Was That Some Kind of Joke? Trivia Quiz

Answer: puns

A pun is a joke that relies on word play, specifically words that have (or suggest) two or more meanings (such as the word "dam" in the joke in the question). However, a pun may also be a joke that creates humor from two or more similar sounding words, as well (such as with "Flatman and Ribbon", which sounds like "Batman and Robin"). Shakespeare was known for his great use of puns in his plays.

For example, in "Romeo and Juliet", Mercutio says the following after being fatally wounded: "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man". Groucho Marx also depended upon the use of puns for much of his verbal humor.

He once said, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read".

Answer: shaggy dog story

A shaggy dog story is a long-winded, convoluted narration composed of irrelevant details and ending with an anticlimactic or pointless punchline. The joke is really on the one listening to the so-called joke. The listener's attention is held lengthily while he or she patiently awaits his or her expectations to be met, only to discover there was no reason to wait or listen in the first place. The ending is meaningless. Scholars disagree about the exact origin of the name "shaggy dog story," but they all seem to agree that the term comes from a lengthy story or anecdote about a shaggy dog that ends with some statement similar to "He's not that shaggy."

Here is the joke referred to in the question in its entirety.

Once, a farmer had a race horse that gave birth to very healthy and competitive twin colts he named Tobias and Edward. Often they would race, pushing each other as hard as they could to see who would win. However, Tobias always managed to win. Eventually, the farmer entered the colts in a real sporting competition. On the day of the race, the two colts were quite excited. "Good luck, and may the best horse win!" Edward said. Tobias responded, "Same to you, brother! Let's beat these other horses!" The race started and Tobias and Edward took off, taking an early lead. Tobias and Edward exchanged the lead back and forth, but on the final lap, Tobias managed to pull ahead of Edward once and for all and take the win. The other horses were left far behind. "Good race!" Edward said to Tobias, and Tobias agreed. The farmer realized that these two horses were a gold mine, so he began to enter them in more local competitions. Every time the twin horses would destroy the competition; however, Tobias always edged ahead of Edward to win so that Edward always finished second. Eventually, the farmer began to enter them in larger arenas. At the state fair, Edward turned to Tobias and said, "I'll get you this time!" Tobias responded, "Ehhh, I don't really care who wins as long as we beat the other horses." The race started and Tobias and Edward took out of the gates. The race was tougher because the other horses kept up with Tobias and Edward for at least the first lap, but then, as always, the two brothers pulled away ahead of all the other horses. And, as always, Tobias managed to pull ahead of Edward in the final lap to win the race. Panting, Edward congratulated Tobias. A few years went by and now Edward and Tobias were professional race horses. Frequently, they were now the focus of several newspaper and magazine articles as well as filmed documentaries; however, Tobias was always the main headline. Even as they got older, Tobias always beat Edward. Finally, they were in the Kentucky Derby. At the starting gates, Edward turned to Tobias and said, "I'll get you this time! I know it! This is the race, right here, before all of these people!" Tobias responded, "We'll see, brother. First, we have to beat these other horses." "Agreed," replied Edward, "but it would be nice to beat you, just once." The gun went off, the gates opened, and Tobias and Edward were off. At first, they trailed a few horses who took the early lead, but they didn't seem to mind. They ran their race and pushed each other to run harder. Tobias passed Edward, Edward passed Tobias, and they went back and forth until they both pulled ahead of all of the other horses. On the third and final lap, Edward was in the lead, but again Tobias managed to put on some extra speed and burst ahead of Edward to win the Derby. Edward turned to Tobias after the race was over and said, "I can't believe it. I tried so hard. And still you beat me." Years later, they were retired from racing. They stood resting under the shade of a tree on the farm when Tobias turned to Edward and asked, "Do you want to have one final race, for old time's sake?" Edward responded, "I never could beat you, not once in my entire life. However, I've always wanted to know what it was like to win." Tobias said, "Tell you what, why don't we race, just like when we were colts? Let's run to that feed mill over there and then back to this tree, three times." Edward responded, "I don't know. I don't think I could take losing again. I don't know if I'd want to live with one more loss. I don't have that much life in me anymore." Tobias replied, "But, we're both old now, and maybe things have changed. I don't feel that I have it in me to win anymore. Maybe you could get the edge this time." Edward thought about it and said, "Okay, I'll do it." The brothers got ready and then took off running. They pushed each other to run faster and they exchanged the lead several times. It was almost as if they had recaptured their youth. Then on the third and final lap, Edward pulled ahead of Tobias. However, Tobias seemed to find a reserve of energy and burst ahead of Edward and won the race. Tobias began prancing victoriously while Edward fell to the ground, exhausted and dejected. His soul was crushed. Suddenly, the old farmer's dog, who had known the horses since they were colts, came up to Tobias and asked, "Why? Tobias, why would you do that? Why would you crush your brother's hopes and dreams like that? There was nothing riding on this race. There was no reason for you to win it. Why? Why would you do that?" Upon hearing the dog, Edward stood up, looked at his brother, and remarked, "Can you believe it, Tobias, a talking dog!"

Answer: feghoot

A feghoot is essentially a shaggy dog story that ends with an atrocious pun. Generally, the jokester rattles off an anecdote or a vignette that contains all the data and vocabulary necessary for creating and explaining the pun with which the narrative eventually ends. Often the pun is a play on a well-known expression.

In the above example, the listener is given clues and a set-up--Leif's name, a register listing the names of the town's population, and Leif's absence from that register. Then the story ends with a pun on the expression "taken leave of his senses." The term "feghoot" comes from a collection of stories called "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot", which were written by Grendel Briarton, aka Reginald Bretnor. Each of Briarton's creative pieces ended with a pun.

Answer: gallows humor

Gallows humor is a kind of humor that is expressed during a moment of hopelessness, horror, or suffering, or it can be expressed about such circumstances (such as in the example in the question). Basically, any humor that treats serious topics such as death, disease, pain, injury, war, crime, or brutality in a lighthearted manner would be considerd gallows humor. Key to the effect of the humor is that it is expressed by the victim of the miserable circumstance and not by the perpetrator of it; humor expressed by the latter would be morbid if not evil.

A famous example of real life gallows humor is represented by the anecdote about William Palmer, who was to be publicly executed. As he approached the gallows where he was to be hanged, he looked at the trapdoor and said to the hangman, "Are you sure it's safe"? Public hangings as a means of execution are, of course, the direct source of this kind of humor and its name.

Answer: self-deprecating humor

Self-deprecating humor is the humor created by a speaker's willingness to undervalue, belittle, or insult him or herself. Many stand-up comics have experienced great success with this kind of humor; take Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, Gary Shandling, Rodney Dangerfield, and Woody Allen, for example.

In fact, the first statement in the question was spoken by Dangerfield, and the second, by Allen. Self-deprecating humor can work in different ways. Dangerfield insults himself as an individual by discussing his appearance while Allen insults his entire ethnic group by contributing to the stereotype of miserliness.

Answer: elephant joke

An elephant joke is abstract humor that relies on an absurd or ridiculous riddle whose query or answer or both are about an elephant. They first elephant jokes appeared on a set of fifty trading cards released by L. M. Becker, Co., of Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1960. From that point onward, the creation of these jokes became a fad that spread throughout the United States, and they were often found even in newspapers and magazines.

Some of the more classic ones are as follows: "How can you tell if an elephant has been in your refrigerator? There are footprints in the peanut butter", and "Why did the elephant paint his toenails red? So he could hide in the strawberry patch". Often, these jokes existed in a series so that one joke depended on a previous one. Take the following for an example: "(1) What's the difference between an elephant and a plum? Their color. (2) What did Tarzan say to Jane when he saw the elephants coming? Here come the elephants. (3) What did Jane say to Tarzan when she saw the elephants coming? Here come the plums.

She was color blind".

Answer: anti-joke

An anti-joke is a joke that derives humor not from the punchline itself but from the lack of a punchline and the audience's disappointment or confusion due to its expectation of a punchline. The joke has most of the ingredients of a joke and is set up like a joke, but then the joke ends with a statement that is often quite mundane or even illogical. Humor is derived either from the irony surrounding one's expectation of a punchline or from watching the confusion or frustration of the listener who doesn't realize the joke is on him or her. One of the most famous and well-known examples of the anti-joke is the following: "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side". Or, try this one: "Why was George Washington buried at Mr. Vernon? Because he died".

Answer: meta-joke

A meta-joke is a joke that refers to itself, a particular format for telling a joke, a particular category or series of jokes, or to humor itself. Basically, a meta-joke is a joke about jokes. The joke in the question, for example, refers to the expansive series of jokes that always begin with three separate individuals (three religious figures, in this particular case) as well as all of the jokes that begin with "someone walked into a bar".

Another example is the following knock-knock joke: "Knock-knock!" "Who's there?" "Lettuce." "Lettuce who?" "Lettuce tell some more bad knock-knock jokes".

Answer: inversion

Inversion is the alteration of a statement so that it declares something opposite of what the listener is expecting the statement to declare. For example, in the joke above, which is a quotation from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest", the listener is expecting the speaker to declare that the widow looks twenty years older, for such a statement is commonly declared about someone who has experienced trauma or a great loss.

Another example from the same play is the character Algernon's famous remark, "Divorces are made in heaven", for most expect the cliche "Marriages are made in heaven".

Answer: non sequitur

A non sequitur is Latin for "it does not follow"; thus, a non sequitur occurs when the punchline or the conclusion of a joke does not logically follow what preceded it. Basically, non sequitur humor falls into the category of anti-jokes. Again, the listener expects a comical punchline, and when there isn't one, he or she is befuddled, and the one telling the joke is amused at the listener's attempts to make sense of the joke, when there intentionally is no sense to be made of it.

However, many non sequiturs are humorous because the listeners immediately realize the illogicalness of what is being said. Consider this famous statement by Mark Twain, for example: "In a museum in Havana there are two skulls of Christopher Columbus, one when he was a boy and one when he was a man". Similar to this is Clarence Day's comical statement: "If your parents didn't have any children, there's a good chance that you won't have any".