Puns Spooken Here

In Spoken Here, journalist Mark Abley takes us on a world tour -- from the Arctic Circle to the outback of Australia -- to track obscure languages and reveal their beauty and the devotion of those who work to save them. --from publisher description.

This story follows Robbie and his friend Matt through Robbie's first season as a high school athlete. Robbie must deal with a father who drinks too much and a neighborhood bully. To his surprise the lessons he learns in the sport of wrestling carry over to his personal life and help him cope.

Many puns are fleeting and transitory, devised and stated in a flash for a situation or immediate condition (see Word Plays, Puns Intended on the Internet). These kinds of puns can rarely be retold effectively, as the event that triggered them in the first place does not reappear exactly as before. But some puns are enduring! These can be memorized and told over and over in different social contexts and events, each time with the same overall effects - enjoyed by the teller, and enjoyed by the appreciative audience, albeit with some groaning. Some of the enduring puns are tongue twisters, so tellers are advised to practice telling them in private so as not to miss any key words that might lessen the effects of the punch lines. Other puns are timing precise, so a miscue, or mistiming destroys the intended effect....

It is the mid-1800s in Siam as King Mongkut busies himself creating children with his many wives. Out of his eighty-four offspring, Prince Damrong is the most intelligent and charming. Known as the kings jewel, Damrong is already being groomed for greatness. Meanwhile, his older brother, Prince Chaiya, is battling with his greedy and repulsive head wife, Mom-Yai. Prince Sapasart is battling with his head wife, MC Mouse, who is using his four-year-old son, Tong-Jue, as ammunition in achieving what she wants in life. Finally after Sapasart convinces another female family memberwho is battling her own internal demonsto take his son in as her own, sparks fly as the princes lives collide in a new twisted battle of the sexes. But little do they know that their challenges are just beginning. In this historical tale, two princes set off a chain of unfortunate events within their dynasty after they are led in different directions and to new destinies during the early nineteenth century.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most recognizable—and most parodied—names in western literature. Bill Mason, BSI, collects and annotates these parody names, from the first one that appeared in 1891, to the present day. As Mason says in his introduction: One of the great aspects of Sherlock Holmes is the fact that, just as the character himself is subject to endless variation, so is his name. Ellery Queen noted that the name itself “is particularly susceptible to the twistings and mis-shapenings of burlesque minded authors.” Surely, Arthur Conan Doyle, who struggled a little with what he was going to call his detective hero, could not have known just how perfect the name he finally selected—Sherlock Holmes—would be for parody, for rhyme, for the transposing of letters and sounds, for the substitution of suggestive words in the name of a comic character. Mason’s listings are an invaluable resource for the Holmsian scholar, researcher, or for those interested in whiling away a few hours with a delightful and chuckle-inspiring volume.

Doing Shakespeare offers a fresh insight into the difficulties and excesses of Shakespeare's drama and language. Written primarily for students making the transition from school to university, it aims both to demystify and illuminate the study of Shakespeare, tackling many of the challenges students face as they move towards a more complex critical engagement with Shakespeare's work. Equally, it shows how recovering the layered energies within and between Shakespeare's words, and the role of such dense language in constructing character, is indispensable if we are to rediscover the plays' ethical, political and emotional punch. "Simon Palfrey's Doing Shakespeare is far more than a primer. Readers and watchers of Shakespeare, however experienced, will find a host of new insights here. Indeed, I cannot think of another critic since Empson who has teased out so much so lucidly and (usually) so persuasively from the intricacies of Shakespearean language. Sometimes wayward, frequently vertiginous, always provocative of serious thought" Jonathan Bate, International Books of the Year 2004, The Times Literary Supplement, October 2004. Doing Shakespeare offers a fresh insight into the difficulties and excesses of Shakespeare's drama and language. Written primarily for students making the transition from school to university, it aims both to demystify and illuminate the study of Shakespeare, tackling many of the challenges students face as they move towards a more complex critical engagement with Shakespeare's work. Equally, it shows how recovering the layered energies within and between Shakespeare's words, and the role of such dense language in constructing character, is indispensable if we are to rediscover the plays' ethical, political and emotional punch. "Simon Palfrey's Doing Shakespeare is far more than a primer. Readers and watchers of Shakespeare, however experienced, will find a host of new insights here. Indeed, I cannot think of another critic since Empson who has teased out so much so lucidly and (usually) so persuasively from the intricacies of Shakespearean language. Sometimes wayward, frequently vertiginous, always provocative of serious thought" Jonathan Bate, International Books of the Year 2004, The Times Literary Supplement, October 2004.

Over 2,200 Jokes from America’s favorite live radio show A treasury of hilarity from Garrison Keillor and the cast of public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion. A guy walks into a bar. Eight Canada Geese walk into a bar. A termite jumps up on the bar and asks, “Where is the bar tender?” Drum roll. The Sixth Edition of the perennially popular Pretty Good Joke Book is everything the first five were and more. More puns, one-liners, light bulb jokes, knock-knock jokes, and third-grader jokes (have you heard the one about Elvis Parsley?). More religion jokes, political jokes, lawyer jokes, blonde jokes, and jokes in questionable taste (Why did the urologist lose his license? He got in trouble with his peers). More jokes about chickens, relationships, and senior moments (the nice thing about Alzheimer’s is you can enjoy the same jokes again and again). It all started back in 1996, when A Prairie Home Companion fans laughed themselves silly during the first Joke Show. The broadcast was such a hit that it became an almost-annual gagfest. Then fans wanted to read the jokes, share them, and pass them around, and the first Pretty Good Joke Book was born. With over 200 new and updated jokes, the latest edition promises countless giggles, chortles, and guffaws anyone—fans of the radio show or not—will enjoy.