Hold your groans! Wordplay can be inventive, poignant and, at its finest, a shared discovery.
Some of the finest examples are portmanteaus: word mashups that create new meaning. An example — hetlagged (adj.) exhaustion from heteronormative media or social interactions. The Great Durham Pun Championship celebrates this brand of linguistic improvisation that serves as a springboard for conversation rather than a self-serving dead-end.
Host Frank Stasio explores the continued importance of creative wordsmithing with last year’s champion, Matt Morain, and with the competition’s judge, George Gopen, a professor emeritus of the practice of rhetoric at Duke University. The sold-out 2020 Great Durham Pun Championship will take place Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Motorco Music Hall and will benefit the Durham Literacy Center.