May the 4th be with you!

  Sadly, after I had chosen and written my post for today, I heard the news of the passing of Peter Mayhew, the actor who portrayed the lovable Chewbacca (Chewie) in the Star Wars Saga.  I know Star Wars fans worldwide join me in a tearful good-bye to the much loved character and the man who played him.

Today is Star Wars Day! My favorite pun is “May the Fourth be with You!” a greeting Star Wars Fans use to address their comrades on May 4th. (The original line in Star Wars is “May the Force be With You!”).
Puns are a form of word play which take advantage of words, or similar sounding words, with multiple meanings, often to create a humorous situation or joke. Puns can sometimes be created unintentionally, in which case the saying ‘no pun intended’ is used.

I was surprised and delighted to learn that many times a pun is a form of homophones, homonyms, or heteronyms. What’s that you say? I could easily confuse myself, (and you, dear reader), with all the information on the subject sitting out there on the information super highway. Suffice to say, for this post, I am taking all my research from a fairly reliable source, that being the on-line version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/.

HOMONYMS (as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary) are “one of two or more words spelled and pronounced alike but different in meaning (such as the noun quail and the verb quail)” A few examples would include:
Book: Something to read or the act of making a reservation
Bat: An animal or something you use to hit a ball in baseball/softball
Lie: To recline or tell a falsehood
Pen: Where animals may be kept or something to write with
Bark: The outside layer of a tree or the sound a dog makes

HOMOPHONES (as defined by the dictionary) “one of two or more words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling (such as the words to, too, and two).” Some examples are:

Chute; shoot Parachute; shoot a gun
Feat; feet A deed notable of courage; body part
Stationary; stationery Unchanging in condition; materials used for writing (paper)
Knead, kneed, need What you do when making bread; using knee to kick someone; obligation
Overseas, oversees beyond the ocean; watches over a project or group

Hopefully, you aren’t confused yet because here comes my favorite part of the world of homonyms and homophones!
HETERONYMS (sometimes called homographs) “are words that are spelled the same but pronounced different and have a different meaning.” A familiar example would be SOW. As a noun it can refer to “an adult female swine”. As a verb, it could mean “to plant seed for growth especially by scattering”. Examples include:
Tear: to rip Tear: fluid in eye
Dove: Dove:
Wind: to coil up Wind: the blowing air
Wound: to injure Wound: coiled up
Bow: front of a ship Bow: tool to shoot arrows
Combine: put together Combine: piece of farm equipment

Can you think of any others?

Delighted with this topic, I decided to come up with a story using as many homophones as I can (and it still make sense of course!).  Here is my opening sentence:

At peace with her decision, Danielle settled in to eat the last piece of cake.

What do you think? Want to try your own story? Check out this website that lists homophones from A to Z. Yes! X, Y, and Z have homophones! https://www.homophone.com/.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed todays post. Leave positive feedback and don’t forget to follow us!  May the Force be with You! Happy Star Wars Day! Live long and prosper for all my fellow Trekkers!