Life imitates Unsong: A real-life double pun correction

My first mention of Joan of Arc on this blog was on December 15, 2020. I mentioned her as part of a pun from Unsong, which had been brought to mind by a P. G. Wodehouse novel, which had been brought to mind by a mention of the biblical story of Balaam's ass.

I am suddenly reminded of a passage from the P. G. Wodehouse novel Jeeves in the Offing.

'And, anyway, Reggie's gone for a walk and isn't available. I do wish you wouldn't always be so difficult, Bertie. Your aunt tells me it was just the same when you were a child. She'd want you to eat your cereal, and you would stick your ears back and be stubborn and non-cooperative, like Jonah's ass in the Bible.'

I could not let this go uncorrected. It's pretty generally known that when at school I won a prize for Scripture Knowledge.

'Balaam's ass. Jonah was the chap who had the whale. Jeeves!'

'Sir?'

'To settle a bet, wasn't it Balaam's ass that entered the nolle prosequi?'

'Yes, sir.'

I have recently been reading Scott Alexander's novel Unsong. One of the running gags is "biblical pun correction." One of the characters mentions Joan of Arc and is "corrected" by another: "Jonah whale; Noah ark." Later in the conversation, someone says "to no avail" and received the converse correction: "Noah ark; Jonah whale."

These pun corrections in Unsong always come in reciprocal pairs like this. So when one of the characters describes the pyramids as "solemn and huge," and is corrected with "Solomon wise; Goliath huge," you know that somewhere along the line someone is going to say something that sounds like "Goliath wise" and receive the converse correction. Trying to anticipate how and when the second pun will drop is part of the fun of reading the novel.

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In my March 27 post "The New Orleans Saint," I mentioned Joan of Arc and also happened to mention February 14 (Valentine's Day) as the date the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl. Mr. Andrew left this comment on the post:

I just finished "Something Fresh" by Wodehouse last night. The main love interest woman is named Joan Valentine. I think Wodehouse meant this as a joke because Valentine obviously refers to romance, while the Joan character is a strong, independent, and daring/brave woman - and both are names of Saints.

My sister Kat Valentine has drawn a portrait of Joan of Arc and written a poem about her, both of which have been featured on this blog. So when I read this comment, I thought, Unsong style, "Joan of Arc; Kat Valentine." (I didn't notice the Wodehouse connection until I went back and read my original Joan of Arc comment.)

Knowing the rules of Unsong puns, I started waiting for the second pun to drop. After "Joan Valentine," I should be on the lookout for something like "Kat of Arc" -- or, since Kat's real name is Crystal . . . Wait a second, this is the second pun! The first one dropped over a year ago! On January 19, 2021, I posted this:

There was an LED advertising board behind the counter at the shop. I looked up at it and saw the Tricolor and the words "Made in France" -- Maid in France -- which got my attention. Then the screen changed, and I saw what it was advertising: a brand of glassware called Cristal d'Arques. "Made in France" notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure d'Arques isn't real French; but if it were, it would be a homophone of d'Arc. (Incidentally, my post on Joan of Arc was illustrated with a portrait of that saint by my sister Kat, whose given name is actually Crystal.)

So let me say now what I should have said back then: "Crystal Valentine; Jeanne d'Arc."