Advanced English Vocabulary: PUNS & DOUBLE MEANINGS

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today's lesson is on verbal humour, which is

also called: "puns", or "word play", or "double... double entrendre" — to use a

French term, meaning double meaning. Okay. So, this is all about verbal

humour, in... in language, and it can be funny. Or sometimes people just groan;

they say: "Oh", because it's... it's... it's funny, but also, you know...

sometimes people do this to try to be funny, and it doesn't really work. So,

anyway, let's have a look at some examples, so that you can see what I am

talking about. So, if... if you say something, like: "Ah", if you're not

happy with the way your vacuum cleaner is working; you think it's useless — you

might say: "Ah, this vacuum cleaner sucks". Meaning: It's no good. But, of

course, vacuum cleaners — it's the difference between the metaphorical

meaning of "sucks", meaning: It's no good; and the fact that, literally, the

vacuum cleaners do "suck" up the dirt, or they are meant to; that's the point

of them. So, the double meaning, here. And then you hear it in your head, and

you have to work it out in your brain, and it's... it comes as a bit of a

surprise, because you're having to process two things at once. And that's

where either the humour comes from, and it makes you laugh; or sometimes you

think: "Oh, dear. That's a terrible... terrible joke". Sometimes jokes can be

terrible or painful, and they just make you: "Oh, no". So: "This vacuum cleaner

sucks" — is it literal or metaphorical? You get both going together in your

head. Okay? So, next one: If someone asks you for help, and maybe you want to

go over to the window, where there's more light, and you need to read

something, perhaps, to help them with something. So, you might say: "Let's go

across to the window, and I'll help you out". But: "Help you out" — again, has

two meanings; double meaning. Either: I'll give... I'll give you a hand; I'll

help you with what you need help with. "To help somebody out" — a phrasal verb

— "to help out", where the verb has a preposition with it. But, also, you've

mentioned a window. Is...? Are you going to help them out of the window? So,

that's the... that's the double meaning; not knowing which meaning is what you

actually meant. Okay? So, right. Of course, when... when you explain the

joke, it doesn't feel funny anymore, so I'm sort of destroying these jokes

immediately by explaining them, but then, you know... that's what I'm here

for. So, I have to do that. So, okay.

Next one: Crabs. You know "crabs"? It's the fish with... with a shell on. "Crabs

don't like to share because they're shellfish." Okay? So, "shellfish" sounds

like another word: "selfish". "Selfish". So, again, there's a double thing going

on in your head when you hear this. "Crabs don't like to share because

they're shellfish". "Shellfish"; "selfish". Okay. So, next one. The

wedding cake, if you're having a wedding, you... you have to coordinate

everything. You need the wedding cake to be there in time for the reception. "The

wedding cake didn't arrive in time. I was in tears." And then looking at the

spelling of this word: "tears" — there are two spellings that sound... it

sounds the same, but it's spelt differently. "Tiers" is the other

spelling. So, "tiers": Wedding cakes are, you know... usually on different

levels. So, you may have a base, a large base, and then a medium-sized one, and

then a smaller one at the top, and little columns between them to hold them

together. And those are called: "tiers" — the different levels of the cake. But

then: "I was in tears" usually means: I was crying. I had "tears" coming out of

my eyes —that spelling. So, this one is a play on the two words that sound the

same, but are spelt differently, and they mean different things. Okay. Next

one. So, this is a quotation from a book called: "Alice's Adventures in

Wonderland". You may have seen Alex's video on this. Do have a look — a whole

video on "Alice in Wonderland". You might find that interesting. And you may

know this "Alice in Wonderland", because it's been translated into so many other

languages all around the world. And it was published in 1865. So, that was a

long time ago. It's had a long time to circulate around the world in different

languages. So, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". So, you may know this story

already. You may have seen a film version of it; a cartoon version

perhaps. Okay? So, this is where Alice is talking to a mouse. And in the story,

of course, all the animals can speak. So, she's having a conversation, and the

mouse is going to tell her a story. And so, the mouse says: "Mine is a long and

a sad tale". But Alice isn't reading it; she's hearing it — the mouse is speaking

to her. And she hears this word: "tale", and she misunderstands, and she says:

"It is a long tail, certainly. But why do you call it 'sad'?" So, Alice heard

it as... as this: The "tail"; the mouse's "tail', the long tail, but the

mouse is using it, meaning a "tale"; a story, so you can see the two different

spellings here. Okay. And then the mouse does go on to tell the story. Okay.

Which is actually printed on the page in the shape of a tail, so that idea

carries on. Okay.

So, this is a good one, here. Good advice. "If you're going through Hell,

keep going." So, you know, people say: "Oh, I've been through Hell recently.

Oh, it's been terrible." So, a way of speaking, metaphorically, "to go through

Hell" means to have a really bad time in your life. So, if... and "going through

Hell" sounds like a journey. So: "If you are going through Hell, keep going" —

you might get out the other side that way. That's the idea. Don't stay there;

keep going. Okay? And then often in news headlines; in newspapers and on internet

articles, sometimes you find puns, verbal humour, double meanings in the

news headlines, because newspapers like to include a little bit of humour from

time to time, just to catch your attention and make you want to read the

article; or just for fun, because if they think of a pun, they'll... they

will want to use it. So, here's the first one: "gas information leaked". So,

often, there is stories about, you know... confidential information being

"leaked", meaning the information gets out to the newspapers to the media, and

then it becomes public knowledge when it was supposed to be kept secret. So, if

information is "leaked", it's a bit like gas, "leaking" from a pipe. You know...

or water "leaking", where... if there's a little hole in the pipe, in the

plumbing — it... the water might drip from it, or the gas might come out; and

you smell: "Oh, I can smell gas. Do we have a leak?" So, you have the literal

meaning of "leak", when there's a little break in the pipe or a little hole, and

something's coming out of it; but also if information is "leaked"— that's also

like something coming out of a pipe, but it's more metaphorical. So, we've got

literal and metaphorical together, here, creating the... the joke. Okay.

This one: "Barman in bitter row with boss". Okay. And we've also got: "B, b,

b" here — a little bit of alliteration to give it more sort of a sound pattern;

almost poetic in a way. So, the barman — the man who serves at the bar in a pub,

or a bar, "bitter row with boss". "Bitter" is a kind of beer. I suppose it

tastes bitter, but it's a type of beer. There... there are two types of beer

often; bitte and mild. So, the mild beer, I suppose it doesn't have so much

taste; but the bitter beer, perhaps, has a sharper taste. I don't know because I

don't drink beer. I don't like it. So... So, in the UK, particularly, people

drink beer in pubs. So, the barman, he's... and often, metaphorically,

people say: "Oh, they had a bitter argument. They had a bitter row",

meaning it was really... they were really upset and angry. A "bitter row" —

you can have a bit of an argument, you know... a slight argument or

disagreement, but a "bitter row" is more extreme. So, it could be an argument

about the beer, you know? I don't know. But you get the double meaning again.

Okay. And then, finally, sometimes there are disputes with train drivers, that...

they have a union, and they might go on strike sometimes. And then they have to

negotiate to try to resolve the problem, if it's to do with pay, or working

conditions, or whether the train driver is the only member of staff on the

train. There was an issue a while ago to... not to have a guard on the train;

someone who can walk up and down inside the train, in addition to the person

driving it, and it was meant to be better; a safer thing to have the guard,

as well as the driver. And then there was an issue with the train company

wanting to stop having guards, and just have a driver and no guards. And the

dispute was over. Whether that was safe; it was more dangerous for passengers if

there was no guard. So: "Train drivers' union talks" — negotiations — "go off

the rails". Okay. So, trains are on "rails". If a train literally goes off

the rails, then, you know... it... there's an accident. The train should

stay on the "rails". But then, this is metaphorical — if you're having

negotiations, and the train drivers, and the bosses, and... with the union, are

trying to resolve the situation; come to an agreement. If the talks "go off the

rails", it means they haven't been able to agree. They're still, you know...

not... not happy. They can't negotiate, and resolve the problem. So, the "talks

go off the rails" — they get nowhere by the end of the day; and maybe the next

day they have to try again. So, "talks going off the rails" — that's quite a

typical metaphor to use in negotiations that are not succeeding. Okay. So, I

hope that's an interesting introduction to the idea of verbal humour, and puns,

and double meanings. If you'd like to do a quiz on this subject, just go to the

website: www.engvid.com, and see how you do. And thanks for watching, and hope to

see you again soon. Okay. Bye for now.