Puns make me laugh … and living in Canberra, as I do, I’m regularly confronted by them. How, do you ask? Well, via a local lawn/turf business called Canturf, a family business which started in 1966. They have, for many years now, been promoting their product – even, and it must have been hard, throughout our recent long drought that saw stringent water restrictions result in many a dead lawn – through signs based on puns.

The puns keep changing, so much so that I have often wondered whether they can keep it up, but it seems they can. Do they have a wonderful ad agency? Or is it their own staff? The answer is on the FAQ page. The answer to “Who thinks of your funny signs?” is: “You do. If you come up with an original saying and think it would be a good Canturf sign, send it in to us via email or fax along with your contact details. If your idea is original and gets used you will be paid $250 for your efforts.” Now, there’s a challenge!

Anyhow, today, as we were driving into the country for our annual Easter Sunday lunch, we saw a couple of their latest:

• It’s been nice mowing you

and

• It’s a lawn way to the top if you want a grassy knoll.

Honestly! How can you drive past signs like that and not smile. (You certainly don’t forget the name of the company behind them!)

Previous signs have included:

• Looks good mown eh Lisa
• Lawngerie modelled here
• We’re easy to get a lawn with
• Fifty shades of green
• It’s sexy and you grow it
• It’s greener than brown

This last is a political pun probably only understood by Aussies. It’s a little daring for a business to use but I suppose it can be read in multiple ways. And, anyhow, this is Canberra, and we have a reputation for being Green.

I’m sorry that I haven’t photographed these signs but, you know, we’ve always been going places at the time …

And, since we are talking about puns, I’d like to give a plug here for a young ensemble I heard this weekend at the National Folk Festival. Calling themselves the Miss Chiefs they admitted loving puns. Their name, they said, gives it away. Just one year old, this group first performed at the 2012 festival’s Infinite Song Contest for which performers present their version of a song relating to the year’s contest theme. Last year’s theme was Leonard Cohen, and the just-formed trio performed “Hallelujah”. Here is a You Tube recording of that event:

The lead singer, Vendulka Wichta is 14 (at the time of the recording!), and she’s accompanied by Laura Zarb (24) and Amelia Gibson (17). From what I saw this year, one year on from the above performance, the Miss Chiefs is a group to watch.