You searched for: “wordplays
wordplay (s) (noun), wordplays (pl)
1. Witty, clever, or humorous verbal exchanges or presentations:
With woe he shouted, "Whoa!" as rain
Without a break did reign.
To brake, he pulled the rein, and like
A shattered pane, he felt pain.
—Richard Lederer in
The Miracle of Language; Pocket Books;
New York; 1991, page 42.
2. Etymology: a word that dates from the mid-1850s which simply means "playing with words."
A pun or a play on words.
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Clever or verbal wit with words.
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Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

Here are several examples of wordplays for your pleasure.

  • Irene changed her iPod's name to Titanic because it's syncing now.
  • When chemists die, others barium.
  • Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
  • Adam knows a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.
  • How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.
  • Jane stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on her.
  • This girl said she recognized Jim from the vegetarian club, but he said that he never met herbivore.
  • Lisa is reading a book about anti-gravity and she just can't put it down.
  • Tom did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.
  • The doctor wrote in his medical report that Mike had type A blood, but it really was a type O mistake.
  • The students are going on a class trip to the Coca-Cola factory and they hope there's no pop quiz.
  • Sam didn't like his beard at first, then it grew on him.
  • Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?
  • The nurse told Henry, "When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble."
  • Sam's pencils keep breaking every time he tries to sharpen them; so, he has quit doing it anymore because broken pencils are pointless.
  • Irene tried to catch some fog, but she mist.
  • What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.
  • England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.
  • Mark used to be a banker, but then he lost interest.
  • Paul dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.
  • All the toilets in New York's police stations have been stolen and so now the police have nothing to go on.
  • Elizabeth got a job at a bakery because she kneaded dough.
  • Haunted French pancakes give Liza the crêpes.
  • Velcro — what a rip off!
  • A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.
  • Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!
  • The earthquake in Washington obviously was the government's fault.
  • Ann was told that her father's will was a dead giveaway.
—Source is from a friend;
however, its origin is not known. If you know where it
it came from, please let me know via e-mail at
words@wordinfo.info so proper credit can be provided.

This entry is located in the following unit: Wordplay or A Play on Words, More Pun Fun (page 1)
Clever or humorous wit with words, puns. (2)