Regarding puns...

I don't think we should be so wary about including them even in
naturalistic conlangs. After all natural languages are full of puns
and ironic coinages. One particular example comes very pervasively to
my mind these days. In western Norway where I live, the verb "gylle"
means gild, make golden. But some time ago, the local farmers started
using it metaphorically for the process of fertilising their
pastures, which of course formed the basis for their income. Don't
know how widespread this is. It's well known around here at least.

Later, they carried it one step further and invented the noun "gylle"
for the stinky stuff they were spreading, too. The similarity to
muddy words like "gytje", "gjørme" and the like made the connection
easy to make, I guess.

Somewhat of a lesson in wordmaking, I think.

(Next year I'm going to ask for a warning beforehand, so that I can
do some travelling while they keep at it.)

LEF

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