All around the world, people make puns. And all around the world, groans, sighs, and fake laughter can be heard in response. Occasionally, real laughter and counter puns are given as responses. It's more common that the former is given as a response than the latter. Is it better if a pun receives no reaction or if it receives a negative reaction?

As many of us know, Tumblr is a place where many puns are made, and many puns are opposed. Sometimes when people make puns, someone responds with "get out" as we can see in this excellent Rick Astley post.

Sometimes punning becomes competitive, and people go back and forth to see who can make the best pun. Coincidentally, but unsurprisingly, there is such thing as pun competitions. A man named Joe Berkowitz explored competitive punning for a year and wrote a book about his findings, some of which were shared in this article by Fast Company.

Berkowitz said the following pun was the best pun he heard while writing his book: "I went to go shopping for cherries and microphones the other day: bought a bing, bought a boom." Even if you don't like puns, this pun is so amazing that it deserves appreciation.

Among sharing the best puns, Berkowitz mentioned his discovery that computers cannot generate puns. He said that because puns are made by the brain making connections between two unrelated things, computers cannot distinguish the double meaning from the play on words.

One thing that seems to be well researched on the art of puns is the possibility of illness. Witzelsucht, otherwise known as an addiction to wisecracking, is a condition where people constantly crack jokes and then laugh uproariously at them. Ironically, though, many patients fail to respond when others crack jokes.

BBC details the story of a man diagnosed with Witzelsucht. An interesting point that is mentioned in this article is the "aha" moment and the "haha" moment. Puns are puzzles, and the "aha" moment of understanding the joke comes before the "haha" moment when the brain finds the humor.

As described in the article, patients with Witzelsucht don't show any surprise and they don't grasp the relationship of the punchline to the joke. They don't have the "aha" moment and therefore don't have the "haha" moment when others tell jokes.

Perhaps, in the future, there will be more research on why puns bring so much enjoyment for some and so much displeasure for others. In spite of how many people make puns, they continue to be the least favorite type of jokes. I for one think they are punderappreciated (sorry, I couldn't resist) and people should give credit where credit is due.