“My Camp is so in tents” : #PUNSWILD vs No Homo

“I did a theatrical performance on puns, but really it was just a play on words.”

I love a good Pun.

“I’ll tell you how it all started. It all started when I was reading a great book on gravity…It was impossible to put down.”

I kid.

What reeeeally happened was that I noticed that a bunch of my cronies had fallen into the colloquial trappings of homophobia, often enumerating it with a simple phrase, “No homo” or “Pause.” Now, for those of you who don’t know, “No Homo” means “In the off chance that you haven’t been trained in the basics of figurative language and think that I made a comment or used a phrase that would inextricably tie me to the gay community as an advocate or participant, I want you to know that I am not gay. In fact, I am quite homophobic.” For example, saying to the other guys on the basketball court, “Pass me those balls” could be misconstrued into someone thinking that you were asking them to pass you their testicles. They wouldn’t be smart enough to realize that you were asking for the Spauldings. They’d definitely think you meant their nuts. Definitely. So, if you’re ever playing basketball and you are not gay, don’t mention balls at all. It will weird everybody out.

“Did you hear the one about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He alright now.”

It became increasingly annoying when those of us, who did not subscribe to the immaturity, refused to say “Pause” or “No Homo” when making a comment that, according to the Simpletons, required qualifying. I found myself hearing strong suggestions from peers that indicated that if I didn’t hurry up and say “No Homo,” before the arbitrary clock expired, a terminal case of the gays was going to take over my soul.

So I set off on a campaign to use the phrase #punswild, appropriately hash-tagged to encourage other people’s usage in their viral circles. Now, honestly, I love a corny joke so naturally, I love a good pun. But I have found that using the phrase #punswild and encouraging others to use more figurative language has expanded our lexicon and made our language in my camp that much more flexible.

“My camp is so in tents.”

So my challenge to you?  If you have experienced anything similar to what I have, change the way you talk, change what you think, change the way others around you respond to words. Challenge each other to be forward thinking…

“Besides, writing with broken pencils is pointless.”

Punswild,

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