Joel worked at a mental hospital

[SoCalDem]

He was the kindest of the helpers, and developed a close bond with the people he took care of. he took them to his house for cook-uots, read to them, played games with them. They jokingly refered to the home as the "nut-house"

He had such a close connection that he called them "Nuts".. They were not the least bit offended when he called them his "nuts". They got to go places, so he could call them anything he liked :)

A few of the guys loved watching baseball, so Joel got an idea..

He approached some baseball people and managed to get a bunch of freebie tickets to a baseball game. The "nuts" were ecstatic at the idea of going to the game..

They arrived and were given banners and tee shirts.

Since Joel told them what to do an when to do it, they sat patiently until Joel said "Put your shirts on, Nuts".. They all put their tee shirts on over their regular shirts..

Then Joel said.. "Wave your banners, "nuts"...and "Sing the anthem, "nuts".."Look at the jumbotron, "nuts".. "Wave to yourselves, "nuts"..

Joel left to use the restroom, and told them to stay there and watch the game until he got back..

He arrived back at his section and saw a crowd of security and police..

He asked the cop in charge, what had happened..

The cop told him that his people were sitting there watching the game, and everything was ok UNTIL the guy came around selling peanuts

[trof]

1. Is this a shaggy dog story?

Just askin'.
;-)
Cute.

[SoCalDem]

2. what's a shaggy dog story :)

:)

[trof]

3. I feel so old. It's a long involved joke

with a letdown punchline.

It appears that this charming art form has gotten more than a small bad rap from history. For example, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1977, G. & C. Merriam) indicates that a shaggy dog story is "a long-drawn-out circumstantial story concerning an inconsequential happening that impresses the teller as humorous but the hearer as boring and pointless; also: a similar humorous story whose humor lies in the pointlessness or irrelevance of the punch line". Even James Charlton (Bred any good rooks lately?, Doubleday, 1986) indicates that shaggy dog stories are "those interminable stories that spiral downward to a flat punchline".

I will always say, "Nay", to this vile characterization of my beloved stories, even though my voice becomes hoarse in the effort. A modern shaggy dog is one that tells an entertaining tale in its own right, and which ends in a ripping pun as the punchline. When done properly, there are clues given through the story that make trying to guess the punchline part of the pleasure and challenge. A special version of the shaggy dog story originated in a long-running series in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This was "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot". Typically, these would tell a science-fiction story that ended in a PUNchline. Such stories and their imitations became known as feghoots.
t appears that this charming art form has gotten more than a small bad rap from history. For example, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1977, G. & C. Merriam) indicates that a shaggy dog story is "a long-drawn-out circumstantial story concerning an inconsequential happening that impresses the teller as humorous but the hearer as boring and pointless; also: a similar humorous story whose humor lies in the pointlessness or irrelevance of the punch line". Even James Charlton (Bred any good rooks lately?, Doubleday, 1986) indicates that shaggy dog stories are "those interminable stories that spiral downward to a flat punchline".

I will always say, "Nay", to this vile characterization of my beloved stories, even though my voice becomes hoarse in the effort. A modern shaggy dog is one that tells an entertaining tale in its own right, and which ends in a ripping pun as the punchline. When done properly, there are clues given through the story that make trying to guess the punchline part of the pleasure and challenge. A special version of the shaggy dog story originated in a long-running series in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This was "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot". Typically, these would tell a science-fiction story that ended in a PUNchline. Such stories and their imitations became known as feghoots

[trof]

4. The origins:

The first shaggy dog stories seem to have been variations on a tall tale that was indeed about a shaggy-haired dog. Eric Partridge wrote a little monograph called The ‘Shaggy Dog’ Story, Its Origin, Development and Nature in 1953. He said that “the best explanation of the term is that it arose in a story very widely circulated only since 1942 or 1943, although it was apparently invented in the 1930’s”. The term itself is even more recent than those dates: the first reference I’ve found is to a piece by David Low in The New York Times Magazine in 1945. An obscure collection of shaggy dog stories under that title was published in 1946.

There are many candidates for the original or ur-shaggy dog story. William and Mary Morris, in The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, give a version of it that involves an advertisement being placed in The Times to announce a competition to find the shaggiest dog in the world. After a vast amount of effort and investigation (described in detail, after the nature of this type of story), the winning dog was presented to the aristocratic instigator of the competition, who said: “I don’t think he’s so shaggy”.

Eric Partridge gives another version as the original. A grand householder in Park Lane, London, had the great misfortune to lose a very valuable and rather shaggy dog. He advertised repeatedly in The Times, but without luck, and finally he gave up hope. But an American in New York saw the advertisement, was touched by the man’s devotion, and took great trouble to seek out a dog that matched the specification in the advertisement and which he could bring over to London on his next business trip. He presented himself in due course at the owner’s impressive house, where he was received in the householder’s absence by an even more impressive butler, who glanced at the dog, bowed, winced almost imperceptibly and exclaimed, in a horror-stricken voice, “But not so shaggy as that, sir!”

[SoCalDem]

5. Hah.. I am 56, and had never heard of that before.. Thanks

I guess this old dog learned a new trick :)