Jesus used a pun...
Love 'em or loathe 'em, puns are here to stay and have been around since ancient times. Aristotle approved of them and Cicero, when a man ploughed up the field where his father was buried, commented: "This is truly to cultivate a father's memory."
Even Jesus couldn't resist an occasional pun (at least, not in translation). He said: "Thou art Peter (Greek Petros) and upon this rock (Greek petra) I will build my church."
Interestingly, though not likely, when the Spanish Armada was defeated, Sir Francis Drake is said to have sent the Queen one word: "Cantharides", the name of an aphrodisiac also known as "The Spanish Fly".
More likely is the one word message sent by General Napier after capturing the Indian province of Sind in 1843: "Peccavi" (I have sinned).
Poets & playwrights...
Elizabethan playwrights loved puns as did poets such as Donne and Mervell. The mottoes and coats of arms of noblemen often contained puns. "Festina lente" (Make haste slowly) was the motto of the Onslows.
When Charles I's jester, Thomas Killigrew, said he could make a pun on any subject, the king said: "Make one on me." Killigrew replied that he couldn't because "the king is no subject."
In the 1700's, Jonathan Swift wrote, 'A Modest Defence of Punning' (1716) and Thomas Sheridan, who wrote 'The Art of Punning' (1719) went as far as to propose thirty-four rules for the use of puns. Among his commandments was the 'Rule of Interruption' (the punster may interrupt any conversation, at any time) and the 'Rule Of Risibility' (the punster must be the first to laugh at his own pun).
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