Why do we play with words?

Why do we like playing with words?

In every language I have studied, people like to play with words. We enjoy throwing around the humor of substituting two similar-sounding words for each other and laugh at the image it creates. We write anagrams. We play with onomatopoeia. We rhyme things (in Western languages, anyway.) We make up silly-sounding poems for our children. From the time humans begin to talk, they love to play with words. Why?

I think the main reason is because we are made in God's image. He created all things by speaking a word. The Gospel of John tells us that He is the Word. We create, to a much lesser extent, with words. God did not only create the huge serious galaxies by His word; He also created turtles and bunny rabbits and snails with eyes on flexible stems. We too can create large things, which are either blessings or curses, through words. But more often in our everyday life we can imitate the Creator by creating small decorations of humor and joy through what we say.

English often uses rhyme for enjoyment. For example, small children love the phrase "See you later, alligator! After a while, crocodile!" It is fun, not only because it rhymes, but because it is nonsensical. Once given a rhyming pattern, children love to continue the pattern by making up new phrases. One reason Dr. Seuss books were, and continue to be, popular children's literature is that they combine children's natural love for rhyme, rhythm and nonsense. Of course, it is not only children who love them!

One of the German phrases I was taught by a friend utilizes another form of play: adding letters to a word to form a word with contrasting meaning. I had commented, "I'm innocent! I'm an angel!" and he responded, "Ein Engel mit ein B bevor." "An angel with a B" becomes "Bengel," which apparently means "a naughty child."

One of my greatest joys in the Japanese language is seeing how easy it is to play with numbers and meaning. For example, a flower shop has as the four last digits of its phone number "1187." This can be read "ii hana" which means "good flowers." Another play with words I enjoyed was from an optometrist:"ai ai ai" which (if you use English meanings for the first and last words) means "I love eye." And what other country would designate 11/11 as "dogs' day" because "wan wan" (woof woof, used as the children's word for "doggie") sounds like English "one one"?

God has created us with the ability to play with words and to make the world a more enjoyable place by doing so. "The Word became human, and lived for a while among us, full of grace and truth." I think part of this grace is to bless our world not only with strong and deep words that are like majestic mountains, but also with playful words like playing kittens. He created all, and us in His image.