Purging a Pun

[steepholm]

"Unter den Linden? How sublime!"

For years I've nursed that multilingual pun, looking for an opportunity to slip it naturally into conversation. "I wonder what Longinus would have made of the Brandenburg Gate?" I might say, a propos of nothing - only to see the other people in the bus queue shuffle warily away. Would anyone feed me a line that would allow me to unsheathe my devastating witticism? Would they heck. It became an albatross round my neck. An albatross called Moby Dick.

Today, in a fit of abandon, I put it up as my Facebook status - but it didn't get so much as a single Like. After that I was forced to face the fact that a) not many people would get the joke, and b) even those that did probably wouldn't find it funny.

Perhaps, in fact, it isn't very funny. There - I've said it.

I admit defeat. Take it. Do with it as you will. Publish it as your own, and make millions - I care not.

God, I feel so much better for that.

Comments

[lilliburlero.livejournal.com]

It's yours. It's hard to pull off because most people don't visualise words; as you say, Irish/Gaelic "gorm" is pronounced quite differently from English "gorm(less)", so your audience is restricted to "people who have some Irish/Gaelic who also immediately 'see' words in their own mental real-time typography feed". I am lucky to live with such a person, but it also gives me unrealistic expectations where the rest of humanity is concerned.