Lamest pun in a title

[irony towers]

Following on from a reference in the crossword thread:

The Fairly OddParents (of which I've hitherto remained blissfully unaware)

• since when have fairy godparents been a thing?
• in order for the 'pun' to 'work', two words have to be written as one
• if they're only Fairly Odd, how enthralling is that?

Some impressive limbo will be required to get beneath that bar.

[Guy Profumo]

Following on from a reference in the crossword thread:

The Fairly OddParents (of which I've hitherto remained blissfully unaware)

• since when have fairy godparents been a thing?
• in order for the 'pun' to 'work', two words have to be written as one
• if they're only Fairly Odd, how enthralling is that?

Some impressive limbo will be required to get beneath that bar.

You do know it's a children's show, don't you?

[Guy Profumo]

And for cinema?

Die Hard.

I thang yew.

[Patrick Thistle]

After Meet the Parents and Meet the Fokkers we had... Little Fokkers.

[Guy Profumo]

After Meet the Parents and Meet the Fokkers we had... Little Fokkers.

Ah.

But to quote Keith Miller

Those Fokkers were Messerschmitts.

[G-Man]

In a thread on bad puns, it must by reworked: "Those Fokkers were Messy shits"

[Jah Womble]

I think that the OP is indeed harsh given that it’s a kids’ show. (It’s also not the ‘worst’ piece of wordplay by any stretch, IMO.)

As I once opined before ‘pon these hallowed pages, the worst titular puns are often those applied to a character’s name. Cops and Robbersons is probably the worst culprit for me - crowbarring in a not-very-common surname just to make a lame title pun is both lazy and frankly a bit crap, tbh. (The Brittas Empire and Fawlty Towers are similarly guilty, but the latter of course escapes by having been rather splendid.)

[Patrick Thistle]

Knight and Day isn't a great pun.

[3 Colours Red]

As I once opined before 'pon these hallowed pages, the worst titular puns are often those applied to a character's name. Cops and Robbersons is probably the worst culprit for me - crowbarring in a not-very-common surname just to make a lame title pun is both lazy and frankly a bit crap, tbh. (The Brittas Empire and Fawlty Towers are similarly guilty, but the latter of course escapes by having been rather splendid.)

Even using more common names can illicit a groan in a "you only called them that so you could make that pun work" kind of way - The Royle Family or Shaun Of The Dead still aren't what I'd call particularly inspired.

[Hot Pepsi]

Shaun of the Dead explains the film effectively.

[3 Colours Red]

It does... but I get the feeling that the Pegg/Frost/Wright triumvirate only called the main character Shaun because it rhymes with Dawn.

[Jah Womble]

Hmm, I think that the 'very common'-aspect actually lets both of those out, tbh.

[tracteurgarcon]

Surely the worst example of this is “Lucky Number Slevin”, I just don’t see how that works on any level.

[Various Artist]

Yes, I was puzzled for possibly years (not having actually seen the film or really knowing anything concrete about it) over whether it was supposed to be a pun or not.

In this respect, it's still lagging behind the opening post here – until right now I had no idea that The Fairly OddParents (which, again, I only know by its title) was meant to be a pun. Children's show or not, when you have to clamber past about three separate linguistic obstacles to reach the supposed humour, from a starting point somewhere in the vicinity of normal language, it suggests it probably doesn't really work as a play on words.

[Jah Womble]

No, it's not immediate - so certainly falls down in that respect - but once apparent, it isn't anywhere near as bad a pun as those we've discussed since.

Yep, Lucky Number Slevin is very poor. And no, I don't know anything about the film either.

[WOM]

I'm not sure what's going on in this thread, so I'm going to go off in another direction. And I tell you this with a red face, as I've not 'gotten' the pun for almost 40 years.

So....as I've said before (with absolutely no embarrassment), I've always been a fan of Tenpole Tudor. In North America, their 'big' album was Swords of A Thousand Men. The UK title of same was Eddie, Old Bob, Dick and Gary. The members of the band, of course, and I've always know that. What I didn't know until last week that the title is a pun on 'any old Tom, Dick and Harry'.

No clue. None. How did my ear not pick up on that? Good pun, though.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I'm not sure what's going on in this thread, so I'm going to go off in another direction. And I tell you this with a red face, as I've not 'gotten' the pun for almost 40 years.

So....as I've said before (with absolutely no embarrassment), I've always been a fan of Tenpole Tudor. In North America, their 'big' album was Swords of A Thousand Men. The UK title of same was Eddie, Old Bob, Dick and Gary. The members of the band, of course, and I've always know that. What I didn't know until last week that the title is a pun on 'any old Tom, Dick and Harry'.

No clue. None. How did my ear not pick up on that? Good pun, though.

I'm going to follow you along that tangent and admit that I only got the pun inherent in The Beatles quite recently.

There was also a punny joke in an episode of the Two Ronnies. Ronnie Barker, as Benjamin Disraeli I think, is at the dispatch box fielding questions and someone shouts out, "What about the Prostitution Bill" to which he replies, "Pay it". It took years before the penny dropped for me.

Similarly, it was years before I realised the significance of Reginald Perrin's middle name, Iolanthe. But as that doesn't even involve a pun, I've obviously gone way, way too far off beam.

[Guy Profumo]

But as he pointed out, had he been born a year later he would have been Reginald Pirates of Penzance Perrin

[Nocturnal Submission]

Surely the worst example of this is “Lucky Number Slevin”, I just don’t see how that works on any level.

Seven is a lucky number in Christian-influenced cultures. Something to do with Biblical references, I think.

[Nocturnal Submission]

But as he pointed out, had he been born a year later he would have been Reginald Pirates of Penzance Perrin

And fate would have pointed its horny finger elsewhere.

[Jah Womble]

I'm not sure what's going on in this thread, so I'm going to go off in another direction. And I tell you this with a red face, as I've not 'gotten' the pun for almost 40 years.

So....as I've said before (with absolutely no embarrassment), I've always been a fan of Tenpole Tudor. In North America, their 'big' album was Swords of A Thousand Men. The UK title of same was Eddie, Old Bob, Dick and Gary. The members of the band, of course, and I've always know that. What I didn't know until last week that the title is a pun on 'any old Tom, Dick and Harry'.

No clue. None. How did my ear not pick up on that? Good pun, though.

I strongly suspect that you’ll not be alone in having missed that.

[WOM]

Okay. Appreciate that. I figured you'd all be having a wry chuckle at my expense. And not just for the liking TT thing....

[tracteurgarcon]

Seven is a lucky number in Christian-influenced cultures. Something to do with Biblical references, I think.

Yes, I get that the phrase "lucky number seven" is vaguely a thing, although it's hardly an everyday saying but, as far as I can see from a quick google, Slevin is a fairly rare Irish surname which the films writer(s) have shoehorned in as the main characters first name purely to make the pun in the title which really isn't worth making.

The title also does nothing to tell you what the film is about OR entice you into watching it, it's just a bad pun lumped on top of an absolute nothingness of a title.

It also loses points for using an upside down "7" as the "L" in Slevin, which is just completely naff and almost ruined "Se7en" for me.

[Satchmo Distel]

Good Will Hunting?

[Nocturnal Submission]

Yes, I get that the phrase "lucky number seven" is vaguely a thing, although it's hardly an everyday saying but, as far as I can see from a quick google, Slevin is a fairly rare Irish surname which the films writer(s) have shoehorned in as the main characters first name purely to make the pun in the title which really isn't worth making.

The title also does nothing to tell you what the film is about OR entice you into watching it, it's just a bad pun lumped on top of an absolute nothingness of a title.

It also loses points for using an upside down "7" as the "L" in Slevin, which is just completely naff and almost ruined "Se7en" for me.

All excellent points.