I dislike these types of puns because they only make sense in one direction.
False. This pun goes in both “directions” (not sure what you mean by that, using your definition):
“They slash them” with slash as a verb refers to slashing someone, therefore hurting them. That answers the question “How do non-binary people hurt each other?”.
They slash them (they/them, “slash” is how “/” is pronounced out loud) refers to gender neutral pronouns, often used by non-binary people.
Maybe they’re saying that using the second meaning in the original phase (“How do nonbinary people hurt each other? They/them”) doesn’t stand on its own as a coherent thought. As you pointed out, it’s a pun, but the pair of sentences only makes sense using the first meaning.
Compare that to the watch example: plugging in either meaning of “time” makes the sentence meaningful.
Perhaps serious joke researchers should distinguish between weak puns, the “they/them” example, and strong puns, the “time” example. Weak/strong here are used in the mathematic/scientific/philosophic sense, not passing judgement on aesthetic quality.
False. This pun goes in both “directions” (not sure what you mean by that, using your definition):
“They slash them” with slash as a verb refers to slashing someone, therefore hurting them. That answers the question “How do non-binary people hurt each other?”.
They slash them (they/them, “slash” is how “/” is pronounced out loud) refers to gender neutral pronouns, often used by non-binary people.
Maybe they’re saying that using the second meaning in the original phase (“How do nonbinary people hurt each other? They/them”) doesn’t stand on its own as a coherent thought. As you pointed out, it’s a pun, but the pair of sentences only makes sense using the first meaning.
Compare that to the watch example: plugging in either meaning of “time” makes the sentence meaningful.
Perhaps serious joke researchers should distinguish between weak puns, the “they/them” example, and strong puns, the “time” example. Weak/strong here are used in the mathematic/scientific/philosophic sense, not passing judgement on aesthetic quality.
Thank you for explaining more eloquently what I was unable to.