Definitions for shaggy dog story
shag·gy dog sto·ry

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. shaggy dog storynoun

   a long rambling joke whose humor derives from its pointlessness

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. shaggy dog storynoun

   A long-winded tale or yarn featuring extensive narration of typically irrelevant details, usually resulting in a pointless or absurd punchline, which is often a pun or Spoonerism on a known catchphrase.

2. Etymology: Uncertain; prob. from one of two jokes, one in which a protracted search for an alleged remarkably shaggy, talking dog ends in the discovery of the dog which, though it can indeed talk, is disappointingly not so shaggy after all; or one in which an even more protracted search for the shaggiest dog in the world ends in the utterly anticlimactic punchline "Now that's a shaggy dog!".

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. 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. Shaggy dog stories play upon the audience's preconceptions of joke-telling. The audience listens to the story with certain expectations, which are either simply not met or met in some entirely unexpected manner. A lengthy shaggy dog story derives its humour from the fact that the joke-teller held the attention of the listeners for a long time (such jokes can take five minutes or more to tell) for no reason at all, as the long-awaited resolution is essentially meaningless, with the joke as a whole playing upon humans' search for meaning. The nature of their delivery is reflected in the English idiom spin a yarn, by way of analogy with the production of yarn.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. shaggy dog story

   A shaggy dog story is a type of long, rambling, humorous anecdote characterized by its extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents and its abrupt, unexpected or anticlimactic punchline. It is essentially a lengthy joke with an unfulfilling ending that makes the listener realize they have been led on a pointless journey.

FreebaseRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Shaggy dog story

   In its original sense, a shaggy dog story is an extremely long-winded tale characterized by extensive narration of typically irrelevant incidents, usually resulting in a pointless or absurd punchline based on a play on words in cliché form. These stories are a special case of yarns, coming from the long tradition of campfire yarns. Shaggy dog stories play upon the audience's preconceptions of the art of joke telling. The audience listens to the story with certain expectations, which are either simply not met or met in some entirely unexpected manner. A lengthy shaggy dog story derives its humour from the fact that the joke-teller held the attention of the listeners for a long time for no reason at all, as the story ends with a meaningless anticlimax.

Matched Categories

1. • Joke

How to pronounce shaggy dog story?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say shaggy dog story in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of shaggy dog story in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of shaggy dog story in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1