Word of the Day: witticaster

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

witticaster (noun)

Someone who thinks they're funny--but they're not

"Olgar's speech is too rotten even for one who 'hath tippled somewhat already.' A post-prandial witticaster of our own day could not be nastier at the orgies of a party of bankers."
--Edwin Sauter, The Faithless Favorite (1905)

Q: Why was the math book sad?
A: Because it had a lot of problems.

I love puns, and to me, they are very funny. They're also useful when you have to generate eye-catching headlines or little editorial tag lines quickly. But they are "the lowest form of humor" we’re told (but poetry is much verse). Tell that to Shakespeare, who was full of puns, e.g., the cobbler who says he is a mender of men's soles in Julius Caesar.

What is the highest form of humor, anyway? Surely slapstick is the lowest form, not puns. You know, people slipping on banana peels.... Hmm, bananas. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a...." No, I won't be a witticaster.

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Meanwhile, he's baaack. He's dun being guvanur of Cahleefornyah. Check out an article written by a work colleague and copyedited by me, all about Ahhnold: The Return of the King.