Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Pun

PUN, an expression, in which the same word is applied to different meanings.

The practice of punning is a miserable subterfuge employed by those who assume the character of wits, without possessing any talent for that invidious office. It is true, that an apposite pun, introduced with ingenuity, enlivens the conversation, and is calculated to excite innocent mirth; but, where a person assumes the profession of a punster, and is continually uttering senseless quibbles, he becomes a nuisance to society, and deserves to be expelled from the company of rational, thinking persons.—Nor can we approve of this paltry expedient, and the manner in which it is exercised by several of our daily prints:—instead of conveying useful lessons of morality, or of rural and domestic economy, abstracted from the best publications, they supply the want of political information, by ambiguous, and frequently obscene, punning.