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 1802 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Is Alice in Chains a pun on Alice in Wonderland???? If so, I missed it till today

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Saturday, 17 January 2026 16:11 (four months ago)

Apparently yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_N'_Chains?wprov=sfti1#Recordings_and_name_change

― obvious old hat (rob), Saturday, 17 January 2026 20:41 (four months ago)

it’s not a pun?

― Gentler Death Squads Please (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 17 January 2026 21:16 (four months ago)

Yeah it derives from AiW but it's not a pun.

― visiting, Saturday, 17 January 2026 22:33 (four months ago)

And we were saying, 'Alice in Wonderland? How about this, how about that? Maybe...Alice in Chains? We could put her in bondage stuff!'

god what a bunch of boneheads

― budo jeru, Saturday, 17 January 2026 23:13 (four months ago)

Pansy Division

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 18 January 2026 22:51 (four months ago)

it’s not a pun?

in the specific confines of this thread, the definition of pun has expanded dramatically over the years aiui

but yes i should have put it in the cultural allusions that you had missed thread

in any case, the origin story was prescient bc whenever i think of their name as anything more than a pure signifier of the band, what i picture is an AiC tee from one of those bootleg merch ads in the back of Hit Parader or similar, that showed Alice from the Brady Bunch with a big smile on her face and all wrapped up in big cartoony bondagey shackles and chains

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Sunday, 18 January 2026 23:01 (four months ago)

Not a pun but I just realized after 37 years the joke of Weird Al's "Even Worse" cover is that his jacket has like three times as many zippers and buckles

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/Michael_Jackson_-_Bad.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4c/Weird_Al_Yankovic_-_Even_Worse.jpg/250px-Weird_Al_Yankovic_-_Even_Worse.jpg

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 23 January 2026 19:29 (four months ago)

Truly a testament to how absurd Michael Jackson was that it just struck me as pastiche and I never clocked it

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 23 January 2026 19:32 (four months ago)

MJ's was created by cult leader and child rapist Tony Alamo. Behind the Bastards did a good episode on him.

― adam t (dat), Friday, 30 January 2026 01:39 (four months ago)

two weeks pass...

ok so i've just had the "why did the chicken cross the road?" joke explained to me and omfg whaaaaat?!?

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:07 (three months ago)

always assumed it was just a dumb anti-joke, fuuuuuck

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:11 (three months ago)

It is the definitive anti-joke. Any "explanation" involving puns is a retcon job

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:15 (three months ago)

idgi

― Gentler Death Squads Please (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:15 (three months ago)

"to get to the other side" - it wanted to die, i.e. pass over to the spirit realm

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:16 (three months ago)

To get to the other's hide. Chicken has a booty call y'see

― Abby Gore (Neanderthal), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:16 (three months ago)

and i can buy that, why else would it be something vulnerable to being hit by traffic? i mean it's not 'why did the elephant cross the road?" xp

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:18 (three months ago)

Nick, I have a bridge you might be interested in buying.

― The Olde, Old, Very Olde Man. (Tom D.), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:20 (three months ago)

When it first appeared in print, it was

"Why does a chicken cross the street?"

"Because it wants to get on the other side!".

― Abby Gore (Neanderthal), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:20 (three months ago)

NickB, There is absolutely no way that was the intention of a joke that's over 100 years old and has served as the stand-in for anti-humor and misdirection for a century. You are being had by someone with TikTok brain

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:21 (three months ago)

For a start it dates to 1847 when there was considerably less traffic on the roads.

― The Olde, Old, Very Olde Man. (Tom D.), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:21 (three months ago)

(xp)

― The Olde, Old, Very Olde Man. (Tom D.), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:21 (three months ago)

really don't know how i feel about this thing tbh, but i can definitely see there is indeed a pun lurking in there

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:23 (three months ago)

1847?? shit ok, hmmmm

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:24 (three months ago)

Xxxpost I'm sure the people spreading this are also telling people they were today years old when they learned Michael Jackson was singing "ima say it one more time I'm not gon stop" on Wanna Be Starting Something

― Abby Gore (Neanderthal), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:24 (three months ago)

Chickens, that's where I'm a viking

― Abby Gore (Neanderthal), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:24 (three months ago)

Don't you know the YeOlde1800sFiresideTropes.com "Chicken Trample" trope of a chicken being killed by a horse-driven buggy going 2 mph?

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:25 (three months ago)

tbf anyone telling it in the modern era is totally summoning up a picture of a busy car-strewn road, knowing full well that chicked is probably toast. no-one hearing it now is thinking "why did the chicken cross a quiet country lane, 150 years ago?"

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:31 (three months ago)

Anyone who hears this joke in the modern era that doesn't know its reputation as the seminal example of anti-humor is maybe a 7 year old who isn't going to get your pun anyway

― EsBeeKid (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:50 (three months ago)

all true but i'm never going to be able to unsee the pun there now, whether i want to or not

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB), Friday, 13 February 2026 18:56 (three months ago)

The body of folklore/jokelore around chicken jokes is interesting as a case study of pre-internet meme spread.

The template being amenable to riffage and variation is also interesting. The turtle? To get to the shell station. The turkey? He was stapled to the chicken.

― calmer chameleon (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 13 February 2026 19:21 (three months ago)

I only just realised the pun in Small Prophets!

― bored by endless ecstasy (anagram), Friday, 20 February 2026 18:53 (three months ago)

one month passes...

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 (two 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 (two months ago)

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

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

Mind... blown

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

woah

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

ok I need to reassess everything I thought I once knew

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

Night Moves

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

it’s about chess

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

two weeks pass...

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

― Alba, Friday, 17 April 2026 12:06 (one month 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 (two weeks 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 (two weeks 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 (five days ago)

i know some art bears

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

I've seen some art bares.

― nickn, Sunday, 7 June 2026 17:44 (five days 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 days ago)

is it shit

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

Alien Nation

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

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