Three, two, pun... the words and phrases that stood out last year

What did the Maltese say when the beloved Azure Window disappeared? ‘Xi Dwejraq!’’
Coined around a sorrowful event, this pun is one of several that surfaced this year on social media, where the play on words seems to be gaining popularity.
Wordplay is an intrinsic part of language and culture, and puns are ages old. They are part of our oral tradition, but with the explosion of social media, people have started to create new puns in Maltese.
“Or rather, people have always created puns, but on social media they attract much more attention. More people see them and share them,” said Michael Spagnol, who set up Kelma Kelma, a Facebook page dedicated to the intricacies of the Maltese language.

“For instance, one of the most popular sections of my page is the album Logħob bil-kliem, consisting mainly of puns, and there is also a group called Min jitwieled vojt ma jmutx kwadru. Users not only come up with new puns on a daily basis, but they often engage in so-called ping-pong punning.”
Kelma Kelma turned this trend into a fundraising initiative and teamed up with 12 artists to design a desk calendar in Maltese.
The puns chosen for this calendar, in aid of the Inspire Foundation, were...