shaggy dog story
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
See also: shaggy-dog story
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Uncertain; probably from one of two jokes, one in which a protracted search for an alleged remarkably shaggy, talking dog ends in the discovery of the dog which, though it can indeed talk, is disappointingly not so shaggy after all; or one in which an even more protracted search for the shaggiest dog in the world ends in the utterly anticlimactic punchline “Now that’s a shaggy dog!”.
Pronunciation[edit]
- Hyphenation: shag‧gy dog sto‧ry
Noun[edit]
shaggy dog story (plural shaggy dog stories)
- An intentionally long-winded joke or tale featuring the narration of typically irrelevant details, and usually ending with an absurd or pointless punchline which is often a pun or Spoonerism on a known catchphrase, with the intended humour deriving from the combination of the excessive length and the anticlimax.
Alternative forms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
shaggy dog story on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
