“I stink, therefore I am”: Puns in popularisation discourse

Abstract

This article investigates the role of puns in the production and dissemination of botanical knowledge to non-professional audiences. Specifically, an ecolinguistic perspective is adopted to suggest that particular conceptualisations entailed by some wordplays may stimulate the layperson’s interest in the botanical world and increase attention towards plant and fungi. The study analyses data collected from a corpus of blog posts published on the website of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2017–2023) which offer simplified descriptions of the biology of plants and fungi. Puns are examined with reference to conceptual blending theory and classified according to the lexical-grammatical distinction between relexicalized and reconstructed puns. The article proposes that the effort required by the reader for reconstructing the original and deciphering the conceptual incongruity on which puns are built can act as an effective tool in forwarding scientific information and promoting consciousness about the ecological importance of plants and fungi. However, the potential of wordplays in supporting ecological literacy is linked to the strength of the conceptual blend that motivates puns.