Question

which quotation from the phantom tollbooth contains the best example of a pun?

\im the whether man, not the weather man, for after all its more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be.\
\i dont know of any wrong road to dictionopolis, so if this road goes to dictionopolis at all it must be the right road.\
\good question, good question,\ he exclaimed. \expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where youre going.\
\in the doldrums, laughter is frowned upon and smiling is permitted only on alternate thursdays.\

Explanation:

Define a pun and analyze the options

A pun is a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings.

• Option 1: "I'm the Whether Man, not the Weather Man..." plays on the homophones "whether" (expressing a doubt or choice) and "weather" (the state of the atmosphere). This is a classic pun.
• Option 2: "wrong road... right road" plays on logical reasoning and literal direction, not homophones or double meanings.
• Option 3: "Expectations is the place..." is a literalization of a state of mind as a physical location, which is personification/metaphor rather than a pun.
• Option 4: "...smiling is permitted only on alternate Thursdays" is situational irony and absurdity, not a pun.

Identify the best example

The first quotation directly uses the homophones "Whether" and "Weather" to create wordplay, making it the best example of a pun.

Answer:

• (A) "I'm the Whether Man, not the Weather Man, for after all it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be." (Correct answer)
• (B) "I don't know of any wrong road to Dictionopolis, so if this road goes to Dictionopolis at all it must be the right road."
• (C) "Good question, good question," he exclaimed. "Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you're going."
• (D) "In the Doldrums, laughter is frowned upon and smiling is permitted only on alternate Thursdays."