Puns are a tricky subject. In fact, they’re positively cultish. Either you love them and ROLF everytime your hear one, or you have the urge to punch those nasty punsters in their pie-holes whenever they serve up a piece of their crummy humour. Shakespeare made liberal use of them throughout his work, while Mark Twain considered them the “last and saddest evidence of intellectual poverty”. I think old Twain was being overly harsh. The humble pun’s gene pool is much deeper than you’d think, Wikipedia lists 8 different kinds that have been used to excellent effect by literary and comedic  greats like George Carlin, Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Groucho Marx, and Oscar Wilde. My all time favourite puns come from the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O’Brian, with such gems as:

Why do they call it the dog watch? Because it’s cur-tailed!

Captain Aubrey: “Do you see those two weevils, Doctor?…Which would you choose?”
Dr. Maturin: “Neither. There’s not a scrap of difference between them. They’re the same species of Curculio.”
Captain Aubrey: “If you had to choose. If you were forced to make a choice. If there were no other option.”
Dr. Maturin: “Well, then, if you’re going to push me. I would choose the right-hand weevil. It has significant advantage in both length and breadth.”
Captain Aubrey: “There, I have you!…Do you not know that in the Service, one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?”

I also had a good snigger at this one found by Prawn.

Did you hear the one about the guy who submitted ten puns to a pun contest hoping one would win? Unfortunately no pun in ten did.

For your viewing pleasure today, a selection of our favourite puns told in pictures lie in wait after the jump.