William Cumming
Dad jokes. At one point in our lives we’ve all cringed at them, but while we roll our eyes we all feel a satisfaction from them.
That’s because dad jokes bring us back to a simpler time, when the world hadn’t jaded us and we still had absolute faith in our parents. Of course, our fathers used this trust almost exclusively to set up awful jokes.
A favourite of my father’s was, when passing by a graveyard, to ask me how many people I thought were dead in it. The first time I heard it I tried to do the math, but gave up. I told my father I didn’t know, to which he replied: “All of them, probably.”
Dad jokes create cherished memories of our fathers, who through their loveable bad jokes taught us the value of not caring what others think and being true to yourself.
Puns, on the other hand, are the absolute worst. They bring all the cringe of dad jokes without any of the clever and dorky charm. Puns are the lowest form of comedy, to the point of almost being tragedy.
We often hear the expression “Those who can’t do, teach.” Well the people who aren’t clever enough to tell a real joke, pun.
Think about it. I bet off the top of your head you could name at least two or three of your father’s bad jokes, but you can’t recall a single pun from the depths of your consciousness where you’ve repressed them.
So remember, dad jokes are a loving tradition that we should pass on to our children while puns are a horrible curse that we should eradicate.
Troy Glover
I’ll start off by asking why aren’t puns funny or clever? Puns are for those of all ages to use whenever they want. If you use a dad joke the people around you will never look at you the same anymore.
When people make dad jokes they truly emit the lowest form of comedy because they have to use situations to become the base of the joke. In William’s fathers case, this was a graveyard. Yet for puns all you need are people’s words or a topic of the conversation. A child can do it and an 80-year-old man WITHOUT children can do it.
Sure, dad jokes use words as well like, “Hi hungry, I’m dad,” but it isn’t clever, it’s just cringy.
Those who make dad jokes are doomed to one day grow a pair of cargo shorts, put on a fanny pack and not care if they are wearing socks with sandals. With a pun you are safe to use word play as you please.
Puns are not meant to be memorable. They are off the top of someone’s head and are used to create a momentary feeling of delight. They also bring friends together, because nothing says friendship like someone making a crisp pun and a friend saying, “I’m going to kill you.”
I can argue the university youth of today prefer puns over dad jokes because they can be followed with “I make puns because I’m dead inside,” which a lot of people can get behind.
I’ll conclude by saying that puns are better than dad jokes because you lose respect from your peers because of puns, but you also gain admiration. When you use a dad joke, you just lose respect and destroy any admiration people might have had for you because of your lame choice in comedy.
