Blog #2 Shaggy Dog Stories Analysis

Classwork/Group work

The members of my analysis group:

Tanaera Green, Danielle BaraKat, and Carolina Vasquez

Shaggy Dog Story #2

·         has French words

·         gives a setting

·         less formal language

·         punch line is meant to be read literally

·         use common language in the joke

·         the reader has to know the culture of NYC and how strange things happen

·         bizarre character/theme – talking murderous panda

·         joke inside a joke

·         there was a lot of emotion in a short span of time (maitre d' was horrified)

·         the punch line is created in the dialogue between the two identified characters

·         homonyms are used in the punch line:

·         weird/curiosity about the specificity of the dictionary used to look up the meaning of "Giant Panda"- there were not many other specific elements of the story, so why was the source of the punch line so specific?

Shaggy dog story #3

·         informal language used

·         setting and attitude of characters are known

·         rule of 3's: seen in the repeated question and answer from the string and the bartenders

·         overly personified the string

·         the punch line can mean more than one thing

" Nope, I'm a frayed knot." -- "Nope, I'm afraid not."

·         has a lot of emotions in the words (like the panda)

·         the punch line broke the rule of 3’s- you expect the string to get the same response, and the humor is seen when the punchline is delivered unexpectedly.

Shaggy dog story #4

·         you have to know the cultural aspect of TGIF- common phrase

·         shorter than other jokes

·         you’re supposed to know who/about  Robert Crusoe (is a book)

·         it’s a joke for people who may read a lot

·          the joke comes from the dialogue in the characters

·         the words in joke are rearranged but you can still make the connection

·         involves religion

·         somewhat literal punch line

·         not modern setting or theme – who lives in a tent/ has server or helper?

Shaggy Dog story #5

·         informal language is used

·         no character is identified

·         setting and time is identifies

·         background about lawyer, his wealth, his assets

·         seems like a fairytale story when the bears “appear”

·         lawyer seems selfish and is labeled- “stereotype”

·         fictional aspects -swallowing the male whole

·         lawyers car shows wealth (again, contributing to the idea or "stereotype" that all lawyers are wealthy)

·         Lawyer immediately thought of lawsuit –again selfishness

·         the sheriff is doubtful of the lawyer-stereotype of Two sneaky lawyers can be

·         Punch line is a pun to legal terms if “the check in in the mail”

Features that all stories had in common:

- These all used informal language

- There was a setting, or a time or place identified.

- The punch lines were all literal, or actual things that would require background cultural knowledge to know.

- These all had dialogue between characters in them

- The characters were vague and not really identified too much; there were no names

- all three were fictional and created stories and had elements in them that would never happen in real life.