You currently have no access to view or download this content. Please log in with your institutional or personal account if you should have access to this content through either of these.
Showing a limited preview of this publication:
Abstract
Despite research demonstrating a certain degree of incompatibility between humor and religion, church marquees in the United States frequently use humor, and especially puns, as a way of advertising religious messages. Is the wordplay found in this context different from wordplay in general? Our comparison of the puns found on church billboards versus those found in a general corpus of puns reveals significant differences in structure and content, suggesting that these puns represent a specific type of humor. The discussion outlines possible reasons for these differences, with a focus on social context.
Published Online: 2011-04-28
Published in Print: 2011-May
© 2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/New York