Puns

Hold your groans! Wordplay can be inventive, poignant and, at its finest, a shared discovery.

You might find this PUN-believable, but there is an annual pun competition held in Durham each year. Contestants are matched up for one-on-one pun-offs until the final round, when the three top punners try to best each other to become the “Punster of the Year.”

George Gopen thought it was a riot when he beat his college roommate in a pun contest.

"If you keep maltreating your girlfriend, she will send you a dijon letter that says poupon you."

While he loves to pun, Gopen does not take words lightly.

He has spent 45 years teaching literature, composition and rhetoric; the complexities and eloquence of the English language.

So when he heard President George W. Bush give a muddled speech in 2001, George Gopen felt compelled to write the White House.

Since ancient Greece, rhetoric has been a powerful form of speech used to persuade and impress an audience.

Today, the wittiest among us sometimes exchange the most chuckle-inducing form of rhetoric: the pun. That battle of wits is now a competition in the Triangle where 24 contestants will fight for the title of Pun Master of Durham. A champion will be crowned at Motorco in Durham on Monday at 7 p.m.