenty-one years ago)

walking up some steps just the other day, it struck me:
Rap City ... Rhadsody!

also, i amazingly didn't get Lipps, Inc. until quite recently. sheesh.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I am now worried that there are loads of puns out there I haven't got yet.

Is I Love Everything a pun?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

This happens to me absolutely all the time, and in some cases -- even worse -- with that nagging must-be-a-pun sense that drives one nuts: I'm happy to have the Mercury Rev one finally worked out for me. I can't think of any good recent examples, though: the last one I recall was hearing a Spinanes song and noticing the "inane" in there.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't get Yerself is Steam either. Knew all the others mentioned here, although admittedly it took a while for me to realise with Manda Rin.

Perry Farrell took a while, too.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

In similar news I had a long and frustrating conversation with someone wherein I was pointing out, with amazement, that the title of Philip Roth's The Human Stain could be read in two different ways, and that ads for the film version seemed to be inflecting it in the one of those two ways that I hadn’t thought of. Unfortunately I couldn’t seem to make the different inflections clear to the person I was talking to. I’ll try it with you guys: I had always read the title (without having read the book) as being “The Human Stain” like “The Human Condition”; the film trailer suddenly made me realize it was possibly supposed to be “The Human Stain” like “The Human Cannonball” or “The Human Calculator,” referring to the individual character.

I share this only because I need some reassurance that I wasn't being a bonehead in this conversation.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

And wait, what's the pun with Perry Farrell? (If it's supposed to be "peripheral," that is the worst thing I have ever heard.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

It's not a pun, it's a spoonerism.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

yes Nabisco, peripheral.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Suddenly that's better than the "Ferry Peril" Spoonerism I thought Dan was hinting toward.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Aw.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 1 December 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 1834 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Just realized that the Harlem Globetrotters were not only trotting round the world playing basketball, but were also trotting up and down the court bouncing a globe.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 26 March 2026 00:54 (six months ago)

New Power Generation

Like I thought it was because they were new, powerful, and replacing the previous generation

I didn’t make the connection that “power is something that is generated” until I saw the words “Ontario Power Generation” for the 1000000th time and thought, once again: “it’s cute that Ontario’s power company named itself after Prince’s band”

― washed spice (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 2 April 2026 00:02 (six months ago)

Snoopy fights the red baron because he's a dog fighter.

― adam t (dat), Thursday, 2 April 2026 00:08 (six months ago)

Mind... blown

― a burrito, my gazebo (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 2 April 2026 00:33 (six months ago)

woah

― Cow_Art, Thursday, 2 April 2026 03:03 (six months ago)

ok I need to reassess everything I thought I once knew

― Mollusk, Virginia (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 2 April 2026 09:13 (six months ago)

Night Moves

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 2 April 2026 12:19 (six months ago)

it’s about chess

― Mollusk, Virginia (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 2 April 2026 12:42 (six months ago)

two weeks pass...

The double meaning of "The truth is out there".

― Alba, Friday, 17 April 2026 12:06 (six months ago)

one month passes...

This one's for the parents out there

Eminently popular children's book/learn-to-read series Elephant and Piggy by Mo Willems, featuring Piggy and Elephant Gerald

Elephant Gerald

Ella Fitzgerald

my mind is suitably blown

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 28 May 2026 15:10 (four months ago)

Needs a supporting character named Ascot Fits, who helps people try on silk neckwear at the department store.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 28 May 2026 17:47 (four months ago)

Art Bears took their name from a sentence in Jane Ellen Harrison's book Ancient Art and Ritual (1913): "Even to-day, when individualism is rampant, art bears traces of its collective, social origin". Chris Cutler explains that it was a deliberate out-of-context quote, but that "not too much should be read into this; it just sounds intriguing, has an animal in it, plays with ambiguity and is mildly ridiculous".

― bendy, Sunday, 7 June 2026 15:50 (four months ago)

i know some art bears

― The Immortal Bird of Avon (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 June 2026 15:52 (four months ago)

I've seen some art bares.

― nickn, Sunday, 7 June 2026 17:44 (four months ago)

Not a pun exactly, but I’ve known of the existence of The Stanky Brown Group for years and only today realized the meaning behind the name.

― cinematic hobo hip-hop rock ‘n’ roll blues-jazz soul-review (Dan Peterson), Monday, 8 June 2026 01:02 (four months ago)

is it shit

― The Immortal Bird of Avon (Boring, Maryland), Monday, 8 June 2026 01:31 (four months ago)

Yes. I honestly thought it was the name of someone in the band. “Stanky” never dawned on me.

― cinematic hobo hip-hop rock ‘n’ roll blues-jazz soul-review (Dan Peterson), Monday, 8 June 2026 01:48 (four months ago)

Alien Nation

― Cow_Art, Monday, 8 June 2026 03:01 (four months ago)

one month passes...

Boyzone

― Rose of Nevada Fighter (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 27 July 2026 00:27 (two months ago)

Nope, never got that one either.

― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 27 July 2026 01:55 (two months ago)

What's the pun?

― Josefa, Monday, 27 July 2026 02:32 (two months ago)

Boy's own, as in "real boy's own stuff", i.e. feats of derring-do. Also in this case a zone full of boys.

― mime is money (bastard) (Matt #2), Monday, 27 July 2026 02:58 (two months ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy%27s_Own_Paper

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 27 July 2026 03:05 (two months ago)

Ah, I'd heard the expression and had a vague idea of what it meant, but it's not something Americans would know so thanks for the education.

― Josefa, Monday, 27 July 2026 03:10 (two months ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy%27s_Own_Paper🕸

Bonus points for John Crowley mention!

― Rose of Nevada Fighter (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 27 July 2026 03:31 (two months ago)

And here I thought they were all from Boise, Idaho

― marzipandemonium (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 27 July 2026 09:33 (two months ago)

I'd be sceptical that it's something their fans knew either, though I suppose Louis Walsh has to entertain himself somehow.

― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 1 August 2026 07:45 (two months ago)

It has taken me 25 years to notice the double meaning in DJ Luck and MC Neat’s “A Little Bit of Luck”

― Chewshabadoo, Saturday, 1 August 2026 07:57 (two months ago)

Just yesterday thanks to the forgotten cartoons thread I realised what the pun was for Commander McBragg (he makes up a lot of grand shite).

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 3 August 2026 05:56 (two months ago)

In my defence I was 8 when I last saw or thought about that show.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 3 August 2026 05:57 (two months ago)

that the family in succession is the roys

― 龜, Monday, 10 August 2026 11:37 (two months ago)

I don't get it. Return on investment? Royals?

― Alba, Monday, 10 August 2026 16:33 (two months ago)

Rolls Royce?

― Cow_Art, Monday, 10 August 2026 17:34 (two months ago)

roi = king, i assume

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 10 August 2026 18:15 (two months ago)

Roy-al family

― leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 10 August 2026 18:55 (two months ago)

Today I learned that the name of a favorite Breeders song means “king” in french.

― Cow_Art, Tuesday, 11 August 2026 14:40 (two months ago)

The Royle Family much less subtle

― Oaf To Joy (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 11 August 2026 15:12 (two months ago)

Im my logistics engineering newsletter days I wrote an article about return on investment and resisted the temptation to headline it "ROI is King."

Shoulda done "ROI est Mort, Vive Le ROI"

― leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 11 August 2026 15:55 (two months ago)

Lol

― The Original Human Sandbox (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 11 August 2026 16:10 (two months ago)

two months pass...

Godsmack

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Sunday, 18 October 2026 02:59 (two days ago)

harry potter never held any appeal for me, but in all the years my son has expressed varying levels of interest in the franchise, i never once clicked that "Diagon Alley" was any type of wordplay. 🤷‍♂️

― massaman gai (front tea for two), Sunday, 18 October 2026 05:02 (two days ago)

Stuff like that just announces itself in my brain with flashing lights and arrows. Like, what ELSE could it be?! Same with 'knockturn'.

xp I don't get that but I don't think I've heard of whatever it's supposed to be.

I did wonder if 'The Weeknd' was supposed to be a play on 'weakened' but turns out he had to change it from The Weekend as some other band was already called that.

― kinder, Sunday, 18 October 2026 10:43 (two days ago)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gobsmack

Dreadful.

― (energetic rock music continues) (Tom D.), Sunday, 18 October 2026 12:18 (two days ago)

I’m the opposite. 90% of the time within this thread I still don’t get the pun and have to google around. Word games are difficult for me, the only crossword puzzle I can handle is on the back of a kid’s menu.

― Art Cow (Cow_Art), Sunday, 18 October 2026 12:49 (two days ago)

Kath and Kim / kith and kin...?

― mahb, Sunday, 18 October 2026 14:41 (two days ago)

The band's name does not derive from the Alice in Chains song of the same name; according to Erna, the name instead came from an incident where he developed a cold sore shortly after a former bandmate did:
"I was making fun of [our drummer at the time][6] who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day I had one myself and somebody said, 'It's a god smack.' The name stuck. We were aware of the Alice In Chains song but didn't really think much about it."[6][7]

― The Yellow Kid, Sunday, 18 October 2026 19:12 (two days ago)

Duck Duck Go

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 20 October 2026 20:54 (one hour ago)

― Kim Kimberly, Tuesday, 20 October 2026 20:59 (one hour ago)

Hadn't made the connection with kids' party game duck duck goose.

― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 20 October 2026 21:02 (one hour ago)

not really a pun?

― Professor Woods and His Blues-singing Dummy (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 20 October 2026 21:47 (twenty-six minutes ago)

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