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| 15 | [[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Spaceballs}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spaceballs_combing.png]]]] |
| 16 | [[caption-width-right:350:"We were told to comb the desert, [[LiteralMinded so we're combing it]]!"]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | ->(trying to reach a box of straws) ''"I'm literally grasping at straws!"'' |
| 19 | -->--'''Bob''', ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'', "The Deepening" |
| 20 | |
| 21 | When a phrase which is usually used as a metaphor is shown literally. This can be because TheDitz [[LiteralMinded didn't understand the statement]], or can just be a simple gag. This kind of humor is [[DeadHorseTrope considered dated and a bit old fashioned]], so most audience won't do more than smirk -- at least when adults are involved (children tend to be more easily amused). Occasionally, this action can be performed literally without the verbal set up. It is a frequent pitfall when dealing with a LiteralGenie. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Common versions include requests to "give me a hand" being met with disembodied hands and quotes of Marc Antony "lend me your ears" -- well, [[HavingAHeart use your imagination]]. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | These can be quite a nightmare for translators: purely textual puns can be rewritten into something else, but when the pun has a visual component (which usually cannot be changed), it becomes much harder to come up with something that makes sense. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | BRollRebus is when news and documentaries do this with StockFootage. Compare StealthPun, which is sort of like [[{{Dissimile}} a Visual Pun without the visuals]]; of course, sometimes a Visual Pun ''can'' be a stealth pun, but you know, they're stealthy about it. A SuperTrope to MetaphoricMetamorphosis (where road signs are literal, not figurative, depictions of what's up ahead) and RulesOfTheRoad (same). Often a SisterTrope of LiteralMetaphor. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | When creatures, whether individuals or entire species, are designed as living visual puns, see PunBasedCreature. |
| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!Example Subpages: |
| 32 | [[index]] |
| 33 | * [[VisualPun/AnimatedFilms Films — Animation]] |
| 34 | * [[VisualPun/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]] |
| 35 | * VisualPun/LiveActionTV |
| 36 | * VisualPun/{{Music}} |
| 37 | * VisualPun/VideoGames |
| 38 | * VisualPun/WesternAnimation |
| 39 | * VisualPun/TVTropes |
| 40 | [[/index]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | !!Other Examples: |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 47 | * Used in combination with GratuitousEnglish in a Blu-ray commercial starring ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'''s Momotaros, who refers to it as "Blu-Ray Disc". Cue a bunch of Blu-Ray boxes disco-dancing. |
| 48 | * Axe's '''[[CrossesTheLineTwice Clean Your]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a-ohLwa6cs Balls]]''' campaign. |
| 49 | * The advert for the grand finale (For the Channel 4 series) of ''Series/BigBrother'' UK had the text R.I.P. on a black background. Rather than an 'I', the show's logo was used in its place. |
| 50 | * Advertising/{{GEICO}}: |
| 51 | ** Can switching to Geico can really save you up 15% on car insurance? Did the caveman invent fire? Do woodchucks chuck wood? Does a 10 pound bag of flour make a really big biscuit? Is a bird in hand worth two in the bush? Did the Piggy go wee wee wee all the way home? |
| 52 | ** Yes! Switching to Geico will give you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU3OB1vjzf4 a smaller bill!]] |
| 53 | ** They ran a couple of commercials featuring these in 2020 for homeowner's insurance: |
| 54 | *** In one, a couple talks about the house they just bought. They mention a number of positive things but admit it has a clogging problem. Cut to a family clog dancing through their daily routine. |
| 55 | *** In the other, another couple sings the praises of the house they've just bought. They do admit it has a rat problem. Cut to the band Music/{{Ratt}} repeatedly performing "Round and Round". |
| 56 | *** Another one has a couple praise their new house, but note that there are ants. Cue several aunts inspecting the house. |
| 57 | * A commercial for EDS (an informations and technology company since acquired by Hewlett Packard) used the metaphor [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE herding cats]] to describe their services in an beautifully shot tv ad. |
| 58 | * The Creator/USANetwork ads for ''Film/BurnNoticeTheFallOfSamAxe'' give a TitleDrop right as Sam falls[[note]]off of a roof[[/note]]. Doubles as a StealthPun. |
| 59 | * The A&E Network blitzed all their commercial breaks with multiple promos for the second season of ''Series/TheGlades'', most of which showed the mutilation of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_orange blood orange]] with murder weapons, including a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCiooofqcMs bullet]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pmhdUSJWDI arrows]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPOulGhpSmg a cleaver]]. |
| 60 | * One Advertising/{{Progressive}} ad involved a pair of representatives from another insurance company claiming to have one of the same services that Progressive does -- as soon as they do so, their pants suddenly burst into flames. Also sort of a StealthPun, because no one actually calls out the "liar liar, pants on fire" thing. |
| 61 | * The logo for the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant features a buffalo with wings. |
| 62 | * An advertisement for a phone company had two girls promise a lap dance to two guys for Christmas (complete with a SomethingElseAlsoRises ReactionShot). Cut to the girls dancing a traditional Finnish dance and saying [[DontExplainTheJoke "This is how they dance in Lapland."]] |
| 63 | * In the Farmers' Insurance "University Of Farmers" campaign, one class takes place on a collection of roofs. One agent finds a fiddler on the roof. |
| 64 | ** In the UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} Sprint Cup Series, Farmers' Insurance sponsors Kasey Kahne's #5 Chevrolet. In another University of Farmers commercial, Kahne appears as himself and admires the insurance agents' custom-tailored fire suits. Another guy shows up late… wearing a black track suit that has flames painted on it. Everyone looks at him with disapproval, and he says, "Ohhh… ''fire'' suit." Kahne then sprays him down with the fire extinguisher. |
| 65 | * Taunton Cider's Red Rock Cider was advertised on British television in the late 1980s and early 1990s with a series of spots paying homage to ''Series/PoliceSquad'', directed by [[Series/{{Blackadder}} John]] [[Series/SpittingImage Lloyd]] and featuring Leslie Nielsen reprising his role as Frank Drebin. Among the many stylistic lifts from ''Police Squad!'', the adverts featured many visual puns (some recycled from ''Police Squad!''). For example, upon entering a pub, Drebin passes a sign reading "Pool" and bumps into a man at a pool table -- which turns out to be full of water. |
| 66 | * Creator/StanFreberg's advertising agency Freberg, Ltd. had "The Great Seal," which was a seal wearing sunglasses. (This parody of old-fashioned corporate symbols was designed by Creator/SaulBass.) |
| 67 | * One Honda commercial features a Honda Accord Coupe owner having a doctor examine his heavy and metallic right foot -- a stealth pun of the term "lead foot". |
| 68 | * Sir George Martin has [[http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/news-grants/grants/item/66-george-martin his own coat of arms]], with puns on himself, his career as a RecordProducer, and rising to fame due to Music/TheBeatles: atop it is a house ''Martin'' with a ''recorder'' flute under his wing, and the shield has three ''beetles''. To top it off, the motto is [[GratuitousLatin "All You Need is Love" in Latin]]. Also his badge is [[AbbeyRoadCrossing a zebra bearing a crozier]]. |
| 69 | * Mountain Dew has a taste that will [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4qDoXCPl0c knock your socks off]]. |
| 70 | * The poster for the eponymous ''Film/TheRunaways'' biopic features a cherry with a lit fuse instead of a stem -- a reference to the band's hit "Cherry Bomb". |
| 71 | * ''Film/{{Blockers}}'', a comedy film about parents trying to stop their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night, consistently places a rooster silhouette above the title in ads... It's a movie about a bunch of [[spoiler: "cock blockers"]]. |
| 72 | * A site called careerbuilder.com ran an ad campaign about an exasperated office man literally working with a bunch of monkeys. For their [=Super Bowl XL=] ad, said man is on the phone with a woman friend of his who sympathizes with him...as she has to work (literally) with a bunch of jackasses. |
| 73 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-TjiL3Ualw In a commercial for Chunky Chips Ahoy!]], a bunch of punks and an anthropomorphic cookie are sing a rock song about "Punky Chips Ahoy!", until a British ''monkey'' cop comes along and corrects them. |
| 74 | * The logo for GIT (the versioning software) is "GIT" written 90° sideways. Or a plus, a minus and a rotate arrow. Whatever you noticed first. |
| 75 | * A series of commercials for the Nynex Yellow Pages featured a scene showing some odd happening, then an entry in the phone book where the scene was a visual pun based on it: |
| 76 | ** An armchair is seen and pieces of fabric start to fly off as burlesque music plays. Cut to an entry for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz91ypuyJik Furniture Stripping]]". |
| 77 | ** We see someone casting a hook on a fishing line offscreen. The person finally hooks a fish and reels it in, only for a football player to pounce on the fish. Cut to an entry for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fhBojJ0UOg Fishing Tackle]]". |
| 78 | ** The camera moves past a group of pretentious snobs talking about their FirstWorldProblems and issues. Cut to an entry for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX4ZCCV_cc0 Vanity Cases]]". |
| 79 | ** We see a series of auditioning actors acting out death scenes. Cut to an entry for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ViBkWXuQY Die Casting]]". |
| 80 | ** We see a receptionist arguing with her offstage boss, sung operatically. Cut to an entry for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZguqVB0ect4 Opera Companies]]". |
| 81 | ** We see a group of train engineers drinking tea together and conversing politely. Cut to an entry for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdAXq3N2JmE Civil Engineers]]". |
| 82 | ** We see a group of men who all introduce themselves as "Herbert". Cut to an entry for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_ZBm5lvU2E Herbs]]" (silent "H"). |
| 83 | ** The print ads followed suit, for instance a chicken playing tennis was listed as "Chicken Ready to Serve" and Barbie and Ken dressed as doctors was "Plastic Surgeons." The ads even ran without the listing for the first week so those looking at them would guess the pun. |
| 84 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ_r1yG2LQs Frequently]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ODSqXjeeg found]] in Advertising/McDonaldland commercials from TheEighties. |
| 85 | * In the Advertising/MicrosoftOfficeXP ad "Clippy Faces Facts", the mouse that can be briefly seen inside a MouseHole is a computer mouse. |
| 86 | * A cinema advert for Silk Cut cigarettes in TheEighties ends with a giant curtain of silk getting torn. This was done to circumvent British tobacco advertising laws. |
| 87 | * In Usefulnotes/TheWorldCup in 2014, hosts Brazil were humiliated by Germany with a [[CurbStompBattle 7-1 score]], and among the many GallowsHumor SelfDeprecation jokes the Brazilians indulged in were comparisons to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Gol Volkswagen Gol]]. In 2022, as VW prepared to retire the Gol, they did for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00T1Z6oCK9Y an ad]] a punny "retaliation" to the football game: seven 2014 Gols, made in Brazil, were sent to Germany. |
| 88 | * ''Advertising/SexualViolenceWithTheBirdsAndTheBees'': The campaign is designed to educate about sexual violence, so all the characters are birds and bees as a reference to "the birds and the bees", the euphemism for [[TheTalk sexual education]]. |
| 89 | * Advertising/TommyMcAnairey: In the first ad, Tommy mentions his "dear Uncle Pat" in a song. The camera pans over to a portrait of Patrick [=McAnairey=], who is wearing mining gear, making him a literal canary in a coal mine. |
| 90 | --> '''Tommy (to crowd):''' Thank you. That was for my canary ancestors who worked down the mines detecting the lethal gas carbon monoxide. |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[folder:Animation]] |
| 94 | * In one episode of ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', Big and Little M. use a Trojan horse in Doctor H.'s Internet router. The Trojan horse is literally a giant rocking horse. |
| 95 | * In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf: Joys of Seasons'' episode 7, Paddi has his pet egg Eggy sneak into Mr. Slowy's laboratory to find him something to eat, and Eggy retrieves an egg that Paddi, after eating it, finds out is actually an egg-shaped bomb. The Chinese words for "egg" (蛋, or "dan") and "bomb" (炸弹, or "zhadan") have Chinese characters that are pronounced the same but are different (蛋 and 弹 both being pronounced "dan", in this case). |
| 96 | * The ''Animation/SimpleSamosa'' episode "Sabse Sweetest Kaun?" depicts Mayor Royal Falooda as a medieval king -- in other words, a literal "royal" falooda. |
| 97 | [[/folder]] |
| 98 | |
| 99 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 100 | * Several works, including ''Manga/SailorMoon'' and ''Manga/HereIsGreenwood'', have used the joke of showing or referencing a type of carp known as ''koi'' when matters of love are being discussed because another ''koi'' (in a different kana) refers to love. |
| 101 | * If something startling happens, and the screen is suddenly filled with fish. Understand that the onomatopoeia for surprise is "gyoh", which is also one of the words for "fish". |
| 102 | ** There is actually a ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' card named "Gyoh!" in Japan; its effect involves Fish-Type monsters and its art depicts a shark bearing down on a surprised monster. The US name is "[[CurseCutShort Oh F!]][[LastSecondWordSwap sh!]]" |
| 103 | * Quite frequent in the ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'' manga (but not in the anime), usually due to [[TheDitz Mira]] misunderstanding a new scientific term. |
| 104 | ** In the [[StargazingScene fifth chapter]], Ao mentions the asteroid Vesta. Mira somewhat immediately switched to a "Western-style" school uniform with a vest (Hoshizaki uses SailorFuku), and asks whether Ao means a vest. |
| 105 | ** In the eighteenth chapter, Mikage raises the term "boring" (as in drilling). Mira immediately pretends to be bowling. Japanese approximates "bowling" in a way that's identical to "boring". |
| 106 | * When Charmy from ''Manga/BlackClover'' first unlocks her Food Magic, the giant sheep she summoned sheds the wool to reveal a giant, monstrous wolf. It's a WolfInSheepsClothing. |
| 107 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Sui-Feng's [[SuperMode Bankai]] consists of an oversized missile launcher strapped to her arm. One might wonder how a ballistic missile is the next step from a finger blade that can kill in two hits (beyond "[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill a missile kills in one hit]]"), until one remembers that Sui-Feng's [[EmpathicWeapon Zanpakuto]] is named Suzumebachi, which is Japanese for "[[BeeAfraid hornet]]", and realizes that her Bankai is a "stinger missile". |
| 108 | * This composed a significant portion of the anime ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'', resulting in it being [[QuirkyWork nigh-incomprehensible]] when translated. |
| 109 | * ''Manga/CellsAtWork'', which features an abstract depiction of life for cells in the human body, features a number of puns. |
| 110 | ** Virii are depicted as various inanimate objects that attach to Ordinary Cells and turn them into {{Plague Zombie}}s; the virus that causes dengue fever is depicted as ''tengu'' masks. |
| 111 | ** Purine compounds are depicted as stacks of pudding cups, a play on the Japanese word for pudding, ''purin''. |
| 112 | ** The BootCampEpisode shows the Macrophages and Dendritic Cells helping train thymocytes (developing T cells) by holding up cardboard cut-outs, representing their role as antigen-''presenting'' cells. |
| 113 | * ''Manga/CellsAtWorkCodeBlack'', ''Cells at Work!'''s DarkerAndEdgier {{spinoff}}, has the Leukyocytes grab assault rifles and rocket launchers when their usual attacks fail to destroy a purine crystal. They're literally breaking out the big guns. |
| 114 | * In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', the Siegfried, the [[HumongousMecha Knightmare]] that Jeremiah (alias Orange-kun) ends up piloting...is a giant orange. |
| 115 | * ''Manga/{{Dororo}}'': When Hyakkimaru's [[spoiler:fake hand falls off after he grows a real one]], he decides to bury it to show the limb respect, to which Dororo says, "hey, it's a hand-grave!" The joke, explained in the English version with an asterisk, is that the author Creator/OsamuTezuka's surname can be broken down into "Te," meaning hand, and "zuka," meaning grave. |
| 116 | * ''Anime/DottoKoniChan'': Used a few times in the Latin Spanish dub. For example, in the first episode of the Fish Samurai, Emi tried to stop him and he told her that she didn't have to thank him, turns out she wanted to warn him that he was going to fall into a chasm. While falling he says "ya caigo", which literally means "I'm falling already", but it's also a Mexican slang for "I get it now" or "I see". |
| 117 | * In ''Anime/EurekaSeven'''s soccer episode, Eureka wears number 7. |
| 118 | * The girls from ''Anime/MagicalPokaan'' realize the girls from the HotSpringsEpisode [[spoiler: are not biologically so]]. Cut to a huge [[spoiler: phallic]] rocket taking off. |
| 119 | * ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': |
| 120 | ** Near the end, [[spoiler: Greed destroys Father from the inside]]. |
| 121 | ** The phrase "paying an arm and a leg" is taken very literally in this show. |
| 122 | ** Or a certain [[spoiler: [[GreenEyedMonster big green monster]]]]. |
| 123 | * ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': |
| 124 | ** Among the tanks of an utterly trashed Japanese-based team, you can briefly see an incredibly anachronic FT-'''[[CurbStompBattle KO]]'''. |
| 125 | ** In a more noticeable example, Riko "Erwin" Matsumoto from Team Hippo has her hair constantly sticking out from beneath her hat in a manner reminiscent of fox ears, a reference to her [[UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel namesake's]] nickname The Desert Fox. |
| 126 | ** Katyusha of the Pravda team travels to meet the leader of the Ōarai team in a BM-13 "Katyusha". |
| 127 | * ''Manga/GoldfishWarning'': Any time Chitose says "my school" (Watashi no gakuen), cue the school for scrubbing brushes (Tawashi no gakuen), although that may just be Wapiko not being able to hear properly. |
| 128 | * In Episode 13 of ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'', you see Ayase reaching for a shoe on the floor. It becomes significantly funnier when you remember that the main character's name is Shu. |
| 129 | * ''Literature/{{Haganai}}'' presents us with [[AnimeCatholicism Maria Takayama]] who is a child, and a nun, who sees the main character as an older-brother type person in her life. That would make her his little sister. [[spoiler: Long way to go for such a groan worthy pun.]] |
| 130 | * The opening of ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' has Yuki ("snow") standing in the middle of the snow (though for the record, Yuki is actually written as "hope"). [[AllThereInTheManual The light novels]] explain that [[spoiler: it had been snowing when Yuki was given permission to have her own name]], although this is kinda vague as it's described in really vague poetic symbolic odd prose written by Yuki during the short story. |
| 131 | * ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' [[http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7a4a2BmrM1qi7r67o1_1280.jpg gives us]] "''Suzumiya Haruhi no Music/{{U2}}''"[[note]]the joke being that the "2" would be pronounced "tsu"... in other words, exactly the the show's actual title[[/note]]. |
| 132 | * ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'': In episode 8, Saeko narrowly avoids two shots from a sniper rifle. The first one passes directly [[BetweenMyLegs between her legs]] in BulletTime, allowing for a gratuitous close-up of her panty-covered crotch as the bullet just misses grazing her. Making it a literal PantyShot. |
| 133 | * In the first opening for ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven GO'', we get a close-up of Matsukaze Tenma both times the line "'''Ten ma'''de todokeyou" occurs in the lyrics. |
| 134 | * In Episode 12 of ''Manga/InterviewsWithMonsterGirls'', Takahashi sees a photo of Hikari at night, noticing that her eyes flash like animals' ones, and explains her why they do this. Several animals have a membrane in the back of their eyes that reflects back the light, and this is shown with an animation of super-deformed smiling Hikari faces bouncing against said membrane. Hikari means "light" in Japanese. |
| 135 | * In ''Manga/JapanInc'', Ueda admits he likes America, and his female boss comments: "He must be an alien." In this panel, he is drawn as The Franchise/{{Alien}}. |
| 136 | * The opening sequence of ''Anime/JoranThePrincessOfSnowAndBlood'' includes a quick series of cuts that show the three main executioners in settings that fit their surnames: |
| 137 | ** Sawa Yukimura (''yuki'' meaning "snow")" is shown walking in a snowy landscape. |
| 138 | ** Makoto Tsukishiro (''tsuki'' meaning "moon") is shown standing in the light of a full moon. |
| 139 | ** Elena Hanakaze (''hana'' meaning "flower") is shown applying her lipstick with some flowers prominently in the foreground. |
| 140 | * In the animation of ''Literature/TheKingsAvatar'', after Excellent Era forcibly retires Ye Xiu, they literally throw him out into the cold; it begins to snow when he leaves the building. |
| 141 | * ''[[Anime/LupinIIIThePursuitOfHarimaosTreasure The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure]]'': In the scene where [[TheDragon Goering]] shreds [[Franchise/LupinIII Lupin's]] hang glider, Lupin saves himself by quickly stripping down to his boxers, then pulls them off just as a parachute deploys [[AssPull from between his ass cheeks.]] |
| 142 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' has the White Base stop at the neutral Side Six. As a condition of entry, its weapons are ''literally'' secured with red tape. For those who missed it the first time, Bright complains in the next episode about the abundance of red tape getting in the way of repairs. |
| 143 | * Oi-chan from ''Manga/MononokeSharing'' is a nurikabe (basically a living wall) and is the only yokai in the series whose human form doesn't have large breasts, even when she's seen as an adult in the epilogue. She's flat as a board. |
| 144 | * ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': The Akimichi clan have access to a super form that gives them incredible strength and they gain butterfly wings made out of chakra. Like with ''Sailor Moon'' above, the Akimichi clan have the butterfly motif because "butterfly" and "super" are both read as "chou" in Japanese. |
| 145 | * ''Manga/NinjaNonsense'' had truly terrible one involving "a [[FuroScene furo]]" getting filled with an "afro". Even the characters [[LampshadeHanging point out how bad the joke is.]] |
| 146 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 147 | ** Donquixote Doflamingo ate the Ito Ito no Mi (String-String Fruit). It allows him to create lethal RazorFloss which can cleave through most materials, do BuildingSwing using the clouds, and more. He also controls a massive Underworld empire, with moles in the Marine and involved in various weapons trafficking while maintaining a public persona of a benevolent king of Dressrosa. [[spoiler:He's the man pulling the strings, figuratively and literally.]] |
| 148 | ** There's a spider in the Thriller Bark arc. It had the head of a monkey and a verbal tick of 'Monkey.' Does this pun even make sense without knowledge of English? |
| 149 | * ''Last Period: The Journey to the End of the Despair'': After an android is revealed to be evil and plotting to take over the world, a side character who's been distant and cold towards the android the whole time refuses to help. Her reason? "I don't like Androids." She then takes a bite out of her apple and holds it up -- creating the Apple logo. |
| 150 | --> '''Choco:''' So that's what this is about. |
| 151 | * Dia and Pearl's manzai verses from the ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' manga occasionally incorporate a visual pun for the punchline. This makes things even harder to translate to English in the fan translations. |
| 152 | * One example that does translate, if not incredibly accurately, is in the third episode of ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries''. Kasumi (Misty), who is afraid of bugs, spots a Caterpie, and screams "MUSHI!" (bug). Satoshi (Ash), mishearing her, pops up in a cow suit, and comments "Ushi?" (cow). The English dialogue opted for, after Misty's scream, having Ash (in the cow suit) comment "Maybe it's a... Cow-terpie!." |
| 153 | * ''Manga/SailorMoon'': Super Sailor Moon has a [[AnimalMotifs butterfly motif]]. The Japanese word for "butterfly" is "chou" which also is a homonym of "chou" the Japanese word for "super". |
| 154 | * After Kaede wordlessly [[ACupAngst laments her lack of chest]] in one end-of-episode short of ''Manga/SakuraTrick'', [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/85fc315961a2c0256b01e3b7b9285b81/tumblr_n1dx6xQq4i1qa94xto1_500.gif this]] title card is seen. |
| 155 | * ''Manga/ShirokumaCafe'', at least the anime version, combines visual puns and ChainOfCorrections into a OncePerEpisode [[http://polarbearscafe.wikia.com/wiki/Puns gag]]. Polar Bear will misunderstand a word another character says, then rapidly appear in different costumes and scenery that suggest similar-sounding words. The extreme reliance on the Japanese language for these jokes probably means the series will never be dubbed. |
| 156 | -->'''Penguin:''' Seconds, please. ''[Okawari]''\ |
| 157 | ''Polar Bear brings sunflowers.''\ |
| 158 | '''Penguin:''' Those would be sunflowers (''himawari'').\ |
| 159 | ''Polar Bear returns as a chef with a labeled three-course meal.''\ |
| 160 | '''Penguin:''' That would be the daily special (''higawari'').\ |
| 161 | ''Polar Bear returns with an axe and firewood.''\ |
| 162 | '''Penguin:''' That would be splitting logs (''makiwari'').\ |
| 163 | ''Blindfolded Polar Bear menaces a watermelon with a stick.''\ |
| 164 | '''Penguin:''' That's splitting a watermelon (''[[SmashingWatermelons suika wari]]''). Seconds, please. |
| 165 | * One ''[[Manga/ShugoChara Shugo Chara Chan!]]'' comic has the Guardian Characters wondering what the prince of flowers ("hana" in Japanese) looks like, and one of the princes is a nose (Also "hana" in Japanese). Ran says "That's not the right "hana" we're talking about!" |
| 166 | * ''Welcome to Lodoss Island'', a series of {{omake}}s parodying ''Roleplay/RecordOfLodossWar'', has explanations underneath some of the comics, because puns in Japanese have a bad habit of turning into nonsensical absurdist gags when translated into English. For example, in one, Slayn tells Ghim that he's looking for his star, whereupon the dwarf produces a small lump on a stick and replies, "Your pickled plum?" Which is funny in English if you're into completely random shit happening because of translation, and funny in Japanese because "hoshi" (star) sounds sort of like "umeboshi" (pickled plum). |
| 167 | * ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'' does it from time to time, but whether she truly doesn't understand or is making a joke is up in the air: |
| 168 | ** In one, she draws a tsukutsukuboshi as a little guy wearing a cap (because in Japanese, "boshi" is a homonym for "cap"). |
| 169 | ** When Miura identifies the groupings of stars as "seiza", Yotsuba kneels, because it's a homonym for both "constellation" and "kneeling position". In one translation the joke becomes about how the names of constellations sit well. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 173 | * ''Dang You To Heck'' is essentially an unofficial, mormon-themed version of ''TabletopGame/CardsAgainstHumanity''. The creators had to change its name from ''Mormanity'' for legal reasons but kept a visual reference to the original name in their logo: A sea cow playing a trumpet in the manner of most depictions of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Moroni the Angel Moroni]], or a "mormon manatee". |
| 174 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': |
| 175 | ** The symbol for Phyrexia sets greatly resembles [[spoiler: the Greek letter Phi. As in, Phi-rexian]]. |
| 176 | ** Look at the illustration for Bronze Calendar. [[spoiler:It's a bronze ''colander''.]] |
| 177 | ** The Revised Edition game manual included Richard Garfield's account of the creation of the game. He mentions that the pre-release version used placeholder art for the cards, including a few of these. For example, "Heal" was a photograph of someone's foot, while "Power Sink" showed ComicStrip/{{Calvin|AndHobbes}} sitting in a toilet, "because what ''is'' a toilet except a power sink?" |
| 178 | ** [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205068 Foresee]] depicts a [[ExtraEyes four-eyed woman]]. |
| 179 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'' is rife with these. For example, the card "Steal a Level", where the card's effect is that you steal a level, as in the gaming term, from an opposing player. The ''illustration'' is someone stealing a ''level'', as in the tool. |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 183 | * In ''All-New Marvel NOW! Point One #1'', a short vignette shows the Silver Surfer taking Dawn Greenwood to Planet [[{{Foreshadowing}} Nautikos]] to see their centennial Festival of Light. Silver Surfer describes it as an event where the skies are filled with cosmic rays that are "[unlike] anything on Earth". Indeed, those [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace cosmic]] [[FlyingSeafoodSpecial rays]] were quite impressive. |
| 184 | * ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Moose Mason is a gold mine for these gags. Here are a few: |
| 185 | ** Girlfriend Midge is away on vacation, and Moose is depressed because she hasn't written to him yet? Archie tells Moose to make Midge jealous by sending her a picture of him surrounded by chicks. When Midge sees the picture, it's Moose surrounded by...baby chicks. |
| 186 | ** When his car was elected for carpool to take to the beach, Moose turns his car ''into'' a pool (by filling it up with water). |
| 187 | * ''ComicBook/TheBeano'': In a Fatty Fudge strip, some outlaw cowboys say "we've got prices on our heads" whilst literally having some prices drawn onto their heads (well, hats). |
| 188 | * ''ComicBook/{{Blacksad}}'': Ivo Statoc makes a big point to Blacksad about how much of a "cold-blooded" bastard he truly is. He's a toad. |
| 189 | * By Creator/WilhelmBusch: [[KissingCousins Cousin]] [[SinisterMinister Franz]] is drawn blackhanded in the picture with the {{Chocolate bab|y}}ies and their not-father. "Your wife, my kids" indeed. |
| 190 | * In "Capt. Sprocket Meets His Greatest Foe [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Neutron]]" in ''Mad House Comic Digest'' #5 Captain Sprocket remarks that with simple types like him, everything goes in one ear and out the other. When Super Sally asks how he can be sure, he shines a flashlight into one ear and the beam comes out the other one. |
| 191 | * ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': When Rick Jones marries his girlfriend Marlo shortly after she comes BackFromTheDead, Creator/DCComics' [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 Death]] makes a LawyerFriendlyCameo, crashing the reception and giving Marlo a silver hairbrush. |
| 192 | * ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Judge Dredd never being seen without his helmet. "Justice is blind", anyone? |
| 193 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'' also enjoys making such jokes. Examples are Nero literally rolling up a gang of thieves (in a carpet) or seeing a head on a desk with the caption "head of the police". When Nero went in space he always saw a bunch of milk bottles flying around (the Milky Way) and a great bear floating in space (named after the star sign). |
| 194 | * ''ComicBook/OlivierRameau'': There's an anthropomorphic frog wearing a scuba diving suit, hence the name "frogman". |
| 195 | * ''Panic'' #5 features a story based entirely on depicting baseball terms literally while describing a game -- warming up the pitcher, etc. This is followed by giving the same treatment to golf, football, and basketball e.g. a player "making a basket" is shown weaving a wicker basket. |
| 196 | * ''ComicBook/PopGunWar'' had something approaching but not quite being a visual pun. The character Sunshine, a little person, informs another character that he will tell her a story along their trip. Upon being informed it's a short walk, he replies, "It's a short story." Thus, we have a short man on a short walk telling a short story. If nothing else, it was visual wit. |
| 197 | * ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': Wiske literally "burning with curiosity", Suske and Wiske followed by swans ("swans" is a nickname for police on motorcycles in Belgium),... |
| 198 | * Franchise/{{Tintin}}: The cover for ''[[Recap/TintinTheCalculusAffair The Calculus Affair]]'' has one related to the original French: the cracked yellow glass somewhat resembles a sunflower, as in Professeur Tournesol (Sunflower). |
| 199 | * The ''Toys/{{Uglydolls}}'' comic has the story "Climb, Wage, Climb!", where Wage gets groomed into being the replacement manager...by getting his head shampooed and getting a facial. |
| 200 | * ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': At a certain point, V is breaking into the television station to have his own recording broadcast. In the background, you see a number of other TV shows playing. One is a sitcom with lots of innuendo, including a woman commenting on her (literal) melons. |
| 201 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'': |
| 202 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Issue 2 proudly declares itself the fall issue, with the cover colors in oranges, yellows and blacks which are colors associated with the fall and depicts Diana tipping Mars off a wall, with him falling. |
| 203 | ** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'': Phobos and Demios are minor war gods and the children of Ares who often manifest as monstrous dogs with skeletal heads or a pair of doberman pinschers. They're war gods pretending to be [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar war dogs]]. |
| 204 | * ''ComicBook/{{Zenith}}'' Phase II sees a henchman, observing the main character, commenting "Strange... he has his mother's eyes." The BigBad comments wryly, "Really?... I thought that ''we'' did." Cue shot of a glass jar, with... well, guess what suspended in it. |
| 205 | [[/folder]] |
| 206 | |
| 207 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 208 | * ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': An early strip features Calvin showing Hobbes an "antelope"... by taking him over to an anthill, pointing to one, and saying "See, she's climbing down the ladder to her boyfriend's car!" Hobbes is not amused. |
| 209 | %%* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': [[http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2006-08-16/ Here]], Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light, darns a man to Heck with his spoon. [[BrainBleach No, not his giant spoon. Much worse.]]%%Explain how it's a pun. |
| 210 | * ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' #346, before the 2000 election: |
| 211 | --> '''Ginger''': Vote for Nader and you'll get what you deserve. Bush.”\ |
| 212 | Which is exactly where the croquet ball ends up. |
| 213 | * ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': One strip shows a couple driving around with a map of Nowhere, approaching a sign that reads "Now Entering The Middle." |
| 214 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1980/01/23 This]] strip features Frank, a friend of Jon's, meeting Garfield for the first time and rubbing him. Garfield reacts violently and states "Some people rub me the wrong way". |
| 215 | * ''ComicStrip/InsideWoodyAllen'': One strip features a store which runs on this trope. Suitcases are shaped like hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds; hand mirrors have a thumb and four fingers, etc. When Woody says he'd like to complain to the manager because it's "too literal" the clerk points to a door labeled "Head Office" which is shaped like a person's head. |
| 216 | * In [[https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2002/09/29 this]] ''ComicStrip/TheWizardOfId'' strip, Blanche writes a check to pay for her groceries. But when she tries to hand it to the cashier, it jumps out of her hand and bounces away. She ends up paying cash instead. |
| 217 | [[/folder]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 220 | * ''WebVideo/AMVHell 3'' has a "[[VideoGame/UnrealTournament MULTI KILL!]]"... only it's not three players being fragged in quick succession as per ''Unreal Tournament'' but rather Multi from ''VisualNovel/ToHeart'' killing. |
| 221 | * In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9007910/27/Altered-Histories Altered Histories]]'' Harry casts a disarming spell on a Polish thug with a [[{{Squick}} rather literal result]]. |
| 222 | * In ''Fanfic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'', a major theme is letting your emotions out, as many of the Kamen Riders in the fanfic are tied to [[EmotionalPowers an emotion]] that fuel their ElementalPowers. All of Dante's armors have pipes or vents to air out flames, with his core emotion being [[BurningWithAnger anger]]. The one exception to this is his Yellowstone Mount which has none and just lets the heat accumulate, which consequentially causes Dante's user to get more and more angry. In other words: Dante's armor ''vents'' out his own grief save for one that just bottles it up. |
| 223 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4780695/10/A-Collection-of-Harmonious-OneShots A Collection of Harmonious OneShots]]'' Hermione gets annoyed at Ron dating Lavender to try to make her jealous and Harry comments that a ton of shit is going to drop on Ron if he keeps up this sort of thing. Hermione then decides to get revenge by conjuring a brown cloud which drops a ''literal'' ton of shit on Ron immediately after the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff Quidditch game. |
| 224 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7956435/1/Completely-Bludgered Completely Bludgered]]'' after Ron and Ginny give Harry and Hermione a LovePotion, Hermione decides to use them as human Bludgers. In other words, this is a story which contains ''actual'' Weasley bashing. |
| 225 | * ''VideoGame/CouncilrysRPG'': One of the early game enemies are a sentient pair of gardening clippers. Who do you call those that make video clips of streamers, much less {{Virtual Youtuber}}s? |
| 226 | * ''Webcomic/CutieMarkCrusaders10k'': When Discord is explaining the rules of his game, he says that whispering sweet nothings to the pieces that represent who the player wants to influence works well. He is then shown literally whispering the phrase "sweet nothings" to his piece. |
| 227 | * ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11950451/4/A-Different-Professor A Different Professor]]'': |
| 228 | -->'''Sirius:''' That was beautiful, Madam Bones. I don't think I have ever seen anyone cut a politician off at the knees with that amount of skill and so little bloodshed. In fact the last time I saw anyone cut off at the knees I actually saw my cousin Bellatrix cut someone's legs off at the knees. |
| 229 | * ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': Used by Discord a few times in the sequel ''Diplomat at Large''. |
| 230 | ** In chapter 6, he pops in and claims "My ears are burning" (because he was being talked about). They're literally on fire. |
| 231 | ** Twice in chapter 7. First, when he says he needs to cause more chaos to get back in shape, he's enclosed in a dodecahedron-shaped bubble. Second, when he tells Luna that "The timing is key", his head morphs into an old-style skeleton key. |
| 232 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14055569/4/Effects-of-Basilisk Effects of Basilisk]]'' Ron literally swears a blue streak. |
| 233 | -->'''Neville:''' Gran always said that expression about cussing up a blue streak was something only a really pissed off wizard could do. |
| 234 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14184141/12/Fighting-Back Fighting Back]]'' Sirius eats a sundae with all the bells and whistles - edible ones which actually play music. |
| 235 | * ''Fanfic/AGameOfCatAndCat'': |
| 236 | ** Leon the dead Crusader's introduction to the fic is him sitting on an Ottoman. As in, the cushion. |
| 237 | ** During an argument, Soma protests that just because Naoki is a Physics Major, that doesn't mean that he can build a particle accelerator. Naoki "responds" by tossing an eraser at him (which is technically particle acceleration). |
| 238 | --->'''Soma:''' Okay I walked right into that one. |
| 239 | * ''Webcomic/{{Horrortale}}'': A penny is shown dropping as Undyne realizes Papyrus's claim of being Aliza's uncle means that by implication, Sans is (supposedly) her dad. |
| 240 | * ''Fanfic/InTheBleakMidwinter'': Tom Riddle Sr and Serpens Malfoy have lunch at a restaurant that serves fancy dishes playing on words, such as toad-in-the-hole that releases live hopping toads when the crust is pierced, and blackcurrant flummery that needs to be earthed to be safely eaten. Serpens is a little confused by the "current" pun since he doesn't know anything about electricity, but Tom is amused. |
| 241 | * ''Fanfic/LaterTraitor'': Maloof's mental world is populated by [[{{Invisibility}} invisible mafia mooks wearing suits]], making them literal FacelessGoons. |
| 242 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14128350/30/Put-a-Taboo-to-Use Put a Taboo to Use]]'' after Professor Sprout is wrong about something, the house elves make her "eat crow" for a week by transfiguring all her food to look like a dead crow. |
| 243 | [[/folder]] |
| 244 | |
| 245 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 246 | * A classic joke on the internet goes like these: A pussycat and a cockerel are walking by a stream when the pussycat slips and falls in the water. The cockerel starts to laugh. \ |
| 247 | Why? Because when the ''pussy is wet'', the ''cock is happy''. |
| 248 | [[/folder]] |
| 249 | |
| 250 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 251 | * ''Literature/AmeliaBedelia'' lives and breathes this trope; the titular maid is LiteralMinded, so every request made of her invariably results in an end product constituting a visual pun on the desired result. For example: Dress the chicken. Draw the shades. Dust the furniture (Amelia Bedelia even finds ''Dusting Powder'' in the bathroom!). |
| 252 | * ''Literature/TheCaskOfAmontillado'': Fortunado asks if Montressor is a Mason (of the Freemasons), Montressor says he is. Fortunato asks for proof, and Montressor produces a trowel. |
| 253 | * ''Literature/CatbirdsAndDogfish'', which is supposed to be about animals with portmanteaus for names, actually depicts said animals as MixAndMatchCritters (for example, the catbirds are all portrayed as cats with wings, and the dogfish are all portrayed as fish with bulldog heads instead of medium-sized gray birds and small, speckled sharks like in real life). |
| 254 | * ''Literature/CouncilWars'': The teams responsible for infiltrating and securing potentially hostile beaches are primarily composed of Changed [[SelkiesAndWereseals Selkies]]. In other words they are SEAL Teams. |
| 255 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 256 | ** ''Literature/GuardsGuards'': When the Watch are arresting a villain, Vimes tells Carrot to "[[ThrowTheBookAtThem throw the book at him]]". Carrot, who [[LiteralMinded doesn't understand metaphor]], lobs ''The Laws and Ordinances of Ankh-Morpork'' in the villain's direction, causing the villain to [[spoiler: lose his balance and fall five stories to his death]]. |
| 257 | ** ''Literature/FeetOfClay'': Vimes is introduced to the tradition of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canting_arms canting arms]] mentioned under the Real Life section. The Heralds, in creating arms and mottos for newly-rich tradesman, use boxing gloves for a man named Sock and so on, which Vimes [[LamePunReaction is duly unimpressed by]]. However, one coat-of-arms proves to be a confession HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler:Arthur Carry the candlemaker is given a traditional ''lampe au poisson'', and his family motto "Art Brought Forth the Candle" is ''Ars Enixa Et Candldeabrum''... though in true Discworld fashion, the EurekaMoment doesn't hit Vimes until after he's worked that out already, and it only serves to further enrage him as he's apprehending the perpetrators]]. |
| 258 | ** ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'': Whenever Pteppic tries to read hieroglyphs he reads them out literally (i.e. reading an ancient king's name as "thin eagle, eye, wiggly line, man with stick, bird sitting down, wiggly line"). |
| 259 | * ''Literature/FrannyKStein'': ''Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid'' has a chapter where Franny is let down by her family and friends showing little interest in her inventions. She attempts to talk to a friend from school named Percy over the phone about a machine she made that can bring pictures to life, but Percy doesn't pay attention and only babbles about how much he likes corn chips. An illustration shows Franny glaring and hanging up the phone while imagining that Percy has a safety pin for a head, making him a literal pinhead. |
| 260 | * ''Literature/TheGoldenOecumene'': The laws of the Oecumene are carved on the floor of the courtroom -- they're set in stone. |
| 261 | %%* ''How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers'' by Robert Williams Wood (available [[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33346 here]] and [[http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/How_to_Tell_the_Birds_from_the_Flowers/ here]]) is [[HurricaneOfPuns composed almost entirely]] of plain puns "illustrated" by visual ones. |
| 262 | * Creator/PaulJennings, Ted Greenwood and Terry Denton produced a series of ''Where's Wally'' type books called ''Spooner or Later'', ''Duck for Cover'' and ''Freeze a Crowd''. All of them, especially in ''Duck for Cover'', ran on visual puns. The worst offender is the three-page spread involving gnus, with each one involving a "new" or "news" pun. Second place goes to the two pages of kings, each of which was a pun on the gerund form of a verb ending in "k" or "ke". |
| 263 | * ''Literature/TheKingsAvatar'': After Excellent Era forcefully retires Ye Xiu against his will, they literally throw him out into the cold as it starts snowing as soon as he leaves the building. |
| 264 | * The books ''A Little Pigeon-Toad''[[note]] pigeon-toed[[/note]], ''The King that Rained''[[note]] reigned[[/note]], ''The Sixteen-Hand Horse''[[note]] hands are the unit of measurement used to determine the height of a horse, a typical adult horse is 16 hands high[[/note]], and ''A Chocolate Moose for Dinner''[[note]] mousse[[/note]], which are all about visual puns. |
| 265 | * ''Literature/MondayBeginsOnSaturday'': The protagonist is sent to a world of (mostly bad) sci-fi literature and is surprised to see {{Technobabble}}-speaking engineers... reinventing the wheel. (In original Russian, it's a bicycle.) |
| 266 | * ''Literature/TheNakedSun'': In a rare serious example, at one point Baley the detective asks his partner, R. Daneel Olivaw (the "R." means he's a robot) to "give me a hand". This results in Olivaw briefly giving a puzzled look at his own hand, as if being asked to unscrew it and give it to Baley. [[spoiler: This proves to be an important clue to solving the murder.]] |
| 267 | * The ''[[Literature/WheresWally Where's Waldo?]]'' books have plenty of Visual Puns, which are spelled out in the checklists at the end of each book. |
| 268 | * ''Literature/XWingSeries'': In ''Wedge's Gamble'', there's a bar on the lower levels of Coruscant called the Headquarters. Its marquee features a stormtrooper's helmet being torn into four pieces. |
| 269 | [[/folder]] |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[folder:Magazines]] |
| 272 | * ''Magazine/NewScientist'': One cover feature about how we don't know what most of the chemicals in food actually do is illustrated by a picture of a lettuce, with 90% of it hidden underwater. An ''iceberg'' lettuce. |
| 273 | [[/folder]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | [[folder:Pinballs]] |
| 276 | * ''Pinball/DrDude'': Done with the Gift of Gab, which is a gift-wrapped box with a mouth on it. |
| 277 | * In Bally's ''[[Pinball/CaptainFantastic Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy]],'' one of the triangle bumpers has a large-breasted woman holding a sign that reads [[DoubleEntendre "Feel Them Bumpers"]]. |
| 278 | * [=WhizBang=] Pinball's ''[[Pinball/WhoaNellieBigJuicyMelons Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons]]'' has several: |
| 279 | ** A horse on the playfield gets [[FartsOnFire its flatulence lit by a match,]] making it a hot ass. |
| 280 | ** On the backglass is a collie dog playing with a melon; maybe he's feeling melon-collie? |
| 281 | * ''Pinball/FishTales'' shows a string of six fish, each holding rulers, pencils, and textbooks -- in other words, a ''school of fish''. |
| 282 | * The backglass for ''Pinball/{{Earthshaker}}'' shows a yuppie being ejected out of his car; "YUP E" is written on his tie. |
| 283 | * In ''Pinball/ScaredStiff'', the television set on the backglass has a rabbit on top of it, with its ''rabbit-ears antenna''. |
| 284 | * A fairly obvious one shows up in ''Pinball/GunsNRosesDataEast'', as the left plunger is shaped like a blooming rose, while the right plunger is a pistol gun grip. In other words, a gun and a rose. |
| 285 | * The various activities of ''Pinball/SilverballMania'' occur under the watchful eye of a WizardClassic, shown holding a pair of pinballs in his outstretched hands. This makes him a [[Music/{{Tommy}} Pinball Wizard.]] |
| 286 | * In Creator/{{Capcom}}'s unreleased ''Pinball/{{Kingpin}},'' using an extra ball is accompanied by the display showing a tiny mobster with butterfly wings, ''a.k.a.'' a [[FairyGodmother "Fairy Godfather."]] |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 290 | * In one scene in ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', Kermit instructs Fozzie to "turn left at the fork in the road". Kermit is quite surprised to see a literal giant fork stuck in the road at the turn-off. |
| 291 | * In one episode of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's latest experiment is a new liquid element he keeps in a beaker. This leads to him asking his assistant, "Get the beaker, Beaker." |
| 292 | [[/folder]] |
| 293 | |
| 294 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 295 | * Any time a garbage can was weaponized in [[Wrestling/{{FMW}} Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling]] after Giant Baba coined the phrase {{Garbage Wrestl|er}}ing to describe it. |
| 296 | * Women's Extreme Wrestling champion T.H.A.I. wore fishnets under jeans, with a fish shape cut into the jeans so you could see them. |
| 297 | * [[Wrestling/{{Fandango}} Johnny Curtis]] had {{the gimmick}} of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcQv1YCQtw4 creating visual puns]] when he first showed up on ''Wrestling/WWESmackdown''. |
| 298 | [[/folder]] |
| 299 | |
| 300 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 301 | * In ''Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars'', Kari's moniker is "Blind Follower"; after her brief GenderBender moment, she is near-sighted, and needs glasses. |
| 302 | [[/folder]] |
| 303 | |
| 304 | [[folder:Software]] |
| 305 | * Beta versions of Windows 7 had a wallpaper with a fish (a betta to be exact) blowing 7 bubbles. This is a pun on Windows '''7 beta'''. This wallpaper also sneaked its way into some of the final versions as well. |
| 306 | * This same fish was used for the Consumer Preview edition of Windows 8. The bubbles here form the number 8, as a pun on Windows '''8 beta'''. |
| 307 | * Also in Windows, the button to close an open window is a red button with an "X" in the middle. So to close the window, you have to "X"-it. |
| 308 | [[/folder]] |
| 309 | |
| 310 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 311 | * In ''Theatre/TheBibleTheCompleteWordOfGodAbridged'', two of these are thrown in near the end: Pontius Pilot and the Axe of the Apostles. |
| 312 | * ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}'' has one during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fstHSW9_zMs this musical number]] at around 4:31. |
| 313 | ** What's the... oh, [[DontExplainTheJoke "Hay"]]. Duh. |
| 314 | * ''Theatre/TheSpongeBobMusical'' has the number "Poor Pirates", where Patchy sings about the poor life pirates face alongside some other pirates- and a baseball player from Pittsburgh, a "Pittsburgh Pirate". |
| 315 | * The Deaf West revival of ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'' has an actor-specific example during "The Bitch of Living": |
| 316 | ** The line referencing a girl named ''Marianna Wheelan'' has Anna -- played by wheelchair-using actress Ali Stroker -- wheel by with a bit of a sassy flourish. |
| 317 | [[/folder]] |
| 318 | |
| 319 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 320 | * In ''Theatre/AnimalActors'', one of the show's birds is taken off the stage by a "stage hand" -- a human hand sticking out of a part of the set. |
| 321 | * ''Ride/TheHauntedMansion'' has the opera singers as a visual pun on ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', and the Grand Ballroom scene contains a ghost of Caesar, as in "Great Caesar's ghost!" |
| 322 | * ''Ride/MickeysPhilharmagic'' used to have a smell pun. During the "A Whole New World" sequence they would pump in the scent of Jasmine's perfume, which, naturally, smelled like jasmine. Unfortunately, too many people were allergic to the scent, and so the scene is now odorless. |
| 323 | * ''Ride/MuppetVision3D'' has Waldo, the new 3D Muppet, allowing his nose to jump off his face, grow legs, and start dashing in circles. "Don't cha just hate it when your nose runs?" |
| 324 | * A hidden detail on the pathway surrounding ''Ride/PopeyeAndBlutosBilgeRatBarges'' at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]] shows a different kind of "school of fish" -- a small schoolhouse sitting on top of water. |
| 325 | [[/folder]] |
| 326 | |
| 327 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 328 | * The "Happy Version" of the Toys/IDog has stars for its [=LEDs=] - it's literally starry-eyed. |
| 329 | [[/folder]] |
| 330 | |
| 331 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 332 | * ''WebAnimation/BlackRhinoRanger'': In "Now That's What I Call VideoGame/{{Skylanders}} Polka", during the "Wrecking Ball" portion of the song, the Skylander named Wrecking Ball is the one breaking the walls. |
| 333 | * ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'': |
| 334 | ** In the battle between [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Wario]] and [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} King Dedede]], when Wario's and Dedede's [[PaperThinDisguise Paper-Thin Disguises]] (Wario-Man and Masked Dedede respectively) fall apart, a Waddle Dee and Goomba discuss it, before doing a jaw drop before exploding. In that sense, they quite literally had their ''minds blown.'' |
| 335 | ** This happens twice at the same time at the end of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} vs. ComicBook/TheMask, where after [[spoiler:reducing Deadpool to a head, The Mask]] pulls out a comically large nuke named "Fat Lady" to finish him off with. |
| 336 | ** And again in ComicBook/{{Venom}} vs. [[Manga/SoulEater Crona]], where Venom, hiding in the rafters of the church they're fighting in, grabs Crona's ankle with his OverlyLongTongue and subjects them to MetronomicManMashing. In other words, he's giving them a literal tongue-lashing. |
| 337 | * ''WebAnimation/FredAgain'': One man called Fred a road hog while driving. Fred is seen as a pig driving his car. |
| 338 | * ''WebAnimation/FreedomToons'': "Journalism in 2018" has two reporters literally patting themselves on the back repeatedly while engaging in a bloviating and self-aggrandizing speech about the moral fortitude of the fourth estate. |
| 339 | * ''WebAnimation/FreshGuacamole'': Most of the items used to make the guacamole are look-alikes, but some puns are thrown in too. |
| 340 | ** When the baseball (which resembles an onion) and pincushion (a tomato) are cut, they turn into dice. They are literally being diced. |
| 341 | ** The guacamole is served with a side of chips. No, not potato chips; poker chips. |
| 342 | * Combined with a LamePunReaction in Website/BrainPOP's ''{{Hiccup|Hijinks}}s'' video, after Moby [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin gets the hiccups.]] |
| 343 | -->'''Tim:''' They're gone, huh? I didn't even know you had a vagus nerve!\ |
| 344 | ''[Moby reveals a Las Vegas slot machine in his compartment]''\ |
| 345 | '''Tim:''' [[LampshadeHanging And that is quite possibly the worst joke we've ever done.]] |
| 346 | * ''WebAnimation/HowToKillAMockingbird'' uses a pickle to represent [[Literature/ToKillAMockingbird Dill]]. |
| 347 | * Taiyang, the father of Ruby and Yang, in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' is a good father who clearly cares for his daughters and has a spiked heart tattoo on his arm. He literally has his heart on his sleeve. |
| 348 | * In the web animation ''WebAnimation/StarCrafts'' based on ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHnAnbNkLhM the Terrans dress up for Halloween]]. Guess which unit dresses up as a ghost? |
| 349 | * "WebAnimation/SuperShowdownBowl": |
| 350 | ** To get the being shaped like an Oscar statue out of his sphere and into the arena, the heroes and villains resort to... an OscarBait. A literal one, by having several characters quote lines from their respective award-winning movies. |
| 351 | ** In TheStinger, [[spoiler:the "Super-Cereal-Bowl" isn't a showdown between cereal mascots, but actual frosted cereals... in a milk ''bowl'']]. |
| 352 | * The ''WebAnimation/WelcomeTo'' series has a lot of these. Boobies are represented by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booby the birds]], and the user in the ''Website/{{Facebook}}'' video is a duck named ''"Duck Fayce"''. |
| 353 | * The snarky video game reviews of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' consist of an almost constant string of these. |
| 354 | ** During the ''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus'' review, he subverts it. When describing Kratos' behavior as "incongruous" the screen cuts to the text "A word I can't fucking illustrate." |
| 355 | ** The previous image for this page illustrated his comment that ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' had "many interesting levels" with Mario looking at a pile of spirit levels and saying "How interesting." This was such a groaner that Yahtzee {{lampshade|Hanging}}d with a big sign reading "VISUAL PUN". |
| 356 | [[/folder]] |
| 357 | |
| 358 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 359 | * ''WebAnimation/HelloKittyAndFriendsSupercuteAdventures'': When Hello Kitty lifts Kuromi's spirits, her PersonalRaincloud rains jelly beans on the countertop. She went from being in a bad mood to being "full of beans". [[note]]An old expression for being full of energy.[[/note]] |
| 360 | [[/folder]] |
| 361 | |
| 362 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 363 | %%* ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'': A RunningGag. |
| 364 | * ''Webcomic/BloodReverie:'' In the second episode, Cassia is describing her night of passion with Grey to her friend. When she gets to the *ahem* ''climax'', the condiment packet she's trying to open spurts out mustard into her eye. |
| 365 | * ''Webcomic/CoyoteVille'': In the [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150911220519/http://www.fatpandakc.com/coyoteville/?p=12 May 5, 1998 strip]], Sean deals with a runny nose that's running away from him. |
| 366 | %%* ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'': [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/2630/ This]] comic; [[FreudianSlip don't slip]]. |
| 367 | * ''Webcomic/{{DAR}}'': The AuthorAvatar describes herself as a "fairly hairy girl" in [[http://www.darcomic.org/2008/09/30/shaved/ one strip]], then proceeds with six panels involving various ways of shaving . . . a cat. This is returned to in a later strip at a [[http://www.darcomic.org/2009/01/13/wax/ waxing party]], where all the girls are drawn as carrying cats and a guy is drawn as carrying a squirrel. |
| 368 | * ''Webcomic/DaughterOfTheLilies'': When Thistle tosses seeds into Brody's empty eye socket, it immediately sprouts... Black-Eyed Susans. |
| 369 | * ''Webcomic/DiglettAndPals'' is just a series of strips with visual puns on Pokémon attack names. One example would be a Voltorb attempting to flee from a fight with a Diglett who summons an arena in order to trap the Voltorb, this is followed by the text [[http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/698264/Diglett/ "Diglett's arena trap prevents escape".]] |
| 370 | * ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' has [[https://web.archive.org/web/20100901182023/https://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2009-02-09/ this splash page]] |
| 371 | * ''Webcomic/{{Dregs}}'': At one point, the nudist has a "private property" sign [[SceneryCensor covering her privates]]. |
| 372 | * ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany'': |
| 373 | ** [[WingedHumanoid Walter]] and [[CatGirl Tiren]] get shipwrecked and their primal instincts kick in. Walter builds a house while Tiren hunts for food. |
| 374 | ** In a backstory side piece, Sal and Leeroy get a visit from [[RandomNumberGod Phred]]. He appears as a pair of [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith sweatpants]]. |
| 375 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': The Writer's Block is a [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?date=2003-09-27 fairly]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?date=2004-10-13 common]] RunningGag [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?date=2005-06-20 in]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?date=2010-12-16 the]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php Sketchbook]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?id=686 section]]. |
| 376 | * ''Webcomic/{{Foxhole}}'': Miss Faraday is an electromagnet-themed cyborg, and also a violent MoodSwinger whose current status is indicated by the "+" and "-" symbols on her breastplate. She's quite literally bipolar. |
| 377 | %%* ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'': A similar example to the Muppet Movie above happens, save that the characters in question come across a fork in the road.%%Don't refer to other examples for context. |
| 378 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' has, among others, a [[spoiler:[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120917 Battering Ram]]]]. And in a holiday filler page, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071225 Santa Klaus]]. |
| 379 | * ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': In the side-story ''City-Face 2'', the titular pigeon, who believes he is turning into a human businessman, is told "Every human businessman needs one of these" and given a blackberry. Which he eats. ''Gunnerkrigg Court'' also features a decidedly non-humorous example in the main storyline. [[spoiler: Mort's death is depicted with an exploded diagram of a bomb]]. |
| 380 | %%* ''[[http://www.dernwerks.com/HWC/ Hello With Cheese]]'' consists almost entirely of visual puns. |
| 381 | * ''Webcomic/TheHeroesOfMiddlecenter'': "Could somebody give me a hand?" while fighting zombie ninjas (sadly apparently lost forever like the rest of the site). Was included in the amateur video that spawned the comic. |
| 382 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has one in Act 6 for John and Nanna. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, after all. A number of things Rose writes (on Pesterchum, in ''Complacency of the Learned'', etc.) are in purple text, because she literally and figuratively (or the other way around for both) writes in PurpleProse. |
| 383 | * ''Webcomic/{{Huckleberry}}'': |
| 384 | ** In a page titled [[https://huckleberry.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/1122416 "Nightcrawler"]], a worm is seen crawling his way into town at night. |
| 385 | ** The Diamondback really has [[GemTissue diamonds]] [[https://huckleberry.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/1065538 on its back]]. |
| 386 | * ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'': There's a recurring strip with the (literal) Writer's [[spoiler:Lego]] Block. |
| 387 | * ''{{Webcomic/Lackadaisy}}'': |
| 388 | ** While inside Gracie's pool hall, Mordecai locates Gracie's hidden speakeasy when he noticed smoke escaping from behind a picture of two cabaret girls. The girls in the picture were literally and figuratively ''smoking hot.'' |
| 389 | ** Asa Sweet is an overweight feline who wields a great deal of power in the St. Louis crime world. He's literally and figuratively a ''fat cat''. |
| 390 | * ''Webcomic/LifeAndDeath'' has a long history of puns, visual and otherwise. Even several characters owe their mere existence to visual puns, like "love is blind," and such. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d as often as not, but hey. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]]. |
| 391 | * ''Webcomic/LightningMadeOfOwls'': [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/owls/?comic=536 This]] strip has Ambrose on a line that is tangent to a cubic function, while talking to a calculus class about something irrelevant. |
| 392 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 393 | ** From [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/GuestStrips.html one of the filler strips]]: "Comic is running late." |
| 394 | --->'''Rich Burlew:''' Get back here, you ungrateful... |
| 395 | ** "The Polearm Shop" has a snake slither in in the last two panels. The entire strip is an homage to [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Monty]] ''[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Python]]'''s [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Flying Circus]]. |
| 396 | ** The Cliffport Police Department is trying to fight off Pompey's summoned centipedes, so they send in the SWAT team... who happens to be [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0350.html heavily armored officers with flyswatters.]] SWAT team, indeed... |
| 397 | ** Because Gnomes have a racial ability to speak with burrowing animals, Fox News is [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0539.html an actual fox]]. |
| 398 | ** After Redcloak {{lampshade|Hanging}}s the stupidity of [[PrecursorHeroes the Order of the Scribble]] having to be ignorant about the protection of each other's [[SealedEvilInACan gates]] [[DividedWeFall due to their distrust of each others]], [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0546.html a hobgoblin presents a lampshade to him]]. |
| 399 | --->'''Redcloak:''' Just hang it anywhere. |
| 400 | ** Lien claims it's ridiculous that "a superhero would just show up on a random island in the middle of nowhere", and Elan insists that it's happened before. A {{cutaway|gag}} panel shows ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}, with a flock of sheep, meeting [[Literature/TheOdyssey some sailors getting off a boat...]] |
| 401 | ** [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0761.html This strip]] (caution; it is full of spoilers) has Elan combining this with a non-visual pun: in response to the question "Are you enjoying the parade?" he states "I'm on the fence" while fencing with [[spoiler:Tarquin]] and also literally standing on a fence. |
| 402 | ** [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0851.html "Passive Voice"]]: Even ''D&D'' spell names can be used for this gag. When Durkon cast a ''hold person'' spell on Tarquin, the latter just throws off the effect and responds "OK." as he's grabbing the dwarf by the beard for a HumanHammerThrow. |
| 403 | ** In the "Beach Party" [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/Wallpapers.html wallpaper]], you can see a "horseshoe crab"... i.e. a actual horseshoe with crab legs and pincers. |
| 404 | ** A plasma-screen television in Hell leaks blood when smashed. |
| 405 | * ''Webcomic/{{Rain|2010}}'': When Rain's brother Aiken is coming to stay for a week, Rain (who's not out as UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} to Aiken yet) suggests she should ''literally'' [[https://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/258/ hide in the hall closet]] instead of facing him. |
| 406 | * In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': |
| 407 | ** When Gelatinous Cube seizes the Belt of Genre Changing, the result in the next panel is naturally... [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level2/level-2-15-2/ Cubism.]] |
| 408 | ** Schmetts, the alcoholic fairy, is found in a bottle, making her a "bottle fairy". She's also a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe green fairy]]. |
| 409 | ** Level 6 ends in a cliffhanger... with [[LiteralCliffhanger Rusty catching Madeline falling down as he's climbing a cliff]]. |
| 410 | ** In Level 8, the "8-bit 8-ball" is quickly identified as an artifact. What does it do? Artifacting, Dirk muses. Indeed, the comic's picture all around is getting low-resolution, as in an 8-bit picture. Which in computer parlance is called... artifacting. |
| 411 | ** Level 9: The artifact Rusty, Madeline, and Y.T. are sent to retrieve is a device that can cast magic, providing its own verbal components so long as the correct words are typed into it. [[spoiler:It's a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_%26_Spell_(toy) Speak & Spell]]]]. |
| 412 | ** Also in Level 9, Y.T. is pursued by zombies and thinking that she'd need someone good at fighting undead, at healing her, and willing to help. Then she bristles at the idea that she's "putting paladins on a pedestal"... right next to a fountain where Madeline, turned to stone, had been put on a pedestal. |
| 413 | ** In Level 10, the instructions to find the Black Market end with "Now take a long walk off a short pier." This is not a diss, [[https://rustyandco.com/comic/level-10-14/ that's exactly what is needed to do.]] |
| 414 | ** And right afterward, as a swordfish-man questions her, Stabs warns him to not get too nosy... because his pointy bill almost took out an eye. |
| 415 | * Three of these in a [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/10/22/0105-all-puns-intended/ single strip]] of ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'', all involving Woo's name in conjunction with movie or TV series titles. |
| 416 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': The lady acting as General Bell's arm candy during the Treenahin festival is dressed in a candy costume. |
| 417 | * ''Webcomic/VampireCheerleaders'' at one point has [[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Captain Nemo]] captaining a submarine in the shape of a giant [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus spiral shell]]. |
| 418 | * ''Webcomic/VGCats'' once [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=188 dropped a very literal F-bomb.]] |
| 419 | * ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'': Like many a TimeTravel story, a time travel arc in May 2011 contains a [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autotwb1368.html pair o' Docs]].[[note]]Play on "parodox", for anyone who missed the "pun" part.[[/note]] |
| 420 | %%* ''Webcomic/WorkingDoodles'': Contains many examples of Visual Puns throughout the series. |
| 421 | %%* ''Webcomic/XWhy'': Many occur, not always math related. |
| 422 | [[/folder]] |
| 423 | |
| 424 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 425 | * [[Website/TheAgonyBooth Mr. Mendo]] summed up the absurdities of the backlash against ''Film/TheLoneRanger'' by depicting it as an argument between [[TheWarOnStraw two drinking straws]]. |
| 426 | %%* There's now a [[http://somuchpun.com/?utm_source=network&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=directory website for these]]. |
| 427 | %%* [[http://web.archive.org/web/20100101021612/http://tcritic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/french-kiss-large.jpg This]] t-shirt design. |
| 428 | * Most, though not all, of [[https://www.deviantart.com/cryptid-creations/gallery/ Cryptid-Creations]]' daily paintings are literal (and [[RuleOfCute quite adorable]]) takes on puns or wordplay. [[https://www.deviantart.com/cryptid-creations/art/Daily-Paint-1088-BullDog-572082083 BullDog (#1088)]], [[https://www.deviantart.com/cryptid-creations/art/Daily-1313-Sourpuss-617726619 Sourpuss (#1313)]], [[https://www.deviantart.com/cryptid-creations/art/Daily-Paint-1541-Investi-gator-662429990 Investi-Gator (#1541)]], [[https://www.deviantart.com/cryptid-creations/art/Daily-Paint-1777-Swineapple-707663044 Swineapple (#1777)]], the list goes on and on... |
| 429 | * ''Series/Daredevil2015'': This [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BhWytnUDdlF/ photograph]] taken by Creator/DeborahAnnWoll (Karen Page) on her Instagram takes Matt's first alias name "The Devil of Hell's Kitchen" quite literally by placing a Daredevil figure by her kitchen sink. |
| 430 | * When not showing examples of EpicFail, a number of "You're doing it wrong" [[MemeticMutation meme images]] depict this, like [[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/758514-youre-doing-it-wrong this one]]. |
| 431 | * WebVideo/MinecraftChampionship: For MCC Pride 2022, the Ace Race map is redecorated to be pride-themed, with not just rainbows floating in the skies with rainbow balloons, but platforms rebuilt with asexual (or ''ace'') pride flags. |
| 432 | * The staff behind ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' are known as The Neopets Team, which is frequently shortened to "[[FunWithAcronyms TNT]]". Accordingly, the collective account they use for communicating with players has [[https://images.neopets.com/neoboards/avatars/tntasplode.gif a unique avatar]] depicting a bundle of dynamite exploding. |
| 433 | * ''Website/SCPFoundation'': |
| 434 | ** The object [[http://scpfoundation.ru/scp-1091-ru SCP-1091-RU]] contained by Russian branch. It's an anomaly which visualises idioms said within it. When, during a test, an American doctor said "It's raining cats and dogs", actual cats and dogs started falling from the sky. |
| 435 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-586 SCP-586]] is a green pipe that causes anyone writing about it to make at least one spelling mistake per sentence ([[PaintingTheMedium including the Foundation's own database entry about it]]). The page image, instead of being a green pipe, is a green Pope. |
| 436 | * ''Website/SFDebris'': The introduction to ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episodes is taken from Creator/WilliamShatner's -performance of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", that -- where possible -- is cut with appropriate images from TOS episodes. When Shatner is proclaiming that the flowers "grow so ''incredibly'' '''[[LargeHam high!!!]]'''", there's a shot of one of the space hippies from "The Way To Eden". |
| 437 | * The World Wide Web Consortium has a completely image-based one with their "Valid Code" icons. Most, such as the [[https://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401.gif icon for valid HTML 4.01]], sport a nice big checkmark. The icons for [=MathML=] [[https://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-mathml20.gif use a square root sign instead.]] |
| 438 | * Website/TVTropes: |
| 439 | ** The logo has a LampshadeHanging on it. |
| 440 | ** The icon for the button leading to the Fanfic namespace is a paper fan. |
| 441 | * ''Blog/WhatIf'': The third image on [[http://what-if.xkcd.com/70/ "The Constant Groundskeeper"]] shows a cougar chasing a guy riding a John Deere riding mower. [[DontExplainTheJoke Explained by]] the AltText: |
| 442 | -->"A cougar chasing down a deere." |
| 443 | * The ''Website/{{Wisecrack}}'' icon -- a donkey wearing a monocle -- is clearly a play on the term "wise-ass." |
| 444 | * The Website/{{Wikipedia}} page on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhombic_triacontahedron rhombic triacontahedron]] mentions that it is made of "golden rhombi", and illustrates this with an image of a golden rhombus -- with a literal gold fill. |
| 445 | [[/folder]] |
| 446 | |
| 447 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 448 | * WebVideo/FiveSecondFilms: "[[https://web.archive.org/web/20091215062035/http://5secondfilms.com/watch/drafty Drafty]]". |
| 449 | * WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd does a few from time to time. |
| 450 | ** Like in the last part of his ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' retrospective -- The last line is accompanied by two cannons put together. |
| 451 | --->'''AVGN:''' So, you've got the {{canon}} of the games, with the canon of the novel -- it's like taking two canons and putting them together! |
| 452 | ** During the "Dam Busters" segment of his ''VideoGame/Action52'' review, he gets frustrated by his inability to turn back after getting trapped by a dead end, to which he exclaims, "This game is shitting me!" [[CutawayGag Cut to an image]] [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment of the Action 52 cartridge laying a Nerd-shaped turd.]] |
| 453 | ** When attacked by a Klingon during his ''Franchise/StarTrek'' games review, he asks: |
| 454 | --->'''AVGN:''' [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan You want Genesis?]] You can have Genesis. ''[holds up his UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis]'' |
| 455 | ** In part 3 of his review of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'', he gets mad enough to [[ClusterFBomb start dropping literal F-bombs]]. |
| 456 | * WebVideo/TheCartoonMan: Several in ''Return of the Cartoon Man'' when Peter tries to question Roy and Karen. Among other puns, they produce a literal "elephant in the room." |
| 457 | * Website/ChannelAwesome: |
| 458 | ** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic once is reminded to bring up the suicide of ''[[Film/TheNeverendingStoryIITheNextChapter The Neverending Story 2]]'''s lead actor by someone who he's been ignoring for a while, who's been in the room for a while, and happens to be an elephant. An [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom elephant in the room]], if you will. |
| 459 | ** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's ''Film/{{Showgirls}}'' review has a running gag of censoring the movie's frequent breast shots with, well, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-footed_booby boobies]]. |
| 460 | ** In the CrisisCrossover storyline ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'', the Critic assures his "army" that "I got you all a hotel room." Cut to the large group of people -- in '''A''' hotel room. |
| 461 | --->'''Phelous:''' Well, gee, I didn't see that one coming. |
| 462 | ** In the Nostalgia Chick's ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' review, to point out a RunningGag (namely, [[AccidentalMisnaming Hoggle's name being pronounced incorrectly]]), the word "Gag" on legs runs across the screen. |
| 463 | ** In the review of ''Film/TheRoom2003'', a picture of a donkey's face is used to {{censor|box}} a shot of... you guessed it, an ass. |
| 464 | ** In Spoony and Linkara's review of the ''ComicBook/{{Warrior}} #1'' comic, one scene shows them sitting in their hotel room with all of the on-screen colors inverted, leading to this exchange: |
| 465 | --->'''Spoony:''' Man, this dimension sucks!\ |
| 466 | '''Linkara:''' Oh, don't be so '''negative'''. |
| 467 | * ''WebVideo/ClimateTown'': In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOi05zDO4yw The Troll Army of Big Oil]]" while discussing an oil industry astroturfing effort that was full of misinformation and directed lawmakers to websites that didn't exsist Rollie starts saying how this obviously didn't work, only for it to cut back to him filming in front of a JK Petroleum truck while saying that actually it did work, and the legislation with major popular support ended up getting chucked out. |
| 468 | * In the Creator/{{Dropout}} sketch "The Matrix Runs in Windows XP", which is a spoof of both ''Film/TheMatrix'' and Windows XP (and thus contains many computer-related jokes), the Oracle welcomes Neo into her kitchen while she's holding a plate of freshly-baked cookies, and tells him that she hopes he has "cookies enabled". |
| 469 | * ''WebVideo/{{Dad}}'': In "Dad Is The Best [=YouTuber=]," Dad sets up a pie with a figure of WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat on top, before proceeding to smash it all with a hammer. This is a pun on him wanting to smash LetsPlay/PewDiePie, also known as Felix, to take his place as the best [=YouTuber=]. |
| 470 | * WebVideo/DannyGonzalez: |
| 471 | ** One Vine has the mail-man deliver a "letter", as in a paper letter "A", complete with wacky music to emphasize the point. Immediately subverted, as the "A" is an ''actual letter'' -- a DearJohnLetter, to be exact. |
| 472 | ** "Your destination is ahead on the right." Cue Danny looking out the window to see a disembodied head on the curb. |
| 473 | ** In being told that he, the owner of a "White Explorer", left his lights on...he goes out and yells at a literal Caucasian explorer, holding a light. |
| 474 | * In ''WebVideo/DoomHouse'', the dying [[spoiler:terrorist]] declares, "I'm so bored", while clutching a wooded board. |
| 475 | * ''WebVideo/DoubleLifeSMP'': Joel and Etho, being [[{{Synchronization}} soulbound to each other]], have built a large ship as their base called the Relation-''ship''. [[spoiler:Scott burns half of it to ashes on Day 5; combined with Joel's resultant MadnessMantra of "If the ship burns, everything burns", it ends up as unintentional {{foreshadowing}} to Joel and Etho's final death on Day 6 by burning in lava.]] |
| 476 | * ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': Dr. Horrible uses a trans-matter ray to steal some gold "in bar form" that got liquefied in transit and ends up in a freezer bag, looking like nothing so much as soup broth. That smells like cumin, no less. (They [[StealthPun never say it out loud]], but what he's got is a bag of "gold bouillon.") |
| 477 | * ''WebVideo/DreamShorts'': The profile picture of the channel is the same as Dream's usual profile, except the [[StylisticSuck MS Paint-Dream]] is depicted as literally being short. |
| 478 | * In an ''Eons of Battle'' video (a [=YouTube=] channel devoted to wargaming and miniatures) that had paid promotion for Manscaped (makers of razors and accessories geared towards cutting pubic hair), the host demonstrated the electric razor by cutting a tuft of model grass that was attached to the genital region of a Troll Warhammer miniature. Yes, he was trimming the creature's bush. |
| 479 | * WebVideo/TheGameOverthinker often uses this, though he does this in combination with RunningGag, such as using a picture of ComicBook/TheQuestion when he uses the word question, using Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto for God, using a picture of a butt for but and others. |
| 480 | * "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SqffpGXRUY Incredible Rickroll]]" features Kirby rolling on a hamster named Rick. |
| 481 | * WebVideo/LinusTechTips: |
| 482 | ** In "[[https://youtu.be/9S-U5f140-U?t=32 The BEST Keyboards Under $75!]]", Linus sets down the keyboard boxes and says "Now let's see how they fall into place", then knocks them down like dominoes. |
| 483 | ** In "[[https://youtu.be/-wJOUAuKZm8?t=600 This GPU SLIDES into this Case!]]", Linus tests cooling configurations of a graphics card in a small case. The testing with and without a plastic shroud shroud respectively show a green checkmark and a red X over the profile picture of Polish-Canadian esports gamer Michael Grzesiek, better known as Shroud. |
| 484 | * ''WebVideo/MapMen'': |
| 485 | ** Jay's costume of Arno Peters has him holding a giant inflatable penis, or a ''peter'' as it's known in some slangs. |
| 486 | ** In "How many continents are there?", Jay mentions that a continent can be defined by its culture, while holding a cup of yogurt (a dairy product derived from fermenting milk with bacteria ''cultures''). |
| 487 | ** The longitude problem episode: |
| 488 | *** Admiral Sir Cloudesly Shovell is depicted as a shovel with googly eyes. The disclaimer text at the bottom helpfully points out that Shovell didn't actually look like that in real life. |
| 489 | *** It's mentioned that Nevil Maskelyne, who had become the new head of the Board of Longitude by the time John Harrison finished his H4 chronometer, decided that the clock needed to be put through several more tests. This was accompanied by the visual of Jay and Mark lifting up a soccer goal and then carrying it a few meters away -- literally MovingTheGoalposts. |
| 490 | ** In "You'll never guess the most popular internet country code", Mark tells the viewers to "strap in" for the explanation on some internet jargon. Quick cut to him or Jay trying to buckle up in his car seat. |
| 491 | * WebVideo/MatthewSantoro: |
| 492 | ** In ''Triumphant Return!'', Matt says, "Me being the smart guy I am, I decided to do a little digging." He then picks his nose, and says, "No, not that kind of digging." |
| 493 | ** In ''40 Fascinating SEX Facts!'', Matt says, "That's a cock in the background", and points to a picture of a rooster. |
| 494 | * During WebVideo/TheNecroCritic's review of the {{Fanservice}} anime ''Call Me Tonight'', there is a very suggestive scene of a girl out in the rain with her [[SexySoakedShirt wet, now-transparent clothes clinging to her body]]. Cue Necro enjoying a piece of cheesecake. |
| 495 | %%* LetsPlay/OutbackWawa seems borderline obsessed with this trope. |
| 496 | * In the teaser of the ''WebVideo/{{QSMP}}'', in spite of being told they cannot speak to each other, Spanish-speaking Quackity breaks down the wall placed between him and his English-speaking counterpart to talk to him. In other words, he's breaking down the {{language barrier}}. |
| 497 | * In WebVideo/{{Saberspark}}'s review of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}'' trilogy, he talks about how the first movie's soundtrack gives him the goosebumps. Quick cut to Stella's seductive song for Boris in ''WesternAnimation/BaltoIIIWingsOfChange'', where Saber quickly clarifies that he's not talking about ''those'' ''goose''bumps. |
| 498 | * Music/SongsToWearPantsTo and [[WebVideo/MyDrunkKitchen Hannah Hart]]'s collaboration [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvOqHfia2s "Show Me Where Ya Noms At"]] is already full of food puns to begin with, so when Hannah says "drop that beat", the video cuts to Andrew dropping a beet. And then there's Hannah having a literal chip (of the nacho variety) on her shoulder. |
| 499 | * In ''WebVideo/StampysLovelyWorld'', many of the shops and minigames are built with this in mind. For example, the 'iC Optician' has ''ice'' for windows, and the [='=]''Farm''acy' is a pharmacy which is shaped like a barn. Of course, since the world is the brainchild of the PungeonMaster known as [[WebVideo/{{Stampylongnose}} Mr. Stampy Cat]], this is [[InvokedTrope bound to happen]]. |
| 500 | %%* LetsPlay/TearOfGrace: The editing style in the video game montages is centered around such puns. |
| 501 | * Creator/TomScott: This video, [[http://www.tomscott.com/appalling-visual-puns/1/ "Appalling Visual Puns #1"]], one of four. Did you get it before the caption? |
| 502 | * ''WebVideo/VaguelyRecallingJoJo'': When a Star Platinum gets a Strike in Telence's baseball video game, a Scyther [[note]]Scyther's Japanese name is Strike[[/note]] appears. |
| 503 | * ''WebVideo/WitchCraftSMP'': In her backstory, Lauren wishes to become a Sand Witch. While she is granted SandBlaster abilities at the start of the story, she also turns into a ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor literal]]'' anthropomorphic PB&J ''sandwich''. She later admits she should have been more specific about her request to the universe. |
| 504 | [[/folder]] |
| 505 | |
| 506 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 507 | * One example of a rare cross-cultural visual pun that works is a T-shirt and set of stickers that have the U.S. State of Ohio on them, with the Japanese word "gozaimasu" written on said pictured State. [[BilingualBonus "Ohayo, gozaimasu" is one of the most common greetings taught in most beginner-level Japanese language classes in most English-speaking countries, and essentially means "Good morning".]] Even better, "gozaru" is the polite form of "aru", or "is" for inanimate objects. In other words, the T-shirt is literally saying "This is Ohio." |
| 508 | * One meaning of the word "clock" is "a short embroidered or woven ornament on each side or on the outer side of a sock or stocking, extending from the ankle upward." [[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/clock]] Many of them look like the usual type of clock. |
| 509 | * A similar thing is with "pig", which is both the animal and "an earthenware crock, pot, pitcher or jar." [[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pig]], and "piggy banks". |
| 510 | * There is set of shirts at some online stores that has "I love tits", "Great tits" with tits (specific breed of birds) on chest. "great tits" specifically place tits where body's tits would be. There is also boobies version, again, 2 boobies (birds) on chest. |
| 511 | * [[https://polymathically.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/weekly-photo-challenge-pistol-shot-glass/ This tequila factory bottle]] puts the shot in shot glass. |
| 512 | * Rebuses (visual puzzles) are made of this trope. For example, one music rebus is [[https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4325/35294661973_284e0ac8dd.jpg a picture of a Leica camera followed by one of Mick Jagger]]; Leica Rolling Stone == ''[[Music/BobDylan Like a Rolling Stone]]''. |
| 513 | %%* [[http://imgur.com/SCPkc.jpg Blonde chick with nice pussy]], and [[http://images.smilesumo.com/2015/04/catduck.jpg another]]. |
| 514 | * Sign language allows for this quite literally. For example, signing the word "milk" in front of your face is "past-your-eyes" (pasteurized) milk. |
| 515 | * In heraldry, this is known as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canting_arms canting arms]]" where the design references its owner's name in some way. For instance, the arms of the Spanish region/historical kingdom of Castilla y León (whose name, in Spanish, means "Castle and Lion") are [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Arms_of_Castile_and_Leon.svg a castle and a lion]]. Similarly, the [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowes-Lyon_Arms.svg arms of the Bowes-Lyon family]] (the family of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother]]) features bows and lions. This has also led to a saying in the UsefulNotes/SocietyForCreativeAnachronism, that [[{{Pun}} "Heralds don't pun, they cant."]] |
| 516 | * This is one of the traditional reasons given for why fish became an early Christian symbol. In Greek the acronym for "Jesus Christ, God's son the Saviour" was coincidentally also the word for fish. It was just obscure enough (you had to know the phrase was a thing) to use fish symbolism as a secret sign during times of persecution. |
| 517 | * Some people has did this with the literal meaning of their own names: |
| 518 | ** Japanese voice actress Creator/SakuraNogawa [[https://twitter.com/sakura_nogawa/status/1115054465348849664 took a photo of her]] watching the cherry blossoms (Sakura) at the side of the No River (No-gawa in Japanese) in Tokyo. |
| 519 | ** Another Japanese voice actress, Creator/{{Kujira}}, did the same in her Twitter account: She took a photo of herself with a bucket full of plush ''whales'' [[https://twitter.com/kujityan/status/1169227022935060481 in her hand]]. Keep in mind her [[StageNames stage name]] means "whale" in Japanese. |
| 520 | ** Creator/TaraStrong also pulled a similar one, when she was seen in a photo with boxing gear and punching a sandbag. You know, Tara is... ''strong''. |
| 521 | * In the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]], it was typical to display images of Creator/KarlMarx and UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin [[OurFounder just about everywhere]]. In 1994, the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia issued a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groucho_Marx#/media/File:Marx-Lennon_Abkhazia_stamp.jpg postage stamp]] featuring Creator/{{Marx|Brothers}} and [[Music/JohnLennon Lennon]]. |
| 522 | * [[https://dailysnark.com/bears-fan-brings-hilariously-clever-firefox-sign-game-protest-chicago-coach-john-fox/ At a November 2017 NFL game between the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, a Bears fan waved a sign]] featuring the UsefulNotes/MozillaFirefox logo as a way of expressing dissatisfaction with Bears head coach John Fox ("Fire Fox"). |
| 523 | * When UsefulNotes/FormulaOne reintroduced wheel covers in the 2022 season, [=McLaren=], who had sponsorship from Google Chrome, chose to put the browser's logo on them. That's right: they have Chrome rims. |
| 524 | * An unintentional example happened in April, 2022, when footage recorded by the Russian intelligence agency FSB claimed to show evidence recovered at the scene of a raid on a terrorist cell. The evidence was apparently manufactured by a very confused spy who misunderstood his orders. Among the guns, brand-new Neo-Nazi paraphernalia, and a book signed by someone named "[[ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud Signature Unclear]]" were several hard copies of ''VideoGame/TheSims''. Journalists puzzled over why video games were being shown as evidence of terroristic intent until someone figured out that they were supposed to be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_card SIM cards]], but someone misinterpreted the memo. |
| 525 | * After taking over ownership of Platform/{{Twitter|X}} in a $44Bn buyout, Elon Musk [[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1585341984679469056 posted]] the message "Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!" accompanied with a video of himself carrying [[KitchenSinkIncluded a kitchen sink]] into the office. CollectiveGroan ensued. |
| 526 | [[/folder]] |
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