[Lingo] Re: [tlug] Emergency nomikai August 17th?

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

steven smith writes:

 > Do the Japanese have an equivalent to a pun?

Yes, they call it "ojaji gyag".  It's pretty low-grade, most limited
to children as far as I know.

However, the Japanese also play puns as a blood sport.  These puns are
not puns on similar sounds, they're puns on the kanji.  So there are
jukugo where reversing the kanji changes the meaning, and series of
jukugo where most kanji are fixed but one kanji has a fixed bushu
while the other buhin change around it.  Sort of like the doublets
game where we prove that Josh knows his tools:

    josh
    cosh
    cost
    coot
    cool
    tool

by changing one letter at a time.