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  • Hello, everyone. My name is Robin

  • And in this video we are  going to talk about 'puns'. 

  • Okay. Now puns are very difficult to understand

  • Very difficult to hear. And very difficult to use

  • So this video is an advanced video  and I don't expect my students to  

  • start making their own puns very soon. So this video is more for fun just to understand  

  • a little bit of English word play.

  • Now, what is a pun?

  • Well, a 'pun' is kind of a word used in a joke. And the word has two meanings

  • Okay. So to help you,  

  • we're just going to jump into an example. And I have a very simple example here

  • 'Korea has Soul'

  • This is a pun.

  • The word that is a pun is soul because  soul has two meanings of course

  • Now, when I say Korea has soul, this is s o u l. That soul means, Korea has some  

  • spirit or some energy.

  • But of course it has another meaning.

  • Because, soul, the spelling is  different but the sound is the same.

  • Seoul is a city in Korea. So when we say 'Korea has soul', it's kind  

  • of a joke because the 'soul' has two meanings. Okay

  • Now pun jokes are kind of not really haha funny.

  • Usually when someone says a pun joke, everyone is kind of quiet.

  • And maybe we hear crickets

  • So if I said 'Korea has soul',  maybe everyone's oh yeah

  • Okay. All right. So let's take a look at a couple other  

  • examples of pun jokes to help you understand.

  • I have two more examples here to help you understand the pun jokes. Okay

  • The jokes, they use a pun. Again, they're not really haha funny

  • You just kind of okay.

  • So the next one here.

  • 'My bicycle fellmy bicycle  fell because it's two-tired.' 

  • 'My bicycle fell because it's two-tired.' All right

  • So the blue word, that's the pun. And again, a pun has two meanings

  • So why is this funny? or not so funny?

  • Too tired. Alright. So again, two meanings

  • The first meaning, my bicycle has 'two tires'. Okay

  • The front tire and the back tire. So has only two tires

  • So it fell. But there's also a second meaning

  • It's 'two tired' sounds like t-o-o, very tired. So a bicycle fell because it's very tired

  • Alright. So 'two tired' sounds like 'too tired'. 

  • And too tired, very tired. Alright

  • So that's what makes the pun funny. There's two meanings

  • The next one

  • 'I used to be a banker but I lost interest.' 'I used to be a banker but I lost interest.'

  • Okay. This is the pun

  • This word has two meanings. The first meaning is 'interest' - I'm interested

  • Okay. So he lost interest

  • He's no longer interested in banking. So he's not a banker anymore

  • That's one meaning.

  • A second meaning is

  • 'interest' is actually a bank term bank.

  • Bank vocabulary - when you put money in the bank.

  • Okay. Every year the bank will give you interest

  • For example, six percent or 4 percent. They give you interest every year

  • So he's not a banker anymore  because he lost interest

  • Which would mean he lost money. All right

  • So this is funny. 'I used to be a banker but I lost interest

  • Because 'interest' is a pun. It has two meanings

  • First meaning, he's not interested  in the banking business anymore

  • And the second meaning, he lost some money. Okay

  • All right, let's move on to one last one.]

  • All right, the last joke.

  • I'm going to show you actually has two puns.

  • And you can decide if it's funny or not.

  • All right, here's the joke.

  • So there's a question and answer.

  • The question, 'How do celebrities stay cool?'

  • 'How do celebrities stay cool?'

  • Of course, celebrities are  famous people, stars, talents.

  • 'How do celebrities stay cool?' 'They have many fans.'

  • Okay that's the joke.

  • And as I said, there's actually two puns.

  • So the question, 'How do celebrities stay cool?' Okay

  • So cool has two meanings. The first meaning is cool, cold

  • Okay. Not hot not warm. So how do they stay cold

  • The second meaning is, cool, you know  wearing sunglasses, they're cool

  • All right. Very good. Very cool. So the two meanings of cool

  • They have many fans of course. There's the pun

  • And the pun has two meanings. The first meaning is fan

  • When you're hot, you have the machine blowing air. That's the fan

  • And of course, the other meaning, the second  meaning of fan is, when you're very famous  

  • and popular people like you, they're your fans. They're screaming.

  • And they want your signature, your autograph. Those are fans

  • Okay. So, 'How do a celebrities stay cool?' 

  • 'They have many fans.' All right

  • So this is funny because we can  recognize there's two meanings here

  • So you could read this the first way, 'How do celebrities stay cool (not hot)?' 

  • 'They have many fans,'  machines blowing at them to stay cool

  • Or 'How do celebrities stay cool?' 'They have many fans,' people screaming

  • All right. Funny?

  • Okay, yeah, well, these are pun jokes. Some people like them - very advanced English

  • Okay because you have to know, you have to have  a very good vocabulary, you have to know the word  

  • and it's two meanings to understand the joke.

  • All right. That's it. I hope you enjoyed the puns video.

  • And I hope you can maybe create your own pun one day.

  • Or understand it when someone tells you a pun joke.

  • That's it and I'll see you next time.

Hello, everyone. My name is Robin

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