Chaucer and the Pun-Hunters: Some Points of Caution
- Author / Editor
- Hill, Archibald A.
Chaucer and the Pun-Hunters: Some Points of Caution
- Published
- Caroline Duncan-Rose and Theo Vennemann, eds. On Language: Rhetorica, Phonologica, Syntactica. (London: Routledge, 1988), pp. 66-78.
- Description
- The search for Chaucer's puns has increased dramatically in modern scholarship, particularly John Gardner's. By adopting some conservative principles, we can curb the "extravagence of pun-hunting." First, puns should be distinguished from innuendo or wordplay.
- Second, they should be appropriate to the context, both broad and specific. Generally, they should not cross language barriers. Finally, we should allow puns only when it is stranger not to allow them.
- Contributor
- Duncan-Rose, Caroline,
- Vennemann, Theo,ed.
- eds.
- Alternative Title
- On Language: Rhetorica, Phonologica, Syntactica.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Language and Word Studies.