HeiDeas is having its second anniversary, and hh is celebrating with her Third Annual Simpsons St. Patrick's Day Linguistic Round Up. One of my favorites, from Principal Charming (1991):
Bart has written his name in 40-foot high letters of dead grass on the school field, in sodium tetrachloride. Skinner is outraged. He says, "The sheer contempt demonstrated by this incident makes me wish I could pull the trusty board of education out of retirement." His gaze falls wistfully upon a paddle in a case behind glass.(Category: pun.) Posted by languagehat at March 18, 2007 02:53 PM
I seem to remember at school a teacher referring ominously to a rather large piece of wood (I think it was a T-square for use on the blackboard) as the 'board of education'. That would have been 1960s-70s.
Posted by: bathrobe at March 18, 2007 04:03 PMSodium tetrachloride? Can there be such compound? Carbon tetrachloride, yes.
Sodium tetrachloride? Can there be such compound?
No.
Posted by: David Marjanović at March 18, 2007 08:19 PM*Stares blankly*
*Thinks hard*
(Category: pun.)
*Slaps forehead*
To me, the humor isn't the pun which is very, very old. I remember from elementary school that it wasn't unusual for 'board of education' to be printed on paddles (obviously still in the days when teachers could administer corporal punishment).
The humor is a) Seymour's hopelessly out of date and b) he's probably never recognized the pun.
Posted by: michael farris at March 19, 2007 05:56 PMapropos, I recall a highschool teacher commenting on student notepassing: "I'll give you a paradox: if you pass, you fail."
Posted by: paperpusher at March 20, 2007 01:48 PM