A feghoot (also known as a story pun or poetic story joke) is a humorous short story or
vignette
Vignette may refer to:
* Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy
* Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters
* Vignette (literature), short, i ...
ending in a
pun
A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...
(typically a play on a well-known phrase), where the story contains sufficient context to recognize the punning humor.
History
Ferdinand Feghoot
The term for this storytelling model originated in a long-running series of short
science-fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...
pieces that appeared under the collective title "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot", published in various magazines over several decades, written by Reginald Bretnor under the
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...
matic
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
of 'Grendel Briarton'. The usual formula the stories followed was for the title character to solve a problem bedeviling some manner of being or extricate himself from a dangerous situation. The events could take place all over the galaxy and in various historical or future periods on Earth and elsewhere. In his adventures, Feghoot worked for the Society for the Aesthetic Re-Arrangement of History and traveled via a device that had no name, but was typographically represented as the " )(". The pieces were usually vignettes only a few paragraphs long, and always ended with a long and elegant pun that was often based on a well-known title or catch-phrase.
"Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot" was originally published in ''
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...
'' from 1956 to 1973. In 1973, the magazine ran a contest soliciting readers' feghoots as entries. The series also appeared in ''Fantasy and Science Fiction''s sister magazine '' Venture Science Fiction Magazine'', and later in ''
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...
'', ''
Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...
'', and other publications. The individual pieces were identified by Roman numerals rather than titles. The stories have been collected in several editions, each an expanded version of the previous, the most recent ''Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot'' by From Beyond Press.
Many of the ideas and puns for Bretnor's stories were contributed by others, including F. M. Busby and E. Nelson Bridwell. Other authors have published feghoots written on their own, including
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
and John Brunner. Numerous fan-produced stories have been written, as well.
Bretnor said that the idea of the name occurred to his wife and him during a game of
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...
. He always arranged his letter tiles alphabetically; at one point, he had EFGHOOT. His wife suggested that, if the first two letters were transposed, the silly name 'Feghoot' could be formed. Bretnor did so, and began using the name in his punny stories.
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' regularly featured feghoots, generally recounted as episodes in the lives of (fictionalised versions of)
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...
and
George Chapman
George Chapman ( – 12 May 1634) was an English dramatist, translator and poet. He was a classical scholar whose work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He is ...
Gravity's Rainbow
''Gravity's Rainbow'' is a 1973 novel by the American writer Thomas Pynchon. The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In partic ...
.''
* The Callahan's Bar series by Spider Robinson uses "some of the worst puns known to man.... building up to the anticipated pun with skill and flair."
* Isaac Asimov used the song " Give My Regards to Broadway" to form an elaborate story pun in his
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
"Death of a Foy". He uses the " Marseillaise" in the short story "Battle-Hymn" for the same effect. His short story " A Loint of Paw" ends with the one-sentence judicial verdict "A niche in time saves Stein." His story " Shah Guido G" ends with aviators landing on a floating sky city named Atlantis and it plummeting to its doom: "Why, once more in history, Atlantis sank beneath the Waves."
* Arthur C. Clarke's short story " Neutron Tide" culminates with a pun.
* Andrzej Sapkowski's short story "The Edge of the World" of '' The Witcher'' series (later included in '' The Last Wish'') culminates with a pun, as the protagonist's friend, a bard, is looking for a proper title for his ballad about the recent encounter with a devil-like being, who then says "goodnight" (corresponding to the Polish idiom "where the devil says goodnight" used for remote and dangerous places).
* One version of the story of Little Bunny Foo Foo is a feghoot.
* Each episode of the long-running
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
radio panel game ''
My Word!
''My Word!'' is a British radio quiz panel game broadcast by the BBC on the BBC Home Service, Home Service (1956–67) and BBC Radio 4, Radio 4 (1967–88). It was created by Edward J. Mason and Tony Shryane, and featured the humorous writers ...
'' ended with extemporaneous feghoots from
Frank Muir
Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wr ...
and Denis Norden.
* Comic-strip writer Stephan Pastis often includes feghoots in his strip '' Pearls Before Swine''.
* Humorist S. J. Perelman often contrived elaborate feghoots. His piece "Abby, This Is Your Father" in ''Crazy Like a Fox'' (New York: Random House, 1944) is built around a series of them.
* On the US version of the television show '' Whose Line Is It, Anyway?'',
Colin Mochrie
Colin Andrew Mochrie (; born November 30, 1957) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor, writer, producer and improvisational comedian, best known for his appearances on the British and American versions of the improvisational TV show ''Whose Line ...
often opened the "Weird Newscasters" game with a feghoot.
* The film '' The Hudsucker Proxy'' could arguably be considered a feghoot, as the film ends with a pun relating to the climax of the film.
* Comedian
Norm Macdonald
Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...
frequently told feghoots as part of his comedy style.
* The "Misty's Bedtime Stories" segment on ''Hee-Haw'' was a feghoot.
See also
*
Shaggy dog story
In its original sense, a shaggy-dog story or yarn is an extremely long-winded anecdote characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and terminated by an anticlimax. In other words, it is a long story that is intended ...