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Feghoot

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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
288:) 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). 144:. 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. 210:), which all ended in a pun on the name of a famous science-fiction writer. Bretnor later paid tribute to these stories in one of his own, in which Ferdinand Feghoot assures a friend that Breadfruit was "conceived in our Garrett". 106:, 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 being 68:
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 "
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pieces that appeared under the collective title "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot", published in various magazines over several decades, written by
260:" 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." 77: 345: 534: 438: 241: 213:
One example of a feghoot is the "Forty million Frenchmen" gag ("For DeMille, young fur-henchmen...") on page 559 of Thomas Pynchon's
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from 1956 to 1973. In 1973, the magazine ran a contest soliciting readers' feghoots as entries. The series also appeared in
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regularly featured feghoots, generally recounted as episodes in the lives of (fictionalised versions of)
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could arguably be considered a feghoot, as the film ends with a pun relating to the climax of the film.
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uses "some of the worst puns known to man.... building up to the anticipated pun with skill and flair."
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Many of the ideas and puns for Bretnor's stories were contributed by others, including
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Bretnor said that the idea of the name occurred to his wife and him during a game of
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The term for this storytelling model originated in a long-running series of short
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Isaac Asimov, "The Winds of Change", Granada 1983/ Panther, 1984/Doubleday 1984,
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often contrived elaborate feghoots. His piece "Abby, This Is Your Father" in
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were animated feghoots, right down to the pun at the end of each episode. "
75:"Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot" was originally published in 64: 304: 141: 125:. Other authors have published feghoots written on their own, including 373: 61: 460: 340:(New York: Random House, 1944) is built around a series of them. 299: 36: 507:. Vol. 7. Doubleday & Company. pp. 182–183. 353:
often opened the "Weird Newscasters" game with a feghoot.
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frequently told feghoots as part of his comedy style.
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Isaac Asimov, "Battle-Hymn", in "Gold", Harper 1995
503:Anthony Boucher; Robert P. Mills, eds. (1958). 204:Through Time and Space with Benedict Breadfruit 78:The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 8: 276:'s short story "The Edge of the World" of 505:The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 343:On the US version of the television show 308:ended with extemporaneous feghoots from 237:" to form an elaborate story pun in his 16:A short story designed to end with a pun 433:. London: Routledge. pp. 120–121. 419: 97:Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine 252:for the same effect. His short story " 525:Characters in written science fiction 406:, Manchester: The Mirage Press, LTD. 323:often includes feghoots in his strip 7: 137:stories have been written, as well. 14: 298:Each episode of the long-running 430:The Linguistic Analysis of Jokes 404:The (Even More) Compleat Feghoot 91:Venture Science Fiction Magazine 31:) is a humorous short story or 1: 535:Science fiction short stories 291:One version of the story of 233:Isaac Asimov used the song " 179:Peabody's Improbable History 427:Ritchie, Graeme D. (2004). 235:Give My Regards to Broadway 83:Fantasy and Science Fiction 561: 402:Briarton, Grendel (1980). 282:series (later included in 374:"Misty's Bedtime Stories" 346:Whose Line Is It, Anyway? 206:" by Grandall Barretton ( 270:" culminates with a pun. 530:Science fiction genres 248:" in the short story 193:Fractured Fairy Tales 108:The Collected Feghoot 293:Little Bunny Foo Foo 188:Rocky and Bullwinkle 112:Pulphouse Publishing 359:The Hudsucker Proxy 326:Pearls Before Swine 319:Comic-strip writer 154:Myles na gCopaleen 123:E. Nelson Bridwell 88:s sister magazine 540:Short story types 440:978-0-415-30983-7 302:radio panel game 274:Andrzej Sapkowski 216:Gravity's Rainbow 195:" often were too. 48:Ferdinand Feghoot 29:poetic story joke 23:(also known as a 552: 509: 508: 500: 494: 491: 485: 475: 469: 468: 457: 451: 450: 448: 447: 424: 391:Shaggy dog story 338:Crazy Like a Fox 266:'s short story " 264:Arthur C. Clarke 242:"Death of a Foy" 148:Other story puns 87: 58:Reginald Bretnor 560: 559: 555: 554: 553: 551: 550: 549: 515: 514: 513: 512: 502: 501: 497: 492: 488: 476: 472: 465:everything2.com 459: 458: 454: 445: 443: 441: 426: 425: 421: 399: 387: 244:. He uses the " 228:Spider Robinson 208:Randall Garrett 200:Amazing Stories 183:Aesop & Son 150: 103:Amazing Stories 94:, and later in 85: 54:science-fiction 50: 45: 17: 12: 11: 5: 558: 556: 548: 547: 542: 537: 532: 527: 517: 516: 511: 510: 495: 486: 470: 452: 439: 418: 417: 416: 415: 398: 395: 394: 393: 386: 383: 382: 381: 380:was a feghoot. 370: 367:Norm Macdonald 363: 354: 341: 334:S. J. Perelman 330: 321:Stephan Pastis 317: 296: 289: 271: 261: 254:A Loint of Paw 231: 224:Callahan's Bar 220: 211: 196: 185:" segments on 175: 172:George Chapman 158:Cruiskeen Lawn 149: 146: 49: 46: 44: 41: 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 557: 546: 543: 541: 538: 536: 533: 531: 528: 526: 523: 522: 520: 506: 499: 496: 490: 487: 484: 483:0-586-05743-9 480: 474: 471: 466: 462: 456: 453: 442: 436: 432: 431: 423: 420: 413: 412:0-88358-022-5 409: 405: 401: 400: 396: 392: 389: 388: 384: 379: 375: 371: 368: 364: 361: 360: 355: 352: 351:Colin Mochrie 348: 347: 342: 339: 335: 331: 328: 327: 322: 318: 315: 311: 307: 306: 301: 297: 295:is a feghoot. 294: 290: 287: 286: 285:The Last Wish 281: 280: 275: 272: 269: 265: 262: 259: 255: 251: 250:"Battle-Hymn" 247: 243: 240: 236: 232: 229: 225: 221: 219: 217: 212: 209: 205: 201: 197: 194: 190: 189: 184: 180: 176: 173: 169: 165: 164: 159: 155: 152: 151: 147: 145: 143: 138: 136: 132: 128: 124: 120: 115: 113: 109: 105: 104: 99: 98: 93: 92: 84: 80: 79: 73: 71: 66: 63: 59: 55: 47: 42: 40: 38: 34: 30: 26: 22: 504: 498: 489: 473: 464: 455: 444:. Retrieved 429: 422: 403: 377: 357: 344: 337: 324: 314:Denis Norden 303: 283: 277: 268:Neutron Tide 258:Shah Guido G 246:Marseillaise 214: 199: 186: 161: 139: 135:fan-produced 131:John Brunner 127:Isaac Asimov 116: 107: 101: 95: 89: 82: 76: 74: 62:anagrammatic 51: 35:ending in a 28: 24: 20: 18: 376:segment on 279:The Witcher 239:short story 202:published " 163:Irish Times 156:'s column " 133:. Numerous 119:F. M. Busby 519:Categories 446:2008-12-13 397:References 310:Frank Muir 226:series by 168:John Keats 60:under the 365:Comedian 356:The film 332:Humorist 198:In 1962, 160:" in the 65:pseudonym 25:story pun 385:See also 305:My Word! 142:Scrabble 33:vignette 378:Hee-Haw 181:" and " 43:History 21:feghoot 481:  437:  410:  177:The " 110:from 86:' 545:Puns 479:ISBN 435:ISBN 408:ISBN 372:The 312:and 222:The 170:and 129:and 121:and 300:BBC 37:pun 27:or 521:: 463:. 349:, 114:. 100:, 19:A 467:. 449:. 414:. 329:. 316:. 218:. 174:. 70:)

Index

vignette
pun
science-fiction
Reginald Bretnor
anagrammatic
pseudonym
)
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Venture Science Fiction Magazine
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
Amazing Stories
Pulphouse Publishing
F. M. Busby
E. Nelson Bridwell
Isaac Asimov
John Brunner
fan-produced
Scrabble
Myles na gCopaleen
Cruiskeen Lawn
Irish Times
John Keats
George Chapman
Peabody's Improbable History
Aesop & Son
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Fractured Fairy Tales
Through Time and Space with Benedict Breadfruit
Randall Garrett
Gravity's Rainbow

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