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Nankin Tamasudare

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Nankin tamasudare ( 南京玉簾 or 南京玉すだれ , Nankin-tamasudare , lit. " Nanjing Lily ") is a kind of traditional Japanese street performance . The name "Nankin tamasudare" is a play on words, as it can mean a kind of flower, as well as mean something like "a wondrous woven screen" ( sudare is a kind of screen made by weaving straw with twine.)

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98-459: The performance consists of a person skilled in manipulating special screens made of loosely woven sticks, as well as chanting an accompanying kind of poetry. The performer chants a rhythmic poem as he or she uses the screen to portray the objects in the poetry without stopping. The screen is twisted, folded, extended, etc., in many different ways to portray an object, and then brought back quickly to its original screen shape. The chant usually ends with

196-411: A crane and flies up to the sky. In another, he grows gills and leaps into the sea, whereby he regains his youth. In another version Urashima ate a magic pill that gave him the ability to breathe underwater. In another version, he is swept away by a storm before he can rescue the turtle. In another version, Irashima does stay with Otohime and they conceive a child. [1] The full name Urashima Tarō

294-402: A malapropism in that a malapropism is an incorrect variation on a correct expression, while a pun involves expressions with multiple (correct or fairly reasonable) interpretations. Puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, especially as their usage and meaning are usually specific to a particular language or its culture . Puns have a long history in writing. For example,

392-401: A pun : kaeru nai has the double meaning that there is no frog ( カエル , kaeru ) under the willow tree, and the willow tree figure cannot return ( 帰る , kaeru ) easily to the original shape. The story ends with the willow tree figure, with the performer slowly packing up the mat after the performance. Nankin tamasudare is said to have been a popular form of entertainment that began in

490-401: A Möbius strip club!" puns on the terms Möbius strip and strip club . A recursive pun is one in which the second aspect of a pun relies on the understanding of an element in the first. For example, the statement " π is only half a pie" (π radians is 180 degrees , or half a circle, and a pie is a complete circle). Another example is " Infinity is not in finity", which means infinity

588-549: A bit And it looks somewhat like a flying carp at Boy's Day ! Once you take a gander at the flying carp of May A flick of the wrist and look, it's Tokyo Tower ! Once you catch a glimpse of wondrous Tokyo Tower, the screen regains its shape, regains its former shape Hurry, hurry Hurry, it's the Nanjing Woven Screen Stretch it out a bit... Is it the Amitābha Buddha, Or

686-444: A chance, won't the lima beans feel left out?" which plays with the similar—but not identical—sound of peas and peace in the anti-war slogan " Give Peace a Chance ". A homographic pun exploits words that are spelled the same ( homographs ) but possess different meanings and sounds. Because of their origin, they rely on sight more than hearing, contrary to homophonic puns. They are also known as heteronymic puns . Examples in which

784-514: A composite consisting of older traditions from the Nihon Shoki and Man'yōshū , combined with the near-modern Otogizōshi storybook plot, Chamberlain preferring to incorporate details from the ancient texts, while eschewing embellishment from the Otogizōshi. Chamberlain has also published a versified version of the tale. In Chamberlain's fairytale version, "Urashima" (not "Tarō") catches

882-505: A crane. Some iconic elements in the modern version are relatively recent. The portrayal of him riding a turtle dates only to the early 18th century, and while he is carried underwater to the Dragon Palace in modern tellings, he rides a boat to the princess's world called Hōrai in older versions. The Urashima Tarō tale familiar to most Japanese follows the storyline of children's tale author Iwaya Sazanami  [ ja ] in

980-599: A fisherman ) found a turtle on the beach being toyed with by a group of children. He purchased the turtle and released it in the ocean. Two or three days later, while he was fishing on a boat as always, the grateful turtle came and told him he would carry him on his back to the underwater Dragon Palace ( Ryūgū ). At the palace, the princess ( Otohime ) thanked him for saving the turtle. After an unspecified number of days, remembrance of his mother and father made him homesick, and he bid farewell to Otohime. The princess tried to dissuade him from leaving, but finally let him go with

1078-544: A grave man" in Romeo and Juliet . Shakespeare was also noted for his frequent play with less serious puns, the "quibbles" of the sort that made Samuel Johnson complain, "A quibble is to Shakespeare what luminous vapours are to the traveller! He follows it to all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way, sure to engulf him in the mire. It has some malignant power over his mind, and its fascinations are irresistible." Elsewhere, Johnson disparagingly referred to punning as

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1176-447: A moving company: "We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want your tows." Here, the familiar phrase "an arm and a leg" is paronomastically punned upon with "tows," playing on the phonetic similarity to "toes" while referring to the company's service of towing belongings. Metonymic puns exploit the metonymic relationship between words – where a word or phrase is used to represent something it's closely associated with. In such puns, one term

1274-541: A mysterious box called tamatebako which will protect him from harm but which she tells him never to open. Tarō grabs the box, jumps on the back of the same turtle that had brought him there, and soon is at the seashore. When he goes home, everything has changed. His home is gone, his mother has vanished, and the people he knew are nowhere to be seen. He asks if anybody knows a man called Urashima Tarō. They answer that they had heard someone of that name had vanished at sea long ago. He discovers that 300 years have passed since

1372-621: A new tolerance for a long-despised form of humor." It can be argued that paronomasia is common in media headlines, to draw the reader's interest. The rhetoric is important because it connects people with the topic. A notable example is the New York Post headline "Headless Body in Topless Bar". New York Post headlines for sex scandal articles have included "Cloak and Shag Her" (General Petraeus), "Obama Beats Weiner" (Congressman Weiner), and " Bezos Exposes Pecker ". Paronomasia

1470-436: A parting gift, a mysterious box called tamatebako whose lid he was told never to open. When Tarō returned to his hometown, everything had changed. His home was gone, his mother and father had perished, and the people he knew were nowhere to be seen. After not remembering the princess's warning, he lifted the lid of the box. A cloud of white smoke arose, turning him to a white-haired old man. The story remained as one of

1568-462: A pun can make the speaker seem witty. Paronomasia is strong in print media and oral conversation so it can be assumed that paronomasia is strong in broadcast media as well. Examples of paronomasia in media are sound bites. They could be memorable because of the humor and rhetoric associated with paronomasia, thus making the significance of the soundbite stronger. There exist subtle differences between paronomasia and other literary techniques, such as

1666-486: A pun may be based on a similarity in shape of the written character, despite a complete lack of phonetic similarity in the words punned upon. Mark Elvin describes how this "peculiarly Chinese form of visual punning involved comparing written characters to objects." Visual puns on the bearer's name are used extensively as forms of heraldic expression, they are called canting arms . They have been used for centuries across Europe and have even been used recently by members of

1764-451: 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

1862-417: A title can immediately communicate both that what follows is a parody and also that work is about to be parodied, making any further "setup" (introductory explanation) unnecessary. Sometimes called "books never written" or "world's greatest books", these are jokes that consist of fictitious book titles with authors' names that contain a pun relating to the title. Perhaps the best-known example is: " Tragedy on

1960-499: A tortoise ( sic ) while fishing on his boat, and releases it. The tortoise reappears in her true form as the Sea-God's daughter, and invites him to the Dragon Palace. There the couple are married and live happily for 3 years, but Urashima misses seeing his parents and his brothers. The Dragon Princess reluctantly allows him to leave, giving him a box he is instructed never to open, for it will cause him never to be able to return to

2058-550: A tree-surgeon in Dudley called " Special Branch ". The winning entry, selected by Lee Nelson , was a dry cleaner's in Fulham and Chelsea called "Starchy and Starchy", a pun on Saatchi & Saatchi . Paronomasia has found a strong foothold in the media. William Safire of The New York Times suggests that "the root of this pace-growing [use of paronomasia] is often a headline-writer's need for quick catchiness, and has resulted in

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2156-592: A turtle caught by others, 2) Boat arrives to convey him to Horai , 3) The four seasons assuage rather than provoke his homesickness, 4) The villagers in recognition of his longevity give him proper cremation , 5) Smoke from the tamatebako reaches Horai and Princess Otohime is grief-stricken. The tale of "Urashima Taro" in Keigo Seki 's anthology (translated into English 1963), was a version told in Nakatado District, Kagawa . In this variant, Urashima

2254-399: A word. For instance, in the sentence, "I used to be a baker, but I couldn't make enough dough," the word "dough" is used paronomastically to refer both to the substance used to make bread and to slang for money. This type of pun is frequently used in advertisements , comedy , and literature to provide a clever and memorable message. One notable example comes from an advertising slogan for

2352-510: A young fisherman named Urashima Tarō is fishing when he notices a group of children torturing a small turtle. Tarō saves it and lets it go back to the sea. The next day, a huge turtle approaches him and tells him that the small turtle he had saved is the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, Ryūjin , who wants to see him to thank him. The turtle magically gives Tarō gills and brings him to the bottom of

2450-542: Is a statement that contains two or more puns. In this case, the wordplay cannot go into effect by utilizing the separate words or phrases of the puns that make up the entire statement. For example, a complex statement by Richard Whately includes four puns: "Why can a man never starve in the Great Desert ? Because he can eat the sand which is there. But what brought the sandwiches there? Why, Noah sent Ham, and his descendants mustered and bred." This pun uses sand which

2548-409: Is also an example of a multilingual pun, full understanding of which requires knowledge of more than one language on the part of the listener. Names of fictional characters also often carry puns, such as Ash Ketchum , the protagonist of the anime series Pokémon , and Goku ("Kakarrot"), the protagonist of the manga series Dragon Ball . Both franchises are known for including second meanings in

2646-529: Is it Śākyamuni ? See the shimmering halo ? what a delightful sight! Once you see the halo shining 'round the Buddha, the screen regains its shape, regains its former shape Hurry, hurry Hurry, it's the Nanjing Woven Screen Stretch it out a bit Turn it in a bit It looks somewhat like A white floating sail along the Bridge to Heaven one of Japan's Three Greatest Sights Once you can see

2744-459: Is localized as being from "Kitamae Oshima". It incorporates both the motif of the turtle being caught while fishing, and that of Urashima transforming into a crane at the end, which are found in the Otogizōshi . Here, it was a three-tiered jeweled hand-box ( 三重ねの玉手箱 , mitsugasane no tamatebako ) , that is to say, a stacked box that was given to Urashima. When he opened the lid, the first box (on

2842-790: Is not in finite range. Another example is "a Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother ". The recursive pun "Immanuel doesn't pun, he Kant " is attributed to Oscar Wilde . Visual puns are sometimes used in logos, emblems, insignia, and other graphic symbols, in which one or more of the pun aspects is replaced by a picture. In European heraldry , this technique is called canting arms . Visual and other puns and word games are also common in Dutch gable stones as well as in some cartoons , such as Lost Consonants and The Far Side . Another type of visual pun exists in languages that use non-phonetic writing. For example, in Chinese,

2940-463: Is parsed as dis-tressed (having hair cut off), or in the self-referential pun "I entered ten puns in a pun competition hoping one would win, but no pun in ten did" (parsed as "no pun intended"). Puns are a common source of humour in jokes and comedy shows . They are often used in the punch line of a joke, where they typically give a humorous meaning to a rather perplexing story. These are also known as feghoots . The following example comes from

3038-481: Is prevalent orally as well. Salvatore Attardo believes that puns are verbal humor. He talks about Pepicello and Weisberg's linguistic theory of humor and believes the only form of linguistic humor is limited to puns. This is because a pun is a play on the word itself. Attardo believes that only puns are able to maintain humor and this humor has significance. It is able to help soften a situation and make it less serious, it can help make something more memorable, and using

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3136-436: Is remembered as a man who disappeared long ago, and would be over three hundred years old if still alive. Forgetting the promise, he opens the box, whereupon a beautiful figure like a fragrant orchid is carried away to the heavens with the clouds, and he realizes he can never meet the princess again. Still, the couple are somehow (supernaturally) able to exchange poems. These poems are recorded in phonetic man'yōgana . In

3234-599: Is repeated with the meaning "be executed." This punning style is prevalent in both humorous and serious contexts, adding layers of complexity to the language by highlighting the multifaceted nature of words. Such puns are frequently used in literature, speeches, and advertising to deliver memorable and impactful lines. Richard J. Alexander notes two additional forms that puns may take: graphological (sometimes called visual) puns, such as concrete poetry ; and morphological puns, such as portmanteaux . Morphological puns may make use of rebracketing , where for instance distressed

3332-445: Is substituted for another term with which it's closely linked by a concept or idea. The humor or wit of the pun often comes from the unexpected yet apt connection made between the two concepts. For instance, consider a hypothetical news headline: "The White House loses its balance." In this case, "The White House" is used metonymically to represent the U.S. government , and "balance" could be interpreted both as physical stability (as if

3430-400: Is the Dragon Palace, and on the four sides of the palace, each gardenscape is in a different season. Urashima decides to return to his home after three years and is given a memento box ( かたみの筥/箱 , katami no hako ) in parting. He arrives in his hometown to find it desolate, and discovers 700 years have passed since he last left it. He cannot restrain his temptation to open the box which he

3528-404: Is the formal term for punning , playing with words to create humorous or rhetorical effect. Paronomastic puns often manipulate well-known idioms , proverbs , or phrases to deliver a punned twist. The classic structure of a joke, with a setup leading to a punchline, is a common format for paronomastic puns, where the punchline alters the expected phrase in a way that plays on multiple meanings of

3626-631: Is the school song "Urashima Tarō" (浦島太郎) of 1911 which begins with the line " Mukashi, mukashi Urashima wa, tasuketa kame ni tsurerarete (Long long ago was Urashima, by the turtle he rescued taken to the sea)", printed in the Jinjō shōgaku shōka  [ ja ] (1911). This song's author was long relegated to anonymity, but the lyricist is now considered to be Okkotsu Saburō  [ ja ] . Another school song "Urashima Tarō" (うらしまたろう, lyrics by Ishihara Wasaburō  [ ja ] and music by Tamura Torazō  [ ja ] ) appeared in

3724-464: Is there/sandwiches there , Ham /ham , mustered/mustard , and bred/bread . Similarly, the phrase "piano is not my forte" links two meanings of the words forte and piano , one for the dynamic markings in music and the second for the literal meaning of the sentence, as well as alluding to "pianoforte", the older name of the instrument. Compound puns may also combine two phrases that share a word. For example, "Where do mathematicians go on weekends? To

3822-571: The Fudoki for Tango Province ( Tango no Kuni Fudoki , 丹後国風土記 ) that survived in excerpts, the Man'yōshū and the Nihon Shoki . More recent editions of these texts tend to favor the "Ura (no) Shimako" reading, although some consider this debatable. It has also been proposed that it was not until the Heian Period that the misreading "Urashima (no) ko" became current, because names with

3920-482: The Nihon Shoki , Urashimako of Mizunoe is mentioned in the entry for Autumn, 7th month the 22nd year of reign of Emperor Yūryaku . Aston 's translation assigns this the year 478 A.D. The entry states that Urashimako (child Urashima, child of Urashima, etc.) of Mizunoe while fishing on a boat, caught a turtle which transformed into a woman. They went into the sea, and reached Mount Hōrai (glossed in kana as Tokoyo ), where they saw immortals ( 仙衆 (ひじり) ) . As to

4018-470: The British royal family , such as on the arms of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and of Princess Beatrice of York . The arms of U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower are also canting . In the context of non-phonetic texts, 4 Pics 1 Word , is an example of visual paronomasia where the players are supposed to identify the word in common from the set of four images. Paronomasia

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4116-3431: The Edo period . Today, it is sometimes performed at Japanese cultural festivals. There are many variations of lyrics used for the performance, but below is a set that one might hear when observing a performance. The reference to Tokyo Tower , built in 1958, is a modern addition. アさて さて さて さて さては南京玉すだれ チョイと伸ばせば 浦島太郎さんの 魚釣り竿に チョイと似たり 浦島太郎さんの 魚釣り竿が お目にとまれば おなぐさみ お目にとまれば 元へと返す 元へと返す アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ チョイと返せば 瀬田の唐橋 唐金擬宝珠 擬宝珠ないのが おなぐさみ 瀬田の唐橋 お目にとまれば 元へと返す 元へと返す アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ チョイと伸ばせば チョイと返せば おらが在所の ご門でござる おらの在所 ご門が お目にとまれば 炭焼き小屋へと 早変わり 炭焼き小屋が お目にとまれば 元へと返す 元へと返す アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ 東海道は 五十と三次 中山道は 六十と九次 あまたの宿々 なくてならぬは 蕎麦屋の看板 蕎麦屋の看板 お目にとまれば 元へと返す 元へと返す アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ チョイと返せば チョイと伸ばせば 端午の節句は 鯉ののぼりに さも似たり 五月の鯉が お目にとまれば 東京タワーと 早変わり 東京タワーが お目にとまれば 元へと返す 元へと返す アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ チョイと伸ばせば 阿弥陀如来か 釈迦牟尼か 後光が見えれば おなぐさみ 阿弥陀如来が お目にとまれば 元へと返す 元へと返す アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ チョイと伸ばせば チョイと返せば 日本三景 天橋立 浮かぶ白帆に さも似たり 浮かぶ白帆が お目にとまれば 元へと返す 元へと返す アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ チョイと返せば 日米国旗に さも似たり 日米国旗が お目にとまれば しだれ柳に 早変わり しだれ柳に 飛びつく蛙 蛙いないが おなぐさみ アさて アさて アさて さて さて さて アさて アさて さては南京玉すだれ a-sate, sate, sate, sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare choito nobaseba urashimatarō-san no sakana tsurizao ni choito nitari urashimatarō-san no sakana tsurizao ga ome ni tomareba onagusami ome ni tomareba moto e to kaesu moto e to kaesu a-sate, a-sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare choito kaeseba seta no karahashi Tōkin giboshi giboshi nai noga onagusami seta no karahashi ome ni tomareba moto e to kaesu moto e to kaesu a-sate, a-sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare choito nobaseba choito kaeseba ora ga zaisho no gomon de gozaru ora no zaisho no gomon ga ome ni tomareba sumiyaki koya he to hayagawari sumiyaki koya ga ome ni tomareba moto e to kaesu moto e to kaesu a-sate, a-sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare tōkaidō wa goju to santsugi nakasendo wa rokuju to kutsugi amata no yadoyado nakutenaranu wa sobaya no kanban sobaya no kanban ome ni tomareba moto e to kaesu moto e to kaesu a-sate, a-sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare choito kaeseba choito nobaseba tango no sekku wa koi no nobori ni samo nitari gogatsu no koi ga ome in tomareba Tōkyō Tawā to hayagawari Tōkyō Tawā ga ome ni tomareba moto e to kaesu moto e to kaesu a-sate, a-sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare choito nobaseba amida nyorai ka shakamuni ka gokō ga miereba onagusami amida nyorai ga ome ni tomareba moto e to kaesu moto e to kaesu a-sate, a-sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare choito nobaseba choito kaeseba nihon sankei ama no hashidate ukabu shiraho ni samo nitari ukabu shiraho ga ome in tomareba moto e to kaesu moto e to kaesu a-sate, a-sate sate wa Nankin Tamasudare choito kaeseba nichibei kokki ni samo nitari nichibei kokki ga ome ni tomareba shidare yanagi ni hayagawari shidare yanagi ni tobitsuku kaeru kaeru inai ga onagusami a-sate, a-sate a-sate, sate, sate, sate a-sate, a-sate, sate wa Nankin Tamasudare hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry Hurry, it's

4214-500: The Hyades cluster) who address him as the "husband of Kame Hime (Princess Turtle)". The remainder is mostly the same as the typical tale. After three years, the man develops a longing for his parents and homeland. The princess is saddened, but imparts him with a jeweled comb box ( 玉匣 , tamakushige ) , forbidding him to open it if he wished ever to return to her. He returns and finds no trace of his home or family, except that he

4312-511: The Meiji period . A condensed version of Sazanami's retelling then appeared in Kokutei kyōkasho  [ ja ] , Japan's nationally designated textbook for elementary school, and became widely read by schoolchildren of the populace. Modern versions of Urashima Tarō, which are generally similar, are demonstrably based on the story from this nationally designated textbook series. One day,

4410-732: The O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships in Austin, Texas . In 2015 the UK Pun Champion was Leo Kearse. Other pun competitions include Minnesota’s Pundamonium, Orlando Punslingers, the Almost Annual Pun-Off in Eureka, and Brooklyn’s Punderdome, led by Jo Firestone and her father, Fred Firestone. In Away with Words: An Irreverent Tour Through the World of Pun Competitions, Joe Berkowitz deems Austin's O. Henry Pun-Off

4508-608: The Otogi Bunko group. And the expression tamatebako or "jeweled hand-box" familiar to modern readers is also seen in the main text of Group I, and not the other groups (the interpolated poem excepted). The picture scroll in the collection of the Bodleian Library , Oxford University also belongs to Group I. Hayashi Kouhei has highlighted the characteristics of the Group I texts as follows: 1) Urashima purchases

4606-513: The Yōnen shōka (1900). Although written in stilted classical language , Miura considered this version the more familiar. Long before the versions in 19th century textbooks, there had been the otogi-zōshi versions from the Muromachi period . Conventionally, commentators using the term otogizōshi are referring by default to the text found in the Otogi Bunko (or "Companion Library"), since it

4704-506: The double entendre . While puns are often simple wordplay for comedic or rhetorical effect, a double entendre alludes to a second meaning that is not contained within the statement or phrase itself, often one that purposefully disguises the second meaning. As both exploit the use of intentional double meanings, puns can sometimes be double entendres, and vice versa. Puns also bear similarities with paraprosdokian , syllepsis , and eggcorns . In addition, homographic puns are sometimes compared to

4802-455: The stylistic device antanaclasis , and homophonic puns to polyptoton . Puns can be used as a type of mnemonic device to enhance comprehension in an educational setting. Used discreetly, puns can effectively reinforce content and aid in the retention of material. Some linguists have encouraged the creation of neologisms to decrease the instances of confusion caused by puns. Puns were found in ancient Egypt , where they were heavily used in

4900-533: The "Olympics" of pun competitions, and Brooklyn's Punderdome the "X Games". GQ described the crowd at Brooklyn's Punderdome as "passionate, to a level that feels dangerous". Non-humorous puns were and are a standard poetic device in English literature . Puns and other forms of wordplay have been used by many famous writers, such as Alexander Pope , James Joyce , Vladimir Nabokov , Robert Bloch , Lewis Carroll , John Donne , and William Shakespeare . In

4998-458: The 8th century, such as the Fudoki for Tango Province , Nihon Shoki , and the Man'yōshū . During the Muromachi to Edo periods , versions of Urashima Tarō appeared in storybook form called the Otogizōshi , made into finely painted picture scrolls and picture books or mass-printed copies. These texts vary considerably, and in some, the story ends with Urashima Tarō transforming into

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5096-532: The Cliff by Eileen Dover", which according to one source was devised by humourist Peter De Vries . It is common for these puns to refer to taboo subject matter, such as " What Boys Love by E. Norma Stitts". Pun competitions 2014 saw the inaugural UK Pun Championships, at the Leicester Comedy Festival , hosted by Lee Nelson . The winner was Darren Walsh. Walsh went on to take part in

5194-641: The Grapes wine and spirits, Curl Up and Dye hair salon, as do books such as Pies and Prejudice , webcomics like ( YU+ME: dream ) and feature films such as ( Good Will Hunting ). The Japanese anime Speed Racer 's original Japanese title, Mach GoGoGo! refers to the English word itself, the Japanese word for five (the Mach Five 's car number), and the name of the show's main character, Go Mifune. This

5292-485: The Nanjing Woven Screen Pun A pun , also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics , is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic , homographic , metonymic , or figurative language . A pun differs from

5390-707: The Nanjing Woven Screen Extend it just a little and it looks a bit like Urashima Tarō 's fishing rod! Finding Urashima Tarō's fishing rod is sure to amuse. Once you see the rod, the screen regains its shape, regains its former shape Hurry, hurry Hurry, it's the Nanjing Woven Screen Turn it in a bit It's the Chinese bridge of Seta ! As for bronze post tops, Here there are no ornamental post tops. The Chinese bridge of Seta! After you recognize it,

5488-590: The Nanjing Woven Screen There are fifty-three stations along the Tōkaidō and sixty-nine stations along the Nakasendō . Not all the buildings are traveling inns to stay. See the sign to a buckwheat noodle shop. Notice the sign and the screen regains its shape regains its former shape Hurry, hurry Hurry, it's the Nanjing Woven Screen Turn it 'round a bit Stretch it out

5586-549: The Roman playwright Plautus was famous for his puns and word games. A homophonic pun is one that uses word pairs which sound alike ( homophones ) but are not synonymous. Walter Redfern summarized this type with his statement, "To pun is to treat homonyms as synonyms ." For example, in George Carlin 's phrase "atheism is a non-prophet institution", the word prophet is put in place of its homophone profit , altering

5684-505: The Service , one must always choose the lesser of the two weevils. " Not infrequently, puns are used in the titles of comedic parodies . A parody of a popular song, movie, etc., may be given a title that hints at the title of the work being parodied, replacing some of the words with ones that sound or look similar. For example, collegiate a cappella groups are often named after musical puns to attract fans through attempts at humor. Such

5782-469: The audience's background with the possibility of detracting from the intended message. Like other forms of wordplay, paronomasia is occasionally used for its attention-getting or mnemonic qualities, making it common in titles and the names of places, characters, and organizations, and in advertising and slogans. Many restaurant and shop names use puns: Cane & Able mobility healthcare, Sam & Ella 's Chicken Palace, Tiecoon tie shop, Planet of

5880-556: The ballad-form by Chamberlain. In this version, the woman of the Immortal Land (Tokoyo) appears as the daughter of the Sea God ( Watatsumi no kami ). Basil Hall Chamberlain (1880) indicated the presence of a temple dedicated to Urashima at Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama , which housed several relics such as Urashima's fishing-line, and the casket (tamatebako). But when Ernest Satow went there with Chamberlain on 2 May 1880, there

5978-426: The building itself is tipping over) or fiscal balance (as in the budget), thereby creating a pun. While metonymic puns may not be as widely recognized as a specific category of pun, they represent a sophisticated linguistic tool that can bring an additional layer of nuance to wordplay. Syllepsis , or heteronymy, is a form of punning where a single word simultaneously affects the rest of the sentence, while it changes

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6076-421: The children.) Notable practitioners of the sylleptic pun include authors such as P. G. Wodehouse , who once wrote, "If not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled," playing on the dichotomy of "disgruntled" and "gruntled," where the latter is not typically used. Antanaclasis is a type of pun where a single word or phrase is repeated, but the meaning changes each time. The humor or wit derives from

6174-701: The common phrase " non-profit institution ". Similarly, the joke "Question: Why do we still have troops in Germany ? Answer: To keep the Russians in Czech " relies on the aural ambiguity of the homophones check and Czech . Often, puns are not strictly homophonic, but play on words of similar, not identical, sound as in the example from the Pinky and the Brain cartoon film series: "I think so, Brain, but if we give peas

6272-521: The country, rewrote the Urashima tale under the title " The Dream of a Summer Day " in the late 19th century, working off of a copy of Chamberlain's "Japanese Fairy Tale Series" version. As always with folklore, there are many different versions of this story. There are other versions that add a further epilogue explaining the subsequent fate of Urashima Tarō after he turns into an old man. In one, he falls to dust and dies, in another, he transforms into

6370-406: The creature transforms into a beautiful woman. She identifies herself as someone from the household of immortals, and proposes to take him to the place of immortals, which may be Horaisan ( Mount Penglai ) or "Tokoyo-no-kuni" ("Timeless Land" or "Land of Eternity"). They are greeted by first seven, then eight children, who represent the constellations of Pleiades and Taurus (or more precisely

6468-399: The day he left for the bottom of the sea. Struck by grief, he absent-mindedly opens the box the princess had given him, from which bursts forth a cloud of white smoke. He is suddenly aged, his beard long and white, and his back bent. From the sea comes the sad, sweet voice of the princess: "I told you not to open that box. In it was your old age ...". A summary of the Urashima tale from one of

6566-505: The development of myths and interpretation of dreams. In China , Shen Dao (ca. 300 BC) used "shi", meaning "power", and "shi", meaning "position" to say that a king has power because of his position as king. In ancient Mesopotamia around 2500 BC, punning was used by scribes to represent words in cuneiform . The Tanakh contains puns. The Maya are known for having used puns in their hieroglyphic writing , and for using them in their modern languages. In Japan, " graphomania "

6664-412: The dozen tales included in the 4th edition of national language reader textbooks also known as Sakura tokuhon  [ ja ] used from 1933 to c. 1940, thus continuing to enjoy wide recognition; for this reason Urashima could be considered one of the core stories of the so-called Japanese "national fairy tales". A number of renditions exist, where they are set to music. Among the most popular

6762-430: The exploitation of words that are both homographs and homophones. The statement "Being in politics is just like playing golf : you are trapped in one bad lie after another" puns on the two meanings of the word lie as "a deliberate untruth" and as "the position in which something rests". An adaptation of a joke repeated by Isaac Asimov gives us "Did you hear about the little moron who strained himself while running into

6860-432: The highest form of literature." Shakespeare is estimated to have used over 3,000 puns in his plays . Even though many of the puns were bawdy, Elizabethan literature considered puns and wordplay to be a "sign of literary refinement" more so than humor. This is evidenced by the deployment of puns in serious or "seemingly inappropriate" scenes, like when a dying Mercutio quips "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me

6958-439: The homophonic qualities of tune a and tuna , as well as the homographic pun on bass , in which ambiguity is reached through the identical spellings of / b eɪ s / (a string instrument ), and / b æ s / (a kind of fish ). Homographic puns do not necessarily need to follow grammatical rules and often do not make sense when interpreted outside the context of the pun. Homonymic puns, another common type, arise from

7056-436: The lowest form of humour. Puns can function as a rhetorical device , where the pun serves as a persuasive instrument for an author or speaker. Although puns are sometimes perceived as trite or silly, if used responsibly a pun "can be an effective communication tool in a variety of situations and forms". A major difficulty in using puns in this manner is that the meaning of a pun can be interpreted very differently according to

7154-581: The meaning of the idiom it is used in. This form of punning uses the word in its literal and metaphorical senses at once, creating a surprising and often humorous effect. An example of a sylleptic pun is in the sentence, "She lowered her standards by raising her glass, her courage, her eyes and his hopes." In this case, "raising" applies in different ways to each of the items listed, creating a series of linked puns. This type of punning can often be seen in literature, particularly in works that play extensively with language. (She razed his self-esteem in how she raised

7252-470: The movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World , though the punchline stems from far older Vaudeville roots. The final line puns on the stock phrase " the lesser of two evils ". After Aubrey offers his pun (to the enjoyment of many), Dr. Maturin shows a disdain for the craft with his reply, "One who would pun would pick-a-pocket." Captain Aubrey: "Do you see those two weevils , Doctor?...Which would you choose?" Dr. Maturin: "Neither. There's not

7350-503: The names of characters. A recurring motif in the Austin Powers films repeatedly puns on names that suggest male genitalia. In the science fiction television series Star Trek , " B-4 " is used as the name of one of four androids models constructed "before" the android Data , a main character. A librarian in another Star Trek episode was named "Mr. Atoz" (A to Z). The parallel sequel The Lion King 1½ advertised with

7448-594: The nationalized textbooks ( Kokutei kyōkasho  [ ja ] ) will be given below. The base text used will be Urashima Tarō (うらしま太郎), from the 3rd edition of the Kokugo tokuhon  [ ja ] or "national language reader", a widely familiar textbook used during the 1918–1932 period. An English translation has been provided in Yoshiko Holmes's thesis. Long ago, a man named Urashima Tarō of unidentified profession (or, in recent textbooks often

7546-486: The palace. When he returns to his home village, his absence turns out to have been 400 years. Urashima now wishes to go back to the Dragon Palace but he does not know the means, and opens the box. He turns into a white-haired, wrinkled old man and dies. The ending by death concurs with older tradition, and not the otogi-zōshi storybook. Lafcadio Hearn , who lived in Japan and translated or adapted many ghost stories from

7644-570: The phrase "You haven't seen the 1/2 of it!". Wyborowa Vodka employed the slogan "Enjoyed for centuries straight", while Northern Telecom used "Technology the world calls on." On 1 June 2015 the BBC Radio 4 You and Yours included a feature on "Puntastic Shop Titles". Entries included a Chinese Takeaway in Ayr town centre called " Ayr's Wok ", a kebab shop in Ireland called " Abra Kebabra " and

7742-456: The phrase that they go "into the sea" implies, the Mount Hōrai as conceived here may be a submarine island, a suggestion made by Japanese literature professor Ōkuma Kiichirō  [ ja ] . A poem reflecting upon the legend of Urashima of Mizunoe occurs in the Man'yōshū . The piece is ascribed to Takahashi no Mushimaro . Early translations include the prose rendition by Aston, and

7840-653: The poem A Hymn to God the Father , John Donne , whose wife's name was Anne More, puns repeatedly: "Son/sun" in the second quoted line, and two compound puns on "Done/done" and "More/more". All three are homophonic, with the puns on "more" being both homographic and capitonymic . The ambiguities introduce several possible meanings into the verses. "When Thou hast done , Thou hast not done / For I have more . that at my death Thy Son / Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore And having done that, Thou hast done ; / I fear no more ." Alfred Hitchcock stated, "Puns are

7938-466: The princess Otohime as a reward. He spends what he believes to be several days with the princess. But when he returns to his home village, he discovers he has been gone for at least 100 years. When he opens the forbidden jewelled box ( tamatebako ), given to him by Otohime on his departure, he turns into an old man. The tale originates from the legend of Urashimako ( Urashima no ko or Ura no Shimako ) recorded in various pieces of literature dating to

8036-450: The punned words typically exist in two different parts of speech often rely on unusual sentence construction, as in the anecdote: "When asked to explain his large number of children, the pig answered simply: 'The wild oats of my sow gave us many piglets. ' " An example that combines homophonic and homographic punning is Douglas Adams 's line "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass ." The phrase uses

8134-413: The screen door?" playing on strained as "to give much effort" and "to filter". A homonymic pun may also be polysemic , in which the words must be homonymic and also possess related meanings, a condition that is often subjective. However, lexicographers define polysemes as listed under a single dictionary lemma (a unique numbered meaning) while homonyms are treated in separate lemmata. A compound pun

8232-551: The screen regains its shape, regains its former shape Hurry, hurry Hurry, it's the Nanjing Woven Screen! Extend it just a bit flip it just a bit Look, it's the gate ... the gate to my house! Once you see the gate, the gate to my house, A quick gesture and... the front gate becomes a charcoal-making shed! Once you take a gander at the charcoal-making shed, the screen regains its shape, regains its former shape Hurry, hurry Hurry, it's

8330-560: The sea, to the Palace of the Dragon God ( Ryūgū-jō ). There he meets the Emperor and the small turtle, who was now a lovely princess, Otohime . The palace had a view to the four seasons, a different one on each side. Tarō stays there with Otohime for three days, but soon wants to go back to his village and see his aging mother, so he requests permission to leave. The princess says she is sorry to see him go, but wishes him well and gives him

8428-445: The suffix -ko ("child") came to be regarded as female, even though it once applied to either gender. When the texts were written for the kyōgen theatre, the character's name underwent further change to Urashima Tarō, with -tarō ("great youth") being a common suffix in male names. Or perhaps the name was borrowed from Tarō kaja  [ ja ] who is a stock character in kyōgen. The Man'yōshū ballad mentions not only

8526-471: The surprising shift in meaning of a familiar word or phrase. This form of punning often relies on homophones, homonyms, or simply the contextual flexibility of a word or phrase. A classic example is Benjamin Franklin 's statement, "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." In this quote, the word "hang" is first used to mean "stay" or "work together," but then, it

8624-416: The top) contained a crane 's feather, and the second a puff of white smoke that turned him into an old man, and the third a mirror, which made him see for himself that he had suddenly grown old. The feather from the first box then attached itself to his back, and Urashima flew up to the sky, encircling his mother's grave. The story entitled "The Fisher-boy Urashima" (1886) retold by Basil Hall Chamberlain ,

8722-455: The type text, differs considerably from the typical children's storybook published in the modern day: the protagonist neither purchases the turtle from others to save it, nor rides the turtle. Group I texts are more similar to the modern version, as it contains the element of Urashima purchasing the turtle to save it. Additionally, this group explicitly gives the princess's name as Otomime (or "Kame-no-Otohime") whereas she remains unnamed in

8820-518: The white floating sail, the screen regains its shape, regains its former shape Hurry, hurry Hurry, it's the Nanjing Woven Screen Turn it just a bit It looks somewhat like the flags of US and Japan Once you see the flags of US and Japan A quick change and it's a weeping willow In the weeping willow there is no leaping frog There is no frog. / It doesn't regain its former shape. ( Double entendre ) Entertaining, isn't it! Hurry, hurry hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry Hurry, it's

8918-588: The woman of the Immortal Land, but her father as the Sea God ( Watatsumi ). Although this Sea God cannot be automatically equated with the Dragon God or Dragon King, due to the influence of the Chinese mythology of Nine Offspring of the Dragon in the Tang period , it has been speculated that the turtle princess must have been the Dragon King's daughter in even those early versions. The otherworld Urashima visited

9016-592: Was cautioned not to open, whereupon three wisps of purple cloud appear and turn him into an old man. It ends with Urashima Tarō transforming into a crane, and his wife reverting to the form of a turtle, the two thereafter revered as myōjin ( Shinto deities). There are over 50 texts of the Urashima Tarō otogi-zōshi extant. These variants fall into four broad groups, clustered by their similarity. The Otogi Bunko text belongs to Group IV. The Otogi Bunko version, despite its conventional status as

9114-459: Was identical in content. It has even been suggested by Shūichi Katō that this Umakai originally adapted this tale into Japanese from a similar Chinese tale. In this version, the protagonist is referred to as "Urashimako of Mizunoe" (or "Urashimako of Tsutsukawa  [ ja ] in Yosa-gun ". Urashimako catches a five-coloured turtle and keeps it in his boat, and during his sleep,

9212-469: Was not given to the character until the 15th century (the Muromachi period ), first appearing in a genre of illustrated popular fiction known as otogizōshi , and in the kyōgen play adaptation. The story itself can be found in much older sources, dating to the 8th century (the Nara period ), where the protagonist is styled either "Urashima no ko" or "Ura (no) Shimako", attested in earlier sources such as

9310-540: Was not the "Dragon Palace" ( Ryūgū ) until the otogi-zōshi versions appeared. The heroine then became Otohime, the younger daughter of the Dragon King. As for the relative dating of these texts, an argument has been advanced that places the Fudoki version as the oldest. The argument dates the Tango fudoki to shortly after 715, but the compilers refer to an earlier record by Iyobe no Umakai  [ ja ] , which

9408-542: Was number 8 in the "Japanese Fairy Tale Series", printed by Hasegawa Takejirō , the issuer of many such chirimen-bon or "crepe-paper books". Although the illustrations are not credited in the publication, they have been attributed to Kobayashi Eitaku . There is no single base text in Japanese identifiable, although it has been conjectured that Chamberlain adapted from "a popular version" and not straying far from it except adding explanatory or instructive passages for young readers. Others have determined it must have been

9506-404: Was one type of pun. More commonly, wordplay in modern Japan is known as dajare . Urashima Tar%C5%8D Urashima Tarō ( 浦島 太郎 ) is the protagonist of a Japanese fairy tale ( otogi banashi ), who, in a typical modern version, is a fisherman rewarded for rescuing a sea turtle , and carried on its back to the Dragon Palace ( Ryūgū-jō ) beneath the sea. There, he is entertained by

9604-478: Was printed and widely disseminated. In the Otogi Bunko (or "Companion Library") version, a young fisherman named Urashima Tarō catches a turtle on his fishing line and releases it. The next day, Urashima encounters a boat with a woman on it wishing to be escorted home. She does not identify herself, although she is the transformation of the turtle that was spared. When Urashima rows her boat to her magnificent residence, she proposes that they marry. The residence

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