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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.jokes.d
Subject: Re: What's a Shaggy Dog Story?
Message-ID: <605@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Jan-84 18:39:00 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.605
Posted: Thu Jan  5 18:39:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Jan-84 20:24:28 EST
References: <669@inmet.UUCP>
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 27

==============
My grampa always called them Shaggy Dog Stories.

The original Shaggy Dog Story is a soporifically longwinded yarn involving
a lost crusader, a snowstorm, a large shaggy dog, and an innkeeper who utters
the punchline:
        "I wouldn't put a knight out on a dog like this!"
==============

No, No, NO!!!!!

A Shaggy Dog Story isn't a pun at all. You are talking about extended
puns (space types know them better as Ferdinand Feghoots).  A Shaggy
Dog Story involves some kind of a twist in the laws of nature, that
is usually put right in the punch line. The story of the bear that
claimed the bartender wouldn't expect to see many bears if he kept
charging those prices is a Shaggy Dog. I'm posting another (shortened)
one to net.jokes as a (bad) example.

The punch line to the original Shaggy Dog is "Good Heavens, No. Not
THAT Shaggy!"

Refutations to /dev/null, please (unless you have a better idea).
-- 

Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt