My First Pun

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When I worked an online puzzle recently, I recognized the answer as my first pun. I was about seven years old and would not know what a pun was for 12 more years. Even then, I didn’t connect the dots and recognize this misuse of a word as a play on words.

I was in the car with my mother, sitting at a parking meter in front of Harlan’s, a forerunner of a dime store. I had no shame and was singing aloud. “My country, tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.”

I stopped and said to her, “That’s my favorite song.”

She wondered what I liked about it.

“It has ICING in it!”

Yes, I was actually singing “of the icing”.

I don’t know that Mother ever understood what I meant. I adored icing. I would do anything for icing. I am still addicted to icing. A smile will always be on my face whenever I sing “My Country, ’tis of Thee” because I will substitute ICING for I sing.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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23 thoughts on “My First Pun”

  6. That is so cute! My husband used to sing the wrong words to songs – usually on purpose. It wasn’t always cute. Sometimes, he ruined songs for me, because I couldn’t get his lyrics out of my head. I have a feeling I’ll always hear “icing” now, but it will be in a good way. 🙂

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  9. That’s funny – I read a story once about how often people mis-hear song lyrics and sing along to well-known songs for years, never knowing the real words, just what they think they are.

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