“The best things in life are fee.” Some aspects of punning in Anglo-American anti-proverbs

Abstract

For centuries, proverbs have provided a framework for endless transformation. In recent decades, proverb modification has taken such proportions that sometimes we can even meet more proverb transformations than traditional proverbs. Wolfgang Mieder has invented the term anti-proverb (or in German Antisprichwort) for such deliberate proverb innovations, also known as alterations, parodies, transformations, variations, wisecracks, mutations, or fractured proverbs. The present study focuses on punning, one of the most popular techniques of proverb variation. My discussion is organized in two parts. In the first part of the study (Section 2) I address the background of anti-proverb (Section 2.1.) and pun (Section 2.2.) research and terminology. The second part of this study (Section 3) is devoted to the discussion of various aspects of punning in Anglo-American anti-proverbs about money. Section 3.1. lists the proverbs containing the word “money” and a numbers of variations. Section 3.2. treats various types of punning in Anglo-American anti-proverbs about money (such as paronyms, homonyms, homophones, repetitive puns, double and triple puns). While Section 3.3. explores the favourite words of punsters in Anglo-American anti-proverbs about money, Section 3.4. considers ambivalence in puns and touches upon ‘good’ and ‘bad’ puns. Finally, in Section 3.5. I list and exemplify some themes emerging in Anglo-American proverb transformations about money, in which punning takes place