synonym jokes

[Elizabeth Gregory]

Would these work?

Isn't is it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"?

Is it possible to be totally partial?

If a person thinks marathons are superior to sprints..... is that considered racism?

If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

Selected from:
http://www.chatcircuit.com/webzine/diversions/jokes/12joke4.htm

Elizabeth Gregory
e-gregory at tamu.edu

<<< lynnem at COGS.SUSX.AC.UK  3/20  3:39p >>>
--On Tuesday, March 20, 2001 3:01 pm -0600 Mark Odegard
<markodegard at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> The whole genus of 'knock-knock' jokes meet this specification, I think.
> Here is a link to some Christmas ones:
> http://www.christmasjokes.co.uk/jokes/knockknock.html
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

Actually, knock-knock jokes take advantage of homophony, not synonymy.
I've had one (private) usable response so far, just to give you an idea of
what I mean:


Q: What did the mayonnaise say to the refrigerator
A: Shut the door. I'm dressing.

This takes advantage both of the homonymy of dressing/dressing, but also
the synonymy of mayonnaise/dressing.
(Thanks to Alice Faber.)

Lynne


M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320