User blog:Weavillain/Why Luan's Puns Don't Work (For Me)

You know, despite Luan being my least favorite of the Loud siblings, we're really not all that different. We both appreciate trying to interject laughter into a situation whenever possible. Anyone who's read my posts and fanfiction A/N's knows this pretty well (whether I succeed is a different, most like more tragic story). But even more specifically than that, we both really dig puns. However, there's a difference between the way Luan appreciates them and the way I appreciate them and to me, that makes all the difference in the world.

So, what do I mean by this? Well, to me, like any good joke, it's only really good when everyone gets it and you don't have to explain why it works; it just does. Puns, in my personal experience, are only gotten when the deliverer understands what they're supposed to get out of a pun. To me, puns fall in line with the "so bad, it's good" territory; the wordplay is corny, sophomoric and, in some cases, forced.

And that's the joke. Well, at least half the joke. Remember, everyone has to get it in order for the pun to work, but despite her catchphrase being "Get it?", Luan doesn't "get it" in a way that makes the pun effective. See, when I tell puns, I'm aware that they're bad and if my "victim" knows that I know it's bad, they're more inclined to laugh along because they know that I'm not being earnest; I'm just being a jocular wisecracker that's intentionally being corny. We can both appreciate the fact that the pun isn't supposed to be funny and what is funny is that I'm presenting it like it should be something that can be laughed at from its own "wit" alone.

Luan, on the other hand, seems to actually think that her puns are funny unironically. They're not delivered with a wink and nudge, as if to say, "Yeah, I know this stinks." She actually thinks that they're comedy gold in a traditional sense. Because of that lack of awareness, I'm not coaxed to laugh along; I'm either annoyed or indifferent. The only time they really work is when her audience gets ticked off because I can "get" that, at least; I can chuckle and be like, "Yep. That's me, alright."

But really, that has more to do with the reactions of the puns and not the puns themselves. In order for her puns to work better, I think it's safe to say that Luan needs to brush up on the...pun-damentals. :D