Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

telemath said:

During one long road trip our family took when I was a kid, we passed the time by making up puns like that:

I wanted to be a baker, but I couldn't raise the dough.
I wanted to be a cowboy, but I horsed around too much.

I'll stop at two, so Grant isn't too tempted to cancel my account...

I wanted to go into broadcasting, but it was above my station.

Are these similar to the "... never die; they just ..." lines?

These examples have been around for a long time:
... Old professors never die; they just lose their faculties.
... Old fisherman never die; they just smell that way.
... Old Volkswagens never die; they just go to the old Volks home.

When the discussion was about Tom Swifties, I could think about nothing else for several days, so I think I'll bow out of this discussion before it happens to me again.