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O. Henry Pun-Off
The O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships is an annual spoken word competition that takes place every May at the O. Henry Museum in Austin, Texas. History Started in 1978, the Pun-Off gathers fans of wordplay to celebrate the pun, which English poet and literary critic John Dryden called "the lowest and most groveling kind of wit." The Pun-Off is believed to have started as an informal gathering behind the O. Henry Museum during the Pecan Street Festival. The event has been organized and run since 1990 by Austinite Gary Hallock, who began attending the Pun-Off in the 1980s and won Punniest of Show in 1989. A support group of former and current contestants was formed in 1990 to formalize the unwritten rules of the competition(s) and provide guidance and support for future events. Under the umbrella title of "Punsters United Nearly Yearly" (a.k.a. PUNY) this collection of loosely knit wits continues to be the public face of the event through its website and social media. Gary Hall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austin, Texas
Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the Metropolitan statistical area, 26th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, the List of United States cities by population, 13th-most populous city in the United States, the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-most populous city in the state after Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth, and the second-most populous state capital city after Phoenix, Arizona. It has been one of the fastest growing large cities in the United States since 2010. Downtown Austin and Downtown San Antonio are approximately apart, and both fall along the Interstate 35 in Texas, I-35 corridor. This combined metropolitan region of San Antonio–Austin met ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool[s]!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one's neighbor has been relatively common in the world historically. Origins Although many theories have been proposed throughout the years, the origin of April Fools' Day is not exactly known. A disputed association between 1 April and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'' (1392). In the "Nun's Priest's Tale", a vain cock, Chauntecleer, is tricked by a fox "Since March began, full thirty days and two," i.e. the 32nd day from 1 March, which is 1 April. However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing 1 April since the text of the "Nun's Priest's Tale" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puns
A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic, homographic, metonymic, or figurative language. A pun differs from a malapropism in that a malapropism is an incorrect variation on a correct expression, while a pun involves expressions with multiple (correct or fairly reasonable) interpretations. Puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, especially as their usage and meaning are usually specific to a particular language or its culture. Puns have a long history in writing. For example, the Roman playwright Plautus was famous for his puns and word games. Types of puns Homophonic A homophonic pun is one that uses word pairs which sound alike (homophones) but are not synonymous. Walter Redfern summarized this type with his statement, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Festivals In Austin, Texas
A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes typical cases of glocalization, as well as the high culture-low culture interrelationship. Next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural. Food is such a vital resource that many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the northern hemisphere and Easter in the southern. Festivals often serve to fulfill specific communal purposes, especially in regard to commemoration or thanking to the gods, goddesses or saints: they are called patronal festivals. They may also provide entertainment, which was particularly important to local communities before the advent of mass-produced entertainment. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Competitions In The United States
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individuals, economic and social groups, etc. The rivalry can be over attainment of any exclusive goal, including recognition. Competition occurs in nature, between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. Animals compete over water supplies, food, mates, and other biological resources. Humans usually compete for food and mates, though when these needs are met deep rivalries often arise over the pursuit of wealth, power, prestige, and fame when in a static, repetitive, or unchanging environment. Competition is a major tenet of market economies and business, often associated with business competition as companies are in competition with at least one other firm over the same group of customers. Competition inside a company is us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacceptable, or offensive to state directly. A double entendre may exploit puns or word play to convey the second meaning. Double entendres generally rely on multiple meanings of words, or different interpretations of the same primary meaning. They often exploit ambiguity and may be used to introduce it deliberately in a text. Sometimes a homophone can be used as a pun. When three or more meanings have been constructed, this is known as a "triple entendre", etc. Etymology According to the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, the expression comes from the rare and obsolete French (language), French expression, which literally meant "double meaning" and was used in the senses of "double understanding" or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euphemism
A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to mask profanity or refer to Dysphemism#Taboo terms, topics some consider Word taboo, taboo such as mental or physical disability, sexual intercourse, bodily excretions, pain, violence, illness, or death in a polite way. Etymology ''Euphemism'' comes from the Greek language, Greek word () which refers to the use of 'words of good omen'; it is a compound of (), meaning 'good, well', and (), meaning 'prophetic speech; rumour, talk'. ''Eupheme (deity), Eupheme'' is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc. The term ''euphemism'' itself was used as a euphemism by the ancient Greeks; with the meaning "to keep a holy silence" (speaking well by not speaking at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homonyms
In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; ''homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or ''homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciation (regardless of spelling). Using this definition, the words ''row'' (propel with oars), ''row'' (a linear arrangement) and ''row'' (an argument) are homonyms because they are homographs (though only the first two are homophones); so are the words ''see'' (vision) and ''sea'' (body of water), because they are homophones (though not homographs). A more restrictive and technical definition requires that homonyms be simultaneously homographs ''and'' homophoneshomonym ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' at dictionary.com—that is, they have identical spelling ''and'' pronunciation but different meani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Gift Of The Magi (O
"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by American writer O. Henry, first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. The plot and its twist ending are well known; the ending is generally considered an example of cosmic irony. The story was allegedly written at Pete's Tavern on Irving Place in New York City. The story was initially published in '' The New York Sunday World'' under the title "Gifts of the Magi" on December 10, 1905. It was first published in book form in the O. Henry collection '' The Four Million'' in April 1906. Plot On Christmas Eve, a woman named Della Dillingham Young discovers that she has only $1.87 (equivalent to about $70 in 2025) to buy a present for her husband James, also known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dryden
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (England), Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Romantic era, Romantic writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John". Early life Dryden was born in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire, where his maternal grandfather was the rector of All Saints Church, Aldwincle, All Saints. He was the eldest of fourteen children born to Erasmus Dryden and wife Mary Pickering, paternal grandson of Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet, Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st BaroneSir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet, t (1553–1632), and wife Frances Wilkes, Puritan landowning gentry who supported the Puritan cause and Parliament. He was a second cousin once removed of Jonath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ransom Of Red Chief
"The Ransom of Red Chief" is a short story by O. Henry first published in the July 6, 1907 issue of ''The Saturday Evening Post''. It follows two men who kidnap and demand a ransom for a wealthy man's son. Eventually, the men are overwhelmed by the boy's spoiled and hyperactive behavior, so they pay his father to take him back. The story and its main idea have become a part of popular culture, with many children's television programs depicting versions of the story as one of their episodes. It has often been used as a classic example of two ultimate comic ironies: a hostage actually liking his abductors and enjoying being captured, and his captors having the tables turned on them and being compelled to pay to be rid of him. Summary Two small-time criminals, Bill Driscoll and Sam Howard, kidnap a boy named Johnny, the red-haired son of Ebenezer Dorset, an important citizen, and hold him for ransom. But the moment that they arrive at their hideout with the boy, the plan begins to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Sydney Porter
William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief", as well as the novel ''Cabbages and Kings (novel), Cabbages and Kings''. Porter's stories are known for their Naturalism (literature), naturalist observations, witty narration, and surprise endings. Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Porter worked at his uncle's pharmacy after finishing school and became a licensed pharmacist at age 19. In March 1882, he moved to Texas, where he initially lived on a ranch, and later settled in Austin, where he met his first wife, Athol Estes. While working as a drafter for the Texas General Land Office, Porter began developing characters for his short stories. He later worked for the First National Bank of Austin, while also publishing a we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
