Luc Etienne (1908-1984), pseudonym of Luc Périn, was co-opted into the Oulipo in 1970. An uncontested specialist of punning, he first taught mathematics and physics (at the Lycée Roosevelt, Reims) and then, in 1952, began publishing his patapèteries (patapuns) in the notebooks for the College de ‘Pataphysique, where he rapidly rose to Regent stature, and assumed an active role as Director of practical works. In 1957, he published l'Art du Contrepet and started the column entitled “Album de la Comtesse,” in the Canard Enchaîné, which he maintained until 1984. A virtuoso of several Oulipian constraints, he both invented and pioneered the notion of the phonetic palindrome.