On the Origin of PCs pun?

[RndmNumGen]

So I was reading the intro to OtOoPC, and read the part were Redcloak said "Read the title out loud of you don't get the 'joke', and I use that term loosely". I read it out loud, but I still don't get it. :smallconfused:

[TheGrimace]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species

[RndmNumGen]

Ohhh... Okay. That makes sense.

[Cealocanth]

Nice catch. I didn't get it either.

[Darthteej]

Nice catch. I didn't get it either.

EDUCATE YOURSELVES :smalltongue:

[onthetown]

EDUCATE YOURSELVES :smalltongue:

I even knew about On the Origin of Species and I didn't catch the pun.

[Eldan]

I read OtOoS, even, and didn't get it. :smalltongue:

[Phishfood]

heh, well I refer you to the other oots books and these classics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/jackson-alan/summertime-blues-6541.html

[Shale]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness

[Ancalagon]

EDUCATE YOURSELVES :smalltongue:

... not everyone is a native speaker...

[Conuly]

The problem is that PCs and species have different stress. It makes for a very forced pun.

[2xMachina]

The first time I googled On the Origin, it recommended me Species. So there.

[The Extinguisher]

The problem is that PCs and species have different stress. It makes for a very forced pun.

Hence Redcloak's "and I use that term loosely" :smallbiggrin:

[JustIgnoreMe]

And, for those who didn't know (I'm stunned how many fans of OotS don't play tabletop) "Don't split the party" is an old piece of advice from tabletop RPGs. Feel free to google it, or go to TV Tropes.

I knew about "Summertime Blues", but now I'm wondering if there's a similar origin for "Dungeon Crawlin' Fools" that I'm missing.

[Phishfood]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure there is since its "crawlin'" not "crawling". Not figured out what that one is yet.

[Kish]

There is no pun there.

[Francis Davey]

The problem is that PCs and species have different stress. It makes for a very forced pun.

They don't for me (tries saying them several times over), care to elaborate on how they differ? In fact because the 'p' in PC's is short for "player", they both come out unaspirated when I say them over, which is very clever (or is it my imagination?).

[Dr.Epic]

I find it hard to believe people didn't get that.:smallconfused: Seemed pretty obvious.

[Conuly]

I can't type IPA, so let's go with kid-writing and capital letters:

PCs - peeSEEZ.

Species - SPEEsheez.

The different stress makes the words sound very different to my ear.

And I aspirate the p in PCs, because it's at the beginning of a word. Basic rule of (most people's) English there, voiceless stops aspirate at the beginning of stressed syllables or words, and NOT after s. :)

[memnarch]

Ahhh, there we are. See, I pronounce species "Spee-cees" which is closer to PCs.

[The Rose Dragon]

Ahhh, there we are. See, I pronounce species "Spee-cees" which is closer to PCs.

Both are valid pronunciations. It is possible one is the British spelling while the other is American. Burlew's nationality suggests 'spisiz as the American spelling instead of ˈspiʃiz if that is correct.

[Bedinsis]

I never understood it before I read an explanation on these forums. I thought the forced pun was that "PCs" is pronounced like "pieces" and it referred to the little figures you move around at the most popular common board games (like chess and ludo), and since those pieces are representations of yourself in a game, they kinda fit in under the same label as the Order of the Stick.

English isn't my native language, so I don't know if "pieces" can be used in that way however.

[Francis Davey]

Both are valid pronunciations. It is possible one is the British spelling while the other is American. Burlew's nationality suggests 'spisiz as the American spelling instead of ˈspiʃiz if that is correct.

Right, that must be it. Though I am a speaker of British English, in my head it sounds like 'spisiz' (probably listening to too much Carl Sagan as a youth - maybe because I know Rich is American so I think of it that way. I also stress PC's at the beginning they are *P*c's - something I picked up from the wargames club at my school when I was 12.

So happily for me they sound *almost* identical except for the 's' at the beginning. It seems like I am abnormal in that respect, but this seems like one of those times it worked out well.

[JustIgnoreMe]

There is no pun there.
:redcloak: Which is more believable: that a skilled slinger of puns would deliberately ignore the opportunity to make a funny joke in the title of a book? Or that it he simply used some obscure cultural reference capable of fooling the readers?

[Nimrod's Son]

:redcloak: Which is more believable: that a skilled slinger of puns would deliberately ignore the opportunity to make a funny joke in the title of a book? Or that it he simply used some obscure cultural reference capable of fooling the readers?
Er... the first one. He's told us himself there's no pun there.

In fact, he also said the only reason he didn't call the last book A Tale of Two Parties was because he felt like he'd used too many puns in his book titles so far.

P.S. A pun that literally no one in the world gets is not the kind made by a "skilled slinger of puns". :smallwink:

[Shale]

If you make a pun and no one wants to strangle you for it, you have failed.

[JustIgnoreMe]

Er... the first one. He's told us himself there's no pun there.

In fact, he also said the only reason he didn't call the last book A Tale of Two Parties was because he felt like he'd used too many puns in his book titles so far.

P.S. A pun that literally no one in the world gets is not the kind made by a "skilled slinger of puns". :smallwink:

I may have missed those announcements, but I think you missed my self-mocking reference to O-Chul's Razor (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0546.html) :smalltongue:

[KenderWizard]

Both are valid pronunciations. It is possible one is the British spelling while the other is American. Burlew's nationality suggests 'spisiz as the American spelling instead of ˈspiʃiz if that is correct.

Yep, that's correct, from what I know. British pronunciation is "SPEE-sheez". I've said the word so many times in the last minute it's almost lost all meaning!

I didn't get PCs/Species until Redcloak's comment, but I think it's less forced than War and XPs. Which isn't to say that I don't think both puns are good! I have high pun tolerance. :smallwink:

[Swordpriest]

Origin of SPEE-sees.

Origin of PEE-sees. (That doesn't look right :smallbiggrin: !)

Pronounced like that, it makes some sense. Of course, I pronounce the first word as SPEE-shees, and the second as pee-SEES, so it wouldn't be as close with my accent (combination of U.S. East Coast and Midwest).

[Nimrod's Son]

I may have missed those announcements, but I think you missed my self-mocking reference to O-Chul's Razor (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0546.html) :smalltongue:
I got it just fine. If you'd prefer to think of my post as correcting Redcloak rather than yourself, be my guest. :smalltongue:

[Kish]

:redcloak: I like my way of putting it better...Throw in the first group!

[gosh]

I hadn't gotten that before now. In fact, I didn't know about any of the other puns on the titles before either, although I had known 'Don't Split the Party' from tvtropes.