Edgar Allan Poe? Jonathan Swift? Mary Livingstone? Oscar Levant? H. L. Mencken? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: Creating humorous puns is difficult which may help to explain why detractors are so harsh. A wit once said:
Those who most dislike puns are least able to utter them
The master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe said something like this. Would you please help me to find a citation and determine the precise phrasing?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1845 Edgar Allan Poe published “Marginal Notes.—No. 1” in “Godey’s Lady’s Book”. Poe was unhappy that some literary critics were attacking originality. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
All true men must rejoice to perceive the decline of the miserable rant and cant against originality, which was so much in vogue a few years ago among a class of microscopical critics, and which at one period threatened to degrade all American literature to the level of Flemish art.
Of puns it has been said that those most dislike who are least able to utter them; but with far more of truth may it be asserted that invectives against originality proceed only from persons at once hypocritical and common-place. I say hypocritical—for the love of novelty is an indisputable element of the moral nature of man . . .
So Edgar Allan Poe employed a version of the saying, but he disclaimed credit by using the phrase “it has been said”. The originator remains anonymous, but the statement may have evolved from a remark attributed to the famous Irish satirist Jonathan Swift.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Jonathan Swift who died in 1745 received credit posthumously for a thematically similar remark. A biographical sketch of Swift published in 1755 contained the following passage:2
He greatly excelled in punning; a talent, which, he said, no man affected to despise, but those that were without it.
A separate Quote Investigator article focused on the remark attributed to Swift and presenting an overview of similar statements is available here.
In 1807 “The Monthly Mirror” of London printed an article with an epigraph attributed to Swift. The phrasing used the word “disliked” instead of “despise”:3
“Puns are disliked by none but those who can’t make them.” Swift.
In 1831 “The Satchel: A Repository of Wit, Whimsies, and What-not” published a piece titled “On Punning” by T.H.B. in which a similar statement was attributed to an unnamed “celebrated author”:4
A celebrated author says “Nobody dislikes a pun but he who cannot make one.” So say I; for it stands to reason that one defective in that ready wit which is necessary in the punster will not like to hear another capable of doing that which he knows himself incapable of.
In 1850 Poe’s essay from 1845 was reprinted in the collection “The Literati: Some Honest Opinions about Autorial Merits and Demerits”. Thus the quotation achieved further distribution.5
Of puns it has been said that those most dislike who are least able to utter them.
In 1941 U.S. radio comedian Mary Livingstone employed a version of the joke in the article “How To Live With a Comic” in “Liberty” magazine. Livingstone was married to fellow comedian Jack Benny:6
This makes me realize there must be one in every family—a husband, a son, an uncle, or the handy man around the house . . . who thinks a pun is the lowest form of wit because he didn’t think of it first. That’s why I’m writing this piece—to relate my own experiences with a professional funny man so that you’ll better know how to handle your amateur funny man.
In 1942 Poe’s remark appeared in the remarkable reference work compiled by H. L. Mencken titled “A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources”:7
Of puns it has been said that those most dislike who are least able to utter them.
E. A. POE: Marginalia, 1844-49
In 1945 “Reader’s Digest” magazine attributed a version of the joke to Oscar Levant although a precise citation was not provided:8
The Pun Is the Lowest Form of Humor—When You Don’t Think of It First.—Oscar Levant
In 1952 the book “Wake Up Your Mind: 101 Ways to Develop Creativeness” by Alex Osborn mentioned the version ascribed to Poe and the version ascribed to Levant:9
Edgar Allan Poe put his finger on one reason why so many of us are thumbs-down on puns. Said he: “Those who most dislike them are those least able to utter them.” About 100 years later Oscar Levant innocently paraphrased Poe by wisecracking: “The pun is the lowest form of humor—when you don’t think of it first.”
In 1971 “Bartlett’s Unfamiliar Quotations” compiled by Leonard Louis Levinson included this entry:10
Of puns it has been said that those most dislike who are least able to utter them. Poe
In conclusion, Edgar Allan Poe did write a remark in 1845 which matched the statement under examination, but Poe disclaimed authorship by using the phrase “it has been said”. This article has presented a series of thematically related remarks which began with a comment attributed to Jonathan Swift in 1755. This early seed may have blossomed into Poe’s observation.
Image Notes: Illustration of a Toucan by Jean-Baptiste Oudry circa 1745. The image has been cropped, retouched, and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Eli Burnstein who inquired about the quotation attributed to Oscar Levant. QI expanded the research topic which led to the formulation and exploration of this family of sayings. Thanks to Mithical at Literature Stack Exchange who uncovered the 1755 and 1807 citations. Thanks to Rand al’Thor at Literature Stack Exchange who uncovered the 1831 and 1845 citations.
- 1845 August, Godey’s Lady’s Book, Volume 31, Number 5, Marginal Notes.—No. 1 by Edgar A. Poe, Start Page 49, Quote Page 49, Column 2, Louis A. Godey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1755, The Works of Jonathan Swift, Six Volumes, Edited by John Hawkesworth, An Account of the Life of the Reverend Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, Quote Page 32, Printed for C. Bathurst, C. Davis, C. Hitch, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1807 September, The Monthly Mirror, Every Man His Own Punster, (Quotation occurs as an epigraph), Quote Page 155, Printed for the proprietors by J. Wright. London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1831 March 26, The Satchel: A Repository of Wit, Whimsies, and What-not, Number 4, On Punning by T.H.B., Start Page 27, Quote Page 27, Column 2, Published by Berger and Purkess, London.(Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1850, The Literati: Some Honest Opinions about Autorial Merits and Demerits by Edgar A. Poe, Chapter: Marginalia, Section: CLXVIII (168), Quote Page 560, J. S. Redfield, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1941 February 8, Liberty, How To Live With a Comic by Mary Livingstone, Start Page 56, Quote Page 56, Column 1, Macfadden Publications, New York.(Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1942, A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles from Ancient and Modern Sources, Selected and Edited by H. L. Mencken (Henry Louis Mencken), Section: Pun, Quote Page 992, Alfred A. Knopf. New York. (Verified with hardcopy) ↩︎
- 1945 April, Reader’s Digest, Volume 46, Number 276, (Untitled miscellaneous collection of quotations), Quote Page 63, The Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1952, Wake Up Your Mind: 101 Ways to Develop Creativeness by Alex Osborn, Chapter 14: Word Play Can Exercise Our Creative Wits, Quote Page 130, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1971, Bartlett’s Unfamiliar Quotations, Compiled by Leonard Louis Levinson, Topic: Puns, Quote Page 245, Cowles Book Company: Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, Illinois. (Verified with scans) ↩︎