Editing Pun (section)

==History and global usage==
{{See also|Bilingual pun}}
[[File:Rahm Emanuel Hankyu Very Much tweet May 2022.png|thumb|[[Rahm Emanuel]], the [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan|ambassador of the United States to Japan]], tweeted a bilingual pun in May 2022, combining the [[Hankyu]] railway company in Japan and the English "[[thank you]]."]]
Puns were found in [[ancient Egypt]], where they were heavily used in the development of myths and interpretation of dreams.<ref>Pinch, Geraldine Pinch (1995), [https://books.google.com/books?id=8Op3RD28z_4C&q=puns&pg=PA68 ''Magic in ancient Egypt''], University of Texas Press, p. 68.</ref>

In [[China]], [[Shen Dao]] (ca. 300 BC) used "shi", meaning "power", and "shi", meaning "position" to say that a king has power because of his position as king.<ref>Waley, Arthur (1982), [https://books.google.com/books?id=zIjGVfU_sAgC&dq=%22ancient+china%22+puns+language&pg=PA181 Three ways of thought in ancient China] Stanford University Press, p. 81.</ref>

In ancient [[Mesopotamia]] around 2500 BC, punning was used by scribes to represent words in [[cuneiform]].<ref>Robson, Eleanor (2008), [https://books.google.com/books?id=w-e6kfvoq5gC&q=punning&pg=PA31 ''Mathematics in ancient Iraq: a social history''], Princeton University Press, p. 31.</ref>

The [[Tanakh]] contains puns.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThA8AAAAIAAJ&q=%22pun+forms+the+tie%22&pg=PA1|title=The Bible and the Comic Vision|first=J. William|last=Whedbee|date=28 May 1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521495073|access-date=7 February 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>

The [[Maya people|Maya]] are known for having used puns in their [[hieroglyphic writing]], and for using them in their modern languages.<ref>Danien, Elin C.; Robert J. Sharer (1993), [https://books.google.com/books?id=FyHgy-xw2CgC&dq=maya+puns&pg=PA99 ''New theories on the ancient Maya''], University of Pennsylvania. University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, UPenn Museum of Archaeology, p. 99.</ref>

In Japan, "[[graphomania]]" was one type of pun.<ref>Brown, Delmer M.; John Whitney Hall (eds), [https://books.google.com/books?id=nCJwEDzyxNgC&q=pun&pg=PA463 ''The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan''], Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 463.</ref> More commonly, wordplay in modern Japan is known as ''[[dajare]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schreiber |first1=Mark |title='Dajare' 101: Why should Japanese have all the pun? |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2017/10/23/language/dajare-101-japanese-pun/ |access-date=1 May 2023 |work=[[The Japan Times]] |date=23 October 2017}}</ref>

In [[Tamil language|Tamil]], "Sledai" is the word used to mean pun in which a word with two different meanings. This is also classified as a poetry style in ancient [[Tamil literature]]. Similarly, in [[Telugu language|Telugu]], "Slesha" is the equivalent word and is one of several poetry styles in [[Telugu literature]].