Replacement puns

[Khemehekis]

We have a number of these in English:

bikini -> monokini (replacing bi- with mono-, as if the bi- in "bikini" were the prefix for two)
utopia -> dystopia (as if the u- in "utopia" were eu-; cf. euphemism/dysphemism, euphoric/dysphoric, and the like)
history -> herstory (replacing "his" with "hers")
other feminist coinages such as "femstruate" and "cuntroach"
copyright -> copyleft (as if the "right" in "copyright" referred to the political spectrum rather than legal rights)
me too -> me three (as if the "too" in "me too" were "two")

What are some replacement puns in other natlangs? Do you have any in any of your conlangs?

[eldin raigmore]

“Pun-ish”?

[Khemehekis]

“Pun-ish”?

As in, to punish with puns? That's just a straight-up pun, not a replacement pun. For it to be a replacement pun, the word has to replace the punned-upon part of a word with another word/root that implies that replaced part.

[Creyeditor]

German has "frau" 'one (female)' for "man" 'one' as if it was "Mann" 'man' and could be replaced with "Frau" 'woman'. (Note the different capitalizations!)

[Khemehekis]

German has "frau" 'one (female)' for "man" 'one' as if it was "Mann" 'man' and could be replaced with "Frau" 'woman'. (Note the different capitalizations!)

I never knew about that, but that's fun! Sounds as if Teutonophone feminists are playing the same word games as Anglophone feminists.

[Khemehekis]

Today I learned a new replacement pun: alief.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alief

[Pabappa]

I never understood the copyleft as being a political statement .... to me it's just about being different in one way but the same in another. Still just as much a pun, but not in the way you described it. Wiktionary just leaves the explanation open besides saying that it's a pun.

----

A woman named Mary Daly used to use male- as a prefix replacing any mal-, to show the lesser value of men. It hasn't caught on even among radical feminists, and I suspect she wasn't intending it to.

[Omzinesý]

I always wonder why unimportant isn't just portant.

[Arayaz]

I always wonder why unimportant isn't just portant.

Is "pertinent" cognate, do you think?

Edit: I did some research. "Pertinent" is from Latin per-tenere, and "important" is from Latin in-porto ─ that's "in" as in the applicative, not negation. So they're not cognate, and "portant" was never a word ─ but it would be a classic example of back-formation, wouldn't it?

[Omzinesý]

It was a joke, but I think it would be a backformation.

[Omzinesý]

I'm trying to find out a replacement pun in Finnish but those latinisms are not that common.

There are some folk etymologies like Kaukasia -> kauk-Aasia 'far Asia' (people often lengthen the a) but no place is named Kaukafrikka.

Edit: This counts as a replacement pun, I think.
Junamaatti is a thing, an automate selling train tickets. Auto means 'car' as in many other languages. So it's "train-maton".

[Khemehekis]

I'm trying to find out a replacement pun in Finnish but those latinisms are not that common.

There are some folk etymologies like Kaukasia -> kauk-Aasia 'far Asia' (people often lengthen the a) but no place is named Kaukafrikka.

Edit: This counts as a replacement pun, I think.
Junamaatti is a thing, an automate selling train tickets. Auto means 'car' as in many other languages. So it's "train-maton".

Wow, good one! Delighted to learn that.

[Arayaz]

German has "frau" 'one (female)' for "man" 'one' as if it was "Mann" 'man' and could be replaced with "Frau" 'woman'. (Note the different capitalizations!)

man "one" and Mann "man" are in fact cognate!