[General] fishmonger/ ironmonger/ warmonger

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to give me your considered opinion about the following sentence I have read recently?

A fishmonger is the man who mongs fish; the ironmonger and warmonger do the same with iron and war; they just mong them. (George Mikes, “How to be an Alien”)

May I see it as an ironical pun?

V.

 

[5jj]

Would you be kind enough to give me your considered opinion about the following sentence I have read recently?

A fishmonger is the man who mongs fish; the ironmonger and warmonger do the same with iron and war; they just mong them. (George Mikes, “How to be an Alien”)

May I see it as an ironical pun?

V.

It is neither ironical nor punning. It is deliberate mis-use of language for humorous effect.

If you were to speak of starving men in the hot desert fighting over scraps of food because of a warm (h)unger, that would be a pun.