Warning: I love words. My vocabulary is heavily on display in this post. I make no apologies.
I almost wish that I could say that my interest in puns (and to a lesser extent, dad jokes) is a recent development that corresponds to my age’s continuous and steady increase. However, that’s not the case. Anyone who knows me knows that my fascination with wordplay goes way (way) back.
I prefer my puns intended.
But I will say that in the last year or so, that fascination reached a bit of a fever pitch. Not only has my ever-abiding interest in puns persisted, it’s festered and grown a bit out of control. It got to the point that I started doing artwork and designs in order to visualize the growing list of double entendres in my head.
Suddenly, I had a whole mess of these things.
It was clear that I needed to be stopped. But how?
The best way to destroy a hobby #
There’s a long-standing edict that says, “The best way to destroy a hobby is by trying to monetize it.” Well… let’s give that a shot!
I already have this habit of making these little pop-up businesses around the things that I make. I mean, there’s my books, Bentwood Forge, Tablescraps… suffice it to say that I have a running history here. At the very least, building a shop around these pun designs seems to be very “on brand” for me. Though, perhaps the argument could be made that these pop-ups haven’t sufficiently dulled my enjoyment of making these things.
But perhaps this time is different. Rather than simply trying to monetize my creative whims, I’m explicitly saying that I’m doing this as a means of breaking my habit of making groan-worthy witticisms. Maybe, just maybe, by trying to monetize these designs, I can expel this penchant for wordplay from my very being.
In order for that to work, though, folks have to like these designs enough to ask me for more. Ironically, it’s only by having demand for these designs that I can make it feel like work. And if it feels like work, then maybe I’ll be able to stop doing it.
Introducing Pun in the Sun #
With all of this in mind, I’ve launched my own shop that sells stickers and t-shirts with my pun-based designs. The shop is Pun in the Sun. You should treat this as your definitive destination for dad humor.
Welcome to your wit’s end.
Here’s a handful of these designs… most of them come in the form of t-shirts or stickers… these are the shirts.
There’s more where that came from #
What I’m showing here is but a small sampling of the designs I’ve already made… not to mention the ever-growing list of designs that I haven’t yet made. Like I said, this has become a problem and I clearly need to be stopped.
How can you help?
I’m glad you asked. Head to the Pun in the Sun shop and order a shirt or sticker! Subscribe to the mailing list where I’m giving sneak peeks of new designs before they’re available. Make this whole thing feel like a job to me! Only by making this thing feel truly miserable will we have any chance of thwarting this onslaught of punnery.
Can you be a part of the solution? Or will you allow these puns to precipitate?