Etymology
The origin of the term punchline is actually a mystery to etymologists. Some sources suggest the first published use of "punchline" or "punch line" to describe the pay-off line of a joke didn't appear until the 1920s or 1930s. Comedians had been using the classic "set-up, premise, punchline" format for many years before that time, however.
One theory is that the word punchline refers to the practice of emphasizing or "punching up" certain lines during a speech or monologue. Actors and broadcast journalists are trained to read their scripts with an ear towards high points and low points of audience interest. It is possible that the final line of a joke is called a punchline because the performer is expected to place stronger emphasis on it, or "punch it up" vocally.
Some believe the term is derived from one half of the medieval puppet team Punch and Judy. The modern punchline of a joke would be delivered in the same way that Punch delivered his slapstick blows on Judy. There is little convincing evidence to make such a connection,, however, and the Punch and Judy plays did not rely on the same style of wordplay as traditional modern jokes.
In previous centuries, a joke was sometimes a "bite" or a "hit", in Italian it is still called a "battuta" (a "beating").
Read more about this topic: Punch Line
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)