Covert Puns as a Source of Slang Words in English.

The article reports on the creation of covert puns as a source of slang words in English. It mentions Dr. Samuel Johnson's opinion that if language is the dress of thought, then slang could well be described as fancy dress at its most flamboyant. It defines covert pun as a somewhat paradigmatic pun wherein two homophones, the punning element and its target, are indirectly connected by sense relations or cultural associations. Moreover, it explains the origin of covert puns and provides a glossary for it.