Pun Generator

November 26, 2012 6:53 AM

This website makes puns. A single serving web app.
posted by jonbro (77 comments total)

This post only has pun link.
posted by hal9k at 7:01 AM on November 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

MetaFilter: This website makes puns. A single serving web app.
posted by knile at 7:06 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

So... it switches one word for a semi-sound-alike in a given set of phrases. Might be funny. I chose "lobster" which it decided would be best to substitute for "doctor", ergo first result was "Lobster Who", which wasn't even in groaner territory for me.

After scanning the list, I did get a mild laugh out of "Lobster Zoidberg" but it was more due to the irony of the machine never being able to understand why that was funny.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:07 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think I've broken the machine with a request to make a pun using the word 'phlogiston'.
posted by Mister_A at 7:09 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sometimes it doesn't know when to stop. I put in 'tea' and got out
"STeaudenTea's Tea-TeaesTea"
posted by edd at 7:10 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Finally, the Internet has found its true porpous.

(I came up with that all on my own!)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:11 AM on November 26, 2012 [5 favorites]

Hey the second one is pretty good actually. Not really a pun but it made me titter a silent titter. Which isn't really a titter at all, to some people, but I am not one of those people.
posted by Mister_A at 7:11 AM on November 26, 2012

While "pungenerator" is near to "pungent rater", it will never be a grand as that site for the apocryphal Italian unit of a UK electricity company, Powergenitalia.
posted by chavenet at 7:12 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Death: That was a pune, or play on words, Albert. I don't know if you noticed.

Albert: I'm laughing like hell deep down, sir.
posted by jeribus at 7:13 AM on November 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

I guess it really was only single serving, as it's down now. Pundone!
posted by unSane at 7:17 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

I typed in "cheese," as is my strategy for testing out new interfaces, and got "Maslow's hierarchy of Cheese," which is a weak pun but a rather amusing idea. On the other hand, I am a librarian, and therefore obsessed with classification.

Hierarchy of Cheese....
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:20 AM on November 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

I can't trust any website that'd miss a golden opportunity to call itself The Punerator.
posted by item at 7:20 AM on November 26, 2012

I looked around the room and saw a coupon sitting on the table. I typed "coupon" and was rewarded with:

Hemolytic disease of the Coupon (Hemolytic disease of the newborn)
Coupon screening (Newborn screening)
Quark-Coupon plasma (Quark-gluon plasma)
Transient tachypnea of the Coupon (Transient tachypnea of the newborn)
Haemorrhagic disease of the Coupon (Haemorrhagic disease of the newborn)

I guess it works, because I chuckled about as much as I do at most people's laboured constructions of puns.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:21 AM on November 26, 2012

I put in a word, and while reading down a few lines, all I could feel was the sadness, the sadness
posted by spinn at 7:22 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

MYSTERY NOVEL TITLES, FREE FOR THE TAKING
posted by anthom at 7:22 AM on November 26, 2012 [4 favorites]

"Mother Fox" is pretty funny, but not for the stated reason that it sounds like "Mother Box".
posted by Wolfdog at 7:23 AM on November 26, 2012

And likewise "If I Fox Your Girlfriend", which doesn't really sound all that much like "If I Was Your Girlfriend" but hey.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:25 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Would the spoonerism generator be themed with Bitter Tootstrap?
posted by GenericUser at 7:26 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

anthom: MYSTERY NOVEL TITLES, FREE FOR THE TAKING

This is my favorite one:

"DeathamDeathung Galaxy Death II --> Samsung Galaxy S II"
posted by SAnderka at 7:28 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

MYSTERY NOVEL TITLES, FREE FOR THE TAKING

"Teenage pregnancy and sexual Death in the United Kingdom"

This sounds more like a Greenway film.
posted by jquinby at 7:29 AM on November 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

I can't trust any website that'd miss a golden opportunity to call itself The Punerator.

It's more of a pungent aerater, I'd say.
posted by O Blitiri at 7:32 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm tired this morning, so I'm finding some of these funnier than they have any right to be. If you need a band name, just plug in the word "funk". I'm calling dibs on State Food and Funk Administration.
posted by owtytrof at 7:33 AM on November 26, 2012 [4 favorites]

The Perry Hobo Christmas Album, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Hobo Rock Vocal Performance.
posted by usonian at 7:35 AM on November 26, 2012

"Now is the filter of our discontent"
posted by iamkimiam at 7:44 AM on November 26, 2012 [3 favorites]

You give it a sure-fire pun home-run like 'roger' and the best it can come up with is Roger Who (Doctor Who). I am disappointed.
posted by Dysk at 7:44 AM on November 26, 2012

The "hobo" one IS good...almost worth it for "Windows Live Hobo Gallery" alone.
posted by anthom at 7:44 AM on November 26, 2012

It takes a very broad perspective on what rhymes with what... I feel that's a pundemental error.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:46 AM on November 26, 2012

My standard thing I do whenever given a text field to play with for the first time is to put in "kitten" and see what happens.

The site does not disappoint, but I am a little put off by "The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Kitten".
posted by DRMacIver at 7:46 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

PUN MACHINES HAVE NO SOUL
posted by cortex at 7:47 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Morning has scrotum, like the first morning.
Perpetual scrotum machine.
Many are called but few are scrotum.
Scrotum Social Scene.
Boulevard of Scrotum Dreams.

Best of the web.
posted by Nossidge at 7:48 AM on November 26, 2012 [7 favorites]

Once management at my newspaper sees this, goodbye copy desk.
posted by sixpack at 7:51 AM on November 26, 2012

And now, a word from the Pun Generator itself:

HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.

posted by Nomyte at 7:53 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Go the Fuck to Sheep
Sheep Space Nine
Sheep the Faith
Meg: A Novel of Sheep Terror
Raindrops Sheep Fallin' on My Head
Fish Go Sheep

It burns! IT BURNS!
posted by owtytrof at 7:54 AM on November 26, 2012

It reminds me of a little kid making up knock-knock jokes after (s)he figures out how they work, but before (s)he understands what makes them funny.
posted by usonian at 7:54 AM on November 26, 2012 [3 favorites]

Looks like all this new traffic has really pun...ished their servers...
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 7:56 AM on November 26, 2012

I just... this is... I'm still twelve, aren't I...

THE FART OF THE MATTER
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 7:59 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Boulevard of Scrotum Dreams.
---actually made me laugh. Sorry.
posted by sourwookie at 8:10 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

When a Lamb Loves a WoLamb

You Lamb lead a horse to water but you Lamb't make it drink

United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Hobbit

I am going to be the life of the next party I go to.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:10 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Looks like all this new traffic has really pun...ished their servers..."

She's come unpun...
posted by iamkimiam at 8:12 AM on November 26, 2012

What do you call a number theorist with four legs and an overcoat?

McGruff the Prime Dog!
posted by Wolfdog at 8:15 AM on November 26, 2012 [2 favorites]

What did the algebraist order for lunch?

15 bean Group!
posted by Wolfdog at 8:19 AM on November 26, 2012

What song did R³ dedicate to R²?

You're So Plane
posted by Wolfdog at 8:21 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

I suspect that R. Kelly may have just typed "soul" into this thing to come up with a title for his autobiography.
posted by anthom at 8:26 AM on November 26, 2012

This doesn't even pass the "cow" test, as all it seems to do is to take a similarly sounding word for "cow", and replace it in a common phrase.

The "Cow" test is is the true test of how good (or bad) one can pun. All you do is take one word - in this case, "cow" - and run with it. For example -

Have you herd about punning?
I wouldn't steer you wrong.
Because I've nothing to hide.
I'm not going to milk this for all of its worth.
Because it is udderly frustrating.
Have you punned "cow"? I knew that you cud.
Bully for you.

And on and on and on. The link is cute, but it's for punning amateurs. :-)
posted by AccidentalHedonist at 8:30 AM on November 26, 2012 [3 favorites]

I saw Boulevard of Scrotum Dreams; it is strictly for the scrotal connoisseur, hence its lack of caché in most circles.
posted by Mister_A at 8:37 AM on November 26, 2012

Yeah, these aren't really puns, they're soundalikes, but if it was combined with some sort of homophone generator, they could be on to something. As it is it might be handy for writing some really terrible newspaper headlines, but the classic one-word-two-meanings pun escapes it.
posted by criticalbill at 8:39 AM on November 26, 2012

Even for puns, this is bad.
posted by Deathalicious at 8:51 AM on November 26, 2012

:(
posted by phong3d at 8:54 AM on November 26, 2012

Some of them are actually not bad.
posted by tykky at 9:25 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sure I've heard of cows.

But really, I worry this is going to end up on too many would-be writers' favorites lists.
posted by BWA at 9:57 AM on November 26, 2012

I never metapun I didn't like.

Can't believe no one beat me to the punch on that one.
posted by pharaohmagnetic at 11:06 AM on November 26, 2012

New York Cock Exchange, Joint-Cock company, Employee Cock purchase plan, The House with a Cock in Its Walls, USS Little Cock
posted by floatboth at 11:11 AM on November 26, 2012

I used ten different words to try to get it to generate a pun I could laugh at, but no pun in ten did.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:32 AM on November 26, 2012 [4 favorites]

AccidentalHedonist, I have no beef with you, and I have no steak in this, but Pun Generator is not intended to meat those specifications. It's a whole udder thing. It does skim off the top, but its creators will not be cowed by your cattle call.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:42 AM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

very punny
posted by readyfreddy at 12:15 PM on November 26, 2012

wait, no puns found for 'gorilla'. not so punny.
posted by readyfreddy at 12:15 PM on November 26, 2012

The first word I tried was "Somnolent"... I'm still waiting for a response. Maybe I'll go take a nap and see what it comes up with after.
posted by Somnolent Jack at 12:16 PM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Upon further investigation I have decided that this "pun generator" doesn't know what a pun is.
posted by Somnolent Jack at 12:21 PM on November 26, 2012

Thank you for this.

A lot of my current artwork involves illustrating puns and intentionally mis-heard words and phrases.

I have found some similar resources:

Random Phrase Generator

WerdMerge

WordFun

FindaPhrase

posted by mmrtnt at 1:11 PM on November 26, 2012 [3 favorites]

Also:

The puns generated by the Pun Generator are PunGenT


ahahaha

posted by mmrtnt at 1:14 PM on November 26, 2012

...The House with a Cock in Its Walls...

The House with a Clock in its Walls was one of my favorite books when I was a kid. I still have my battered copy from 4th grade and read it just about every year around Halloween.

Mrs. usonian, having no particular fond or innocent childhood memories of it herself, has always called it "The House With a Cock in its Balls."
posted by usonian at 1:18 PM on November 26, 2012

As an amateur punster, I find this tool doesn't comprehensively cover all types and forms of puns and wordplay. For example, a recent pun I made was in the context of pregnancy: in protest against another gentleman who disliked puns, I suggested we instead tell "knock-knocked-up jokes". The pun generator doesn't seem to generate "before and after"-type puns.

In conclusion, puns are a land of contrast. Thank you.
posted by cyberscythe at 2:45 PM on November 26, 2012

Chronic thesis insufficiency [venous]
Thesis ulcer [also venous]
Deep thesis thrombosis [venous again]
Insanity and thesis [genius]
Stroke of thesis [also genius]

I approve.
posted by ecsh at 3:16 PM on November 26, 2012

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Prawn
Yes.

Prawn of the Dead
Yes.

A Prawn of Ice and Fire
...not so much.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:01 PM on November 26, 2012

High-fructose Scorn syrup
There is probably a joke to be made with that.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:02 PM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Or at the very least a MetaFilter tagline.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:03 PM on November 26, 2012

Mother lode of MetaFilter taglines
posted by Wolfdog at 4:04 PM on November 26, 2012

heh, Snark Twain
posted by found missing at 4:07 PM on November 26, 2012

A Hairy Potter Musical
As a pun on A Very Potter Musical that's probably just too confusing.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:13 PM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh god, it's an Andy Zaltzman engine.
posted by JHarris at 4:18 PM on November 26, 2012 [1 favorite]

I haven't had supper yet and I might just be loopy from hunger but these are making me laugh out loud.
Critical Beet flux! Reverend Horton Beet! Boogie with Canned Beet! Standard cubic Beet per minute! This Is What the Edge of Your Beet Was Made For! stopping now
posted by Wolfdog at 4:28 PM on November 26, 2012

What? No "Jumping the Snark"? No "Beet Don't Fail Me Now"? (or even better "Beet Don't Bail Me Now")
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:41 PM on November 26, 2012

Yeah, but... "The Very Best of Beet Loaf".
posted by Wolfdog at 4:44 PM on November 26, 2012

"Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Snark" would be an awesome MeFi username.
posted by iamkimiam at 5:01 PM on November 26, 2012 [3 favorites]

I Know What You Squid Last Summer
posted by Wolfdog at 5:20 PM on November 26, 2012

Squid Dad, Poor Dad
posted by Wolfdog at 5:21 PM on November 26, 2012

I just... this is... I'm still twelve, aren't I...

THE FART OF THE MATTER

A man after my own Fart.
posted by bokinney at 8:49 PM on November 27, 2012