Quotation

The Pun Also Rises

How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics
Community quotations are the opinions of contributing users. These quotations do not represent the opinions of Strathcona County Library.
In the modern world, learning one's ABCs is considered elementary learning. But when the alphabet as we know it was invented, its impact was dramatic and lasting... In the broadest terms, alphabetic writing suddenly endowed humans with the means to transmit detailed information with accuracy, both over distance and time... What enabled this key breakthrough? Again it was the human capacity to recognize the distinctions between sound, symbol and meaning, and our inclination to recombine them in assemblages of infinite variety-in a word, punning. Yes, the alphabet and the human progress it subsequently made possible flowed directly from both our ability and inclination to make puns... it was essentially punning - intentional and increasingly complex punning - that laid the foundation for alphabetic writing as we know it, which in turn made possible the accumulation of knowledge and the creation of the modern world.