Transpositional pun

From Free net encyclopedia

A transpositional pun is a complicated pun format with two aspects. It involves transposing the words in a well-known phrase or saying to get a daffynition-like clever redefinition of a well-known word unrelated to the original phrase. The redefinition is thus the first aspect, the transposition the second aspect.

A popular example of a transpositional pun is defining "hangover" as "the wrath of grapes". The original phrase is "grapes of wrath", a well-known phrase best known as the title of a book by John Steinbeck. The transposed phrase, "the wrath of grapes", can be used as a clever redefinition for "hangover", since a hangover could be considered, through personification, to be the effect on the drinker when the grapes used to make wine get angry at the drinker.

Some examples:

Alimony:	The bounty of mutiny.	(pun on Mutiny on the Bounty)
Dieting:	A waist is a terrible thing to mind.	(pun on "a mind is a terrible thing to waste")
Hangover:	The wrath of grapes.
Olympic Officials:	The souls that time men's tries.	(pun on "the time that tries men's souls")
Saxophone:	An ill wind nobody blows good.	(pun on "an ill wind blows nobody good")
Feudalism:	It's your count that votes!	(pun on "It's your vote that counts!")

As a result, transpositional puns are considered among the most difficult to create, and commonly the most challenging to comprehend, particularly for non-native speakers of the language in which they're given (most commonly English).