“‘Percy Bysshe Shelley’ would be a great name for a pet turtle.”
I disagree. “Percy Bysshe” would be a great name for a pet turtle. Adding the “Shelley” is like telling the punchline then nudging someone in the ribs while asking “Get it?” to emphasize.
That's stretching an already highly elastic concept. "Getting it" immediately and eliciting the required groan or grimace is the point of the exercise, I assume. This ideally requires fewer arcane entries like "Honus Wagger" to begin with, and more like "Babe Rut" (pet ram) --- keeping with the baseball theme. Having to search the "set-up" tends to let the air out of the joke --- such as it is.
One might go for the "aha haha" (Tom Flaherty's winning entry of Week 886's Palindrome Contest) where there is a brief pause before an epiphany resulting in a laugh.
True, if it's all there in front of you. Not so much, if you're unfamiliar with the "set-up" and have look it up to get the joke. More likely then to get an "Oh," in recognition rather than the preferred immediate reaction.
It even MORE interesting to me is that sometime back in the 90s' (locals may recall) there was an obscenity related case in Prince William County, VA to close an Adult book/video store. If I remember correctly, in the closing arguments referencing the evidence, the defense attorney said that "the only people in the entire county that were FORCED to look at it, were the 12 members of this jury."
Re: Rhyming in poems. Back in me Rhetoric of Poetry class at the University of California Berkeley in about 1978 we were instructed that poems need to be read honoring their punctuation. Ozymandius is a great example. If you stop at the end of each line, the meaning is completely lost.
Regarding the Mama Gene impersonator - Noodle kugel is a thing. Brisket kugel is not. Brisket is brisket and kugel is kugel. There is no such thing as brisket kugel.
The St. Paul Saints have a ball pig, who wears cute costumes and delivers balls to the umpire in a basket. Every year they get a new one with a punny name, like Alternative Fats or Chop Gun Mav-rib.
Kudos to whoever wrote the bed collapse incident. It's far better than the one I submitted. Hey, Gene, if helps in my submission, the B&B Host that had to climb all the stairs had emphysema and could barely breathe by the time he got three. And as we were leaving they mentioned that we would be their last guests, as they were selling it.
What with the British tradition of gurning (pulling the ugliest face you can) likely to make future Olympics along with Artistic Scratching, also suggest the Games consider revising its motto to "Faster. Higher. Stronger. Stoned," and give new meaning to "weeding" out the competition. Let's make the high hurdles the "Higher Hurdles," to say nothing of the "Really High Jump." Maybe the "Hop, Skip and Giggle."
Think it's about time we make America's former pastime (now replaced by TikTok dancing) a contact sport. Speeding up a game by some 28 mins. over the last two years with a pitch clock and other fixes is all well and good, but they still remain far too many stretches of boredom broken only by having your beer knocked over in your lap by some guy with spatial relationship problems going after a foul ball --- twice. Anyway, make third base a suggestion, not a requirement for a runner headed home. Allow a runner to go from second across the mound to the plate. If he scores, his team is awarded a bonus run. If he takes out the pitcher while doing so, two bonus runs. If the pitcher decks him, the game is paused for a required two minutes of collective disapprobation from the fans, his team is designated the Hartford Yard Goats for the rest of the game, and loses two runs.
I really liked Mark Raffman’s locked penalty box example. The imagery of a guy breaking out is very hockey-like.
“‘Percy Bysshe Shelley’ would be a great name for a pet turtle.”
I disagree. “Percy Bysshe” would be a great name for a pet turtle. Adding the “Shelley” is like telling the punchline then nudging someone in the ribs while asking “Get it?” to emphasize.
Agreed.
Yeah, or just Bysshe.
That's stretching an already highly elastic concept. "Getting it" immediately and eliciting the required groan or grimace is the point of the exercise, I assume. This ideally requires fewer arcane entries like "Honus Wagger" to begin with, and more like "Babe Rut" (pet ram) --- keeping with the baseball theme. Having to search the "set-up" tends to let the air out of the joke --- such as it is.
One might go for the "aha haha" (Tom Flaherty's winning entry of Week 886's Palindrome Contest) where there is a brief pause before an epiphany resulting in a laugh.
True, if it's all there in front of you. Not so much, if you're unfamiliar with the "set-up" and have look it up to get the joke. More likely then to get an "Oh," in recognition rather than the preferred immediate reaction.
Surprised my “Sumo high diving” didn’t make the cut.
Someone else sent in the same entry, so you can both be indignant.
Originality is highly overrated!
It wiped out in the last cut.
"This is a very complicated issue." Indeed it is. My advice is to never ever get close to it.
It even MORE interesting to me is that sometime back in the 90s' (locals may recall) there was an obscenity related case in Prince William County, VA to close an Adult book/video store. If I remember correctly, in the closing arguments referencing the evidence, the defense attorney said that "the only people in the entire county that were FORCED to look at it, were the 12 members of this jury."
Re: Rhyming in poems. Back in me Rhetoric of Poetry class at the University of California Berkeley in about 1978 we were instructed that poems need to be read honoring their punctuation. Ozymandius is a great example. If you stop at the end of each line, the meaning is completely lost.
Regarding the Mama Gene impersonator - Noodle kugel is a thing. Brisket kugel is not. Brisket is brisket and kugel is kugel. There is no such thing as brisket kugel.
He said potato kugel, which is a thing.
But his “mother” said brisket kugel.
I love noodle kugel!
I submitted as a question earlier this week, but I'll put it here, too, as it relates to today's results...
I have been trying to think of ways to make baseball better, but after watching an entire Savanah Bananas game last Friday, I got nothing.
I saw the Durham Bulls, who had a bat-dog. Cutest thing ever. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/YQReBpwg7piUA2VW/?mibextid=WC7FNe
The St. Paul Saints have a ball pig, who wears cute costumes and delivers balls to the umpire in a basket. Every year they get a new one with a punny name, like Alternative Fats or Chop Gun Mav-rib.
Our colleague Jay said that Ripken won’t be able to appear in 2,632 successive games like his namesake, but I suggested it is only 376 dog-games.
Kudos to whoever wrote the bed collapse incident. It's far better than the one I submitted. Hey, Gene, if helps in my submission, the B&B Host that had to climb all the stairs had emphysema and could barely breathe by the time he got three. And as we were leaving they mentioned that we would be their last guests, as they were selling it.
I liked the addition of a dunk tank to the shot put.
About Jesse and Leif's "triathlon" entry - Cyclocross season is coming:
https://arkansasoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/water.jpg
(edit: may need to reload 2x to view the image directly. Or scroll to the end of this article:
https://www.arkansasoutside.com/properly-preparing-for-impending-cyclocross-season/
Speaking of charm/ing, the mayor of Baltimore has a child (son I believe) named Charm.
What with the British tradition of gurning (pulling the ugliest face you can) likely to make future Olympics along with Artistic Scratching, also suggest the Games consider revising its motto to "Faster. Higher. Stronger. Stoned," and give new meaning to "weeding" out the competition. Let's make the high hurdles the "Higher Hurdles," to say nothing of the "Really High Jump." Maybe the "Hop, Skip and Giggle."
Think it's about time we make America's former pastime (now replaced by TikTok dancing) a contact sport. Speeding up a game by some 28 mins. over the last two years with a pitch clock and other fixes is all well and good, but they still remain far too many stretches of boredom broken only by having your beer knocked over in your lap by some guy with spatial relationship problems going after a foul ball --- twice. Anyway, make third base a suggestion, not a requirement for a runner headed home. Allow a runner to go from second across the mound to the plate. If he scores, his team is awarded a bonus run. If he takes out the pitcher while doing so, two bonus runs. If the pitcher decks him, the game is paused for a required two minutes of collective disapprobation from the fans, his team is designated the Hartford Yard Goats for the rest of the game, and loses two runs.
Miles Davis would have a word or two, but he’s deceased.
Inns, B&Bs, cottages and princes are charming.
Heavily into Rick Steves and fairy tales are you?
Once, looking up the origins of the pommel horse, I found that early ones simulated the appearance of a horse’s back, without rings.