It is true that the most famous pun in physics is stated as an equivalence principle:
mass is weight
Why are puns so popular in physics? Pun is a play on meaning. Since physics is about attaching meaning to mathematical forms punning comes naturally to physicists.
Recently light is dark has been proposed as a new pun candidate by these authors. The outcome is still open because these relatively low ranking physicists haven’t yet reached the critical mass of authority necessary to define global puns in physics, but I’ve pencilled this new candidate in to the list below anyway.
Be sure to check tropes, or standard legal polemics, in theoretical physics.
- constant is unit
- definition is law
- definition is discovery
- divisible is indivisible
- field is particle
- gravity is gravitation
- gravity is graviton
- light is dark
- linear is non-linear
- mass is weight
- physical is measurable
- physical is natural
- physical is physical
- physics is science
- universe is cosmos
- universe is totality
- eternal is not eternal
- nothing is something
