Re: CHAT anecdotage (was: Easy and Interesting Languages -- Website)
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, May 27, 2004, 16:51 |
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On Thu, May 27, 2004 at 11:52:03AM -0400, jcowan@REUTERSHEALTH.COM wrote:
>
> I recognize your usage, but I use "shaggy-dog story" as a name for a kind of
> parajoke: a long, meandering story that eventually leads up to a deliberately
> unfunny punch line.
Ah. Thanks for the etymology; I didn't know that story. My usage is
approximately a subset of the original, then - the difference being that
the punchline is required to be a pun, and therefore the unfunniness is
in the ear of the beholder. The longer the leadup (the "shaggier" the
story) the better, and in the most masterful creations even the most
sophisticated audience should not be able to predict the punchline at
any time before it is actually delivered.
-Mark
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