Fun Fact Friday #2

It's Friday, so here is instalment numero dos in the Fun Fact Friday series!

How I feel when it is Friday, but also FFF #2!

If you're new to these parts (howdy! :D), FFF is a series where every Friday I round up interesting articles/stories/quotes/written word/etc. from the past week, and summarize and comment on it. You can read more about its origins here.

This week's FFF includes:

• Why do puns make people groan?
• 17 Aziz Ansari quotes on modern romance
• Does England make the most delicious breakfast?
• How grounded is your love life?
• Personal musings on Greek mythology

Culture/Society

Why Do Puns Make People Groan? by Julie Beck via The Atlantic || dated 10 July 2015

Ahhh, a topic near and dear to my heart. Even better because the following wordplay popped up in this article:

And the punners gonna pun, and the pun-shunners gonna shun.

Taylor Swift reference like yaaaass!

That aside, Beck talks about humor, and why punny wordplay - formerly a sign of wit and cleverness, with Shakespeare being counted among one of the more famous punsters - may have lost favor to more sarcastic and sardonic humor due to the decline of oral comedy and the advent of the printing press. The written word makes it more difficult to cleverly and deftly use puns than other kinds of humor due to language constraints.

Additionally, puns may have lost favor because pun humor is derived by showing the arbitrariness of language, and doesn't add much to the wave of humor-as-social-commentary that we are currently experiencing. In this case, sarcasm is definitely a better vessel for this kind of social commentary, as one humor researcher describes:

“I think another question to ask that’s just as relevant is why is sarcasm considered cool by the same people who often decry puns as uncool?” [Pollack] asks. “Both are a way of saying one thing and meaning another. In an age of cynicism it’s safer, socially, to tear something down through sarcasm or irony than it is to build something up through punning.”

However, in the end, puns are still very often used such as in marketing ads, but they simply may not be considered "cool" or "in vogue". Even though critics of puns are loud, there are probably less pun-shunners than you think. These shunners just tend to be the most vocal

In addition to all the exceptionally interesting points made in this article, one thing to note is that there is a Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder that does research on puns and other humor-related topics, and I desperately need to weasel my way into this lab because that sounds like the life.

Dating

17 Hilarious Aziz Ansari Quotes About Modern Romance That Will Actually Make You Think by Katie Mather via Thought Catalog || dated 10 July 2015

Exactly what the title says. The article lists some of Aziz Ansari quotes that make you reflect on how modern romance works, while also making you chuckle (depending on your type of humor). I found these more amusing than actually thought-provoking, but it's still worth a skim! Below are a few of my favorites:

• “Spend more time with people, less time in front of a screen, and—since we’re all in it together—be nice to people.”
• “You know how we’ve been hanging out all the time, spending a lot of time together? I wanna keep doing that til you’re dead. Put this ring on your finger so people know we have an arrangement.”

Food/Travel

Does England make the world's most delicious breakfast? by David Farley via BBC || dated 9 July 2015

I am so hungry | Source

I am exceptionally passionate about breakfast (well, mostly brunch), and am a big proponent of hearty and full breakfasts to start your day. Apparently, the people of England agree with me.

Farley embarks on my dream a quest to try different types of English breakfasts at various London establishments. He also goes into the history of the English breakfast, which consists of two eggs, sausage, bacon, baked beans, fried tomato, and toast AKA my perfect breakfast/brunch.

According to The English Breakfast Society, a London-based nonprofit "dedicated to the history, tradition, and heritage of the full English breakfast" (let's take a minute to consider that there is a nonprofit dedicated to breakfast), this full breakfast dates back to when wealthy hunting parties would take a large meal before going out hunting for the day. The working class eventually started adopting this meal too, realizing that having a full, hearty breakfast made it easier to do all the energy-intensive labor. By 1950s, this type of breakfast was a national dish.

The rest of the article details Farley's experience trying out the breakfast at more mom and pop diner institutions to upscale, expensive hotels. The article goes a little bit more in-depth into the variations and "unofficial" rules that people have for English breakfast.

Health

How Grounded Is Your Love Life? by Gretchen Reynolds vs New York Times || dated 8 July 2015
This fascinating article introduces a new area of science called embodied cognition, which "studies the interconnection between our physiology and our feelings".

The article cites some studies on how those in unstable physical positions, such as sitting on a wobbly chair or standing one-legged, tend to react less warmly to their partners. Their unstable physical situation "strongly correlated" them projecting that instability into their relationships.  This is not to say that unstable situations mean that their relationship is actually unstable, but they tend to perceive that it is more unstable when in unstable physical positions themselves (sorry I said unstable far too many times in that sentence...).

Personal: Greek Mythology

Source

The movie Troy (2004) was on TV over the weekend, and it has reawakened my love for four forgotten things:

1. Buff Brad Pitt
2. Eric Bana
3. Sean Bean not dying by the end of a movie; and
4. Greek mythology

The movie prompted me to read up a bit on The Iliad and The Odyssey. I have loved Greek mythology since I stumbled on a picture book on it in the library when I was elementary school. I think I was particularly fond of it, because at the time I was a fascinated by space and the planets. When I made the connection that the planets were named after gods from Roman and Greek mythology, it just blew my mind eight-year-old mind.

I realize Greek mythology, despite being absolutely fascinating stories, was actually based on the belief system of Greeks, Romans, etc. of the time. I think it's truly a testament of how unique their way of thinking was, because their gods, goddesses, and deities were far from perfect. In fact, their gods, heroes, and etc. were/are positively human in their imperfections and flaws. Just because you are immortal, does not mean that you are above the flaws that make us human. And I love that, I love that they poke fun at the gods they worship, these people they place on a pedestal. They both respect and revere them for their strengths, but do not believe these gods are above criticism. I feel that this is something that is somewhat lost from our society sometimes: when we set our role models, we only focus on their good traits, and sometimes fail if downright refuse to see their flaws. Being critical is so important, and a trait I value highly. As the Greeks understood, no one is perfect - not even the gods - so we should never consider an issue one-sided.

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Anyway, thanks so much for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the above topics. Have a great weekend :)