Every once in a while, a Feghoot pops into my brain. . .

[xiphias]

After the successful test of the brand-new hyperdrive, Captain Feghoot got a chance to meet the lead researcher of the team that developed it.

"What I don't understand, Dr. Fagan, is how you realized that the stable subspace strings that Dr. Poccator postulated would actually be strong enough to use for propulsion. How did you know that his theory would create a hyperspace tunnel? What led you to choose that direction of research over all the other competing methods that your team developed?"

"Well," Dr. Fagan replied, "You've got to pick a Poccator tube, boys. You've got to pick a Poccator tube."

Comments

[sarianna.livejournal.com]

*groans*
Man, that's pretty terrible. But it still made my morning.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

Dr. Poccator also left his mark on the machines in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," although Thurber spelled it "pocketa."

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I'm going to artfully dodge that awful, awful pun.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the trick to writing Feghoots is that you want the ENTIRE story to point towards the punchline. You can't have your pun be based on a turn of phrase or a double meaning of just PART of the story -- it really needs to be more of an all-over twist.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard of the art form before... it does remind me a great deal of the stories told on the radio program My Word, which were meant to ramp up to a terrible alteration of a cliche or saying -- more of a shaggy dog story, usually met with sighs and groans...though of course since it was radio, I had to visualize the audience's reaction. While Cpt. Feghoot never did appear in these anecdotes, it left me wondering just where they manged to keep coming up with advertising revenue for the program; I mean, who will buy this wonderful moaning? Such a sigh, I never did see...

[deathboy.livejournal.com]

That's so awful, you swine :D

[gingicat]

I would have gotten it faster if you'd spelled it Fagin... very clever and groanworthy.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

gaaahhhh. *headdesk* Awful. Clever.

[aethelflaed2.livejournal.com]

*giggle* *smirk* *groan*

Perfect for a slightly hungover, but really just tired morning.

[tylik.livejournal.com]

Great. Now I'm going to be hearing that musical for the rest of the day...

[rosamund.livejournal.com]

You made my boyfriend cry.

That offer of marriage earlier? I take it back.

I'm lost

[beardedone.livejournal.com]

What's a Feghoot? What's a Poccator tube? Where's the pun?
I'm sorry, even reading it aloud I don't get it. Maybe it's because I'm carefully pronouncing each word in the entire story, but the only homonym I can find is Poccator tube, but I still don't get it.

Oops, I think I finally got it, when I thought of it in terms of Star Trek or Men in Black. It's been a long day. I think that I'm going to go to bed now.

Re: I'm lost

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Think "musical theater". It's based on a song from the musical Oliver!

A Feghoot is a science fiction short-short story based around a terrible pun. Usually explaining the exploits of the famed Captain Feghoot, Space Explorer.

Re: I'm lost

[beardedone.livejournal.com]

I've never seen Oliver. Is that the story of Oliver Twist?

Re: I'm lost

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yes; but as a musical.

To explain the joke, just so you don't have to be left out (obviously, once you explain it, it's not funny any more -- but it's even WORSE to just not have the referent and have it NOT explained. . . )

The character of Fagin, in the musical, has one song where he's teaching Oliver and the other kids how to steal, and the chorus is, "You've got to pick a pocket or two, boys, you've got to pick a pocker or two."

It's a pretty distinctive line if you've ever heard the song, so that's what the pun turns on.

Re: I'm lost

[beardedone.livejournal.com]

Thank you, (and here I thought you were referring to pockets of subspace, which I thought was extremely witty.)