- Visual pun
A visual pun is a
pun involving animage or images (in addition to or instead oflanguage ).Visual puns in which the image is at odds with the inscription are common in Dutch
gable stone s as well as incartoon s such as "Lost Consonants" or "The Far Side ". Europeanheraldry contains the technique ofcanting arms , which can be considered punning.Examples
* In
Super Mario Brothers , when Mario picks up a "fire flower", he becomes fiery. "Fire flower" in Japanese is literally 火花 (hi-bana; fire-flower), meaning spark, hence he is picking up a "spark". At the end of a level, sometimes fireworks go off; in Japanese, fireworks are 花火 (hana-bi; flower-fire): samekanji , opposite order.* In "Alice" by
Jan Švankmajer , there are a number of visual puns, including: socks in holes (socks crawling into and out of holes, punning on "holes in socks"); Alice opens asardine can to reveal a key, punning on the key used to open a sardine can.External links
* http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/high/puns.htm
* http://www.punarama.co.uk/comicSee also
*
Slapstick Christian Hempelmann and Andrea C. Samson. “Visual Puns and Verbal Puns: Descriptive Analogy or False Analogy?” In: Diana Popa and Salvatore Attardo (Eds.), “New Approaches to the Linguistics of Humor.” Galati: Dunarea de Jos. 2007. 180-196.
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