Stat about puns winning arguments surprised me

I read a study from Cornell that said puns actually make people more persuasive, not less. Found it in a 2019 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Everyone here seems to think groaners are the joke equivalent of a flat tire, but 71% of participants rated the pun-teller as more likable. Has anyone else run across data that flips the whole 'dad joke cringe' thing on its head?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan9031mo ago

Wait, did the study actually control for how good the pun was? Like, a clever pun might land different than a total groaner, right?

rosebarnes1mo ago

Yeah, "total groaner" really hit me. I feel like a bad pun and a clever pun are totally different experiences, almost like two different jokes. The study probably just lumped them all together and that feels like a big miss. You'd need to rate the pun quality separately, maybe have people score how much they groaned versus smiled. That's the only way I'd trust the numbers.