26 May Warning: this text may contain puns

As you may have noticed from some of my copywriting and previous blogs, I believe that playing with language can be an excellent way of expressing ideas with strength and purpose.

Some people seem to think (although I don’t think they’ve thought very far) that wordplays such as puns and similar devices should be shunned or restricted to third-rate comedy and piss-poor verse.

My belief is that wordplays – including clever, unusual and witty puns – are among the greatest ways of getting your messages across in memorable and meaningful ways.

The English language is your flexible friend

We all need writing techniques that fix ideas and images in people’s minds and the notion of ‘playing with words’ covers a whole host of writing techniques that have been applied since our not-so-primitive ancestors started stringing sentences together.

From the powerful alliteration of beast-bashing Beowulf to the rhythm and rhyme of Shakespeare’s sonnets not to mention the Bard’s love of simile and metaphor (or did I just mention that?) we possess a great grab-bag of literary devices to call upon in our quest to make words hit home and resonate in the minds and ears of our readers and listeners.

So go ahead: have fun with puns and feel free to play with the English language in order to create imaginative expressions, original connections and memorable ideas.

Having a witty way with words makes the written and spoken world a better and more amusing place.