Puns: Because word humor is the best humor

Whoever said puns are the lowest form of humor did not write the Wikipedia page on puns. Word humor is the best humor and the Wikipedia authors respect that assessment.

The pun-hater was probably Samuel Johnson. He lived in the 18th century, which as I understand it predates Wikipedia by a year or two. But what did Johnson know about words? Okay, so he wrote the first English dictionary, in 1755—big deal. Writers had been punning in Sumerian cuneiform since the 31st century B.C.E. (And if you think that sounds like a long time, try calculating it in dog-years.)

It must be true, it’s right there on the well-footnoted “Pun” Wikipedia page:

“Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs were originally based on punning systems…”

And—ahem:

“Punning has been credited as the fundamental concept behind alphabets, writing, and even human civilization.”

But go ahead and side with the Johnsons of this world. You must hate civilization. And laughter. So whatever you do, do NOT read this tweet by the British humorist Moose Allain:

No, seriously. How can you not laugh at that?