2

My friend said to me that making fun out of 9/11 is plain wrong, and then he said it was a joke?

Honestly I don't get the joke? Why would it be plain wrong? Doesn't plain mean nothing? I'm confused.

Flimzy
  • 1,425
John
  • 39
  • 1
  • 10
    plain/plane is a pun. – Tim Lymington Nov 05 '13 at 20:32
  • 2
    It's a very poorly implemented pun, though. "9/11 is plane wrong" might make sense in some pidgin, but it is entirely devoid of meaning in Standard English. It makes no sense to the OP because it really makes no sense. With or without the explanation, he is none the wiser. – RegDwigнt Nov 06 '13 at 12:45

1 Answers1

6

It's a pun that only makes sense when it's spoken.

9/11 is plain wrong.

when spoken sounds like:

9/11 is plane wrong.

Plane is short for airplane. I hope I don't need to explain why airplanes are significant to 9/11...

Flimzy
  • 1,425
  • The joke itself is great. The subject, far less so (devastated many lives and cause the word to become a darker place). Having said that - shouldn't it say "plainLY wrong" to be correct? Is is it colloquially correct to skip the last two characters? – Konrad Viltersten Jul 31 '14 at 18:30
  • 4
    @KonradViltersten: "Plain ____" is colloquially used, at least in some dialects. My mother speaks that way. "The movie was just plain boring!" etc. I don't think it's "correct," but I know better than to challenge her on such things. :) – Flimzy Jul 31 '14 at 19:46