"bad" puns

[Jonathan Lighter]

I don't see this sense of "bad" in OED.

A "bad" pun, or a "bad" joke, isn't necessarily "poor." It can also be so
clever or contrived as to cause mental pain or an (oddly) appreciative
groan.    Here is an excellent example:

2001 _Naval Review_ (Oct.) 398:  There are several very clever verses, but
the worst I remember was,



            Next came the watchkeeper’s wife, and she was dressed in
heliotrope,

            And in one corner of her tricorne hat she carried his
watchkeeping telescope;

                        His watchkeeping telescope, my boys, his very best
quarterdeck walk,

                        And in the other corner was a damn good afternoon
caulk.


I do not feel at all that this is simply an ex. of the sense "formidable or
impressive." And certainly the stanza is not "bad" in any other sense.


JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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