HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mblaser@nyx.cs.du.edu (Fox)
Subject: Re: DW Ideas 
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 02:50:43 GMT

Thanks.  That was just the sort of stuff I was hoping to hear.  Now all
that has to  be done is write something I suppose.  Or was the step 2? *8)

Fox

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
  /\_/\ F   "Have you danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"
  \O O/ O
   \o/  X   "Oh ha de ha ha. Now shut up and finish drawing that pentagram!"
From: irp@ukc.ac.uk (I.R.Pletcher)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Passin' thru
Date: 31 Jul 92 10:42:23 GMT
Reply-To: irp@ukc.ac.uk (I.R.Pletcher)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

In article <memo.551136@cix.compulink.co.uk> tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:
>
>2) Use a wordprocessor....why do I feel this is not necessary advice here? It
>makes everything mutable.  It's better for the ego.  And you can play games
>when all else fails.

What games do you play when "all else fails?"

Ian
From: Elizabeth.Mccoy@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Elizabeth Mccoy)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Print run numbers (was Re: Reepor Man)
Date: 22 Jul 92 23:07:47 GMT
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service

In article <1992Jul21.140236.11161@cybernet.cse.fau.edu> rae@sol.cse.fau.edu writes:
>
>If its any use here's the details :
>First Roc Printing, July 1992
>10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (what are these numbers for anyway!??)

Those are the print run numbers -- that's the first printing. When they
do a second printing, they cover up the "1", reshoot the page, and print
again, up till they get to 10, when they have to make a whole new master
page for that page.

The tings you learn when your parents own a press.

--EM

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Subject: Re: Erm. Excuse me?                     
Reply-To: jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 04:07:54 GMT

To combine two threads here:

  It's been commented that TP has the Diskworld books in
machine-readable form (presumably because he wrote them on a word
processor.)

  It would seem that Corgi (the UK publisher) probably *also* has them
in machine-readable form, because no one typesets any other way
anymore.  I assume(?), also, that TP submits his work on disk, to save
everyone a lot of trouble.

  The Corgi editions are relatively error-free.  However, the Roc (US)
editions are infamous for being absolutely *HORRENDOUS* in terms of
the typo quotient.

  So my question is, where are these typos coming from?  Please don't
tell me that Roc has some poor fool typing the text in again from a
printout...they really ought to be getting the e-text from the British
side.  So are the disks suffering from bitrot as they cross the
Atlantic, or what?

  (Not that it affects me any more--because of the horrible delays in
the books' being released over here, I've bought the UK hardbacks of
REAPER MAN and WITCHES ABROAD...SMALL GODS hasn't come in yet, grumble
grumble...)

  Also, Terry wanted to know the Roc typos:  probably one of the worst
was in the first printing of MOVING PICTURES (don't know about
subsequent printings) which has "Terry Pratchet" [sic] emblazoned atop
every left-hand page...

Jonathan Lennox
jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
From: scst52@csc.liv.ac.uk (Mr. A.M. Blanchard)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Copying books to electronic form
Date: 27 Jul 92 12:53:18 GMT
Organization: Computer Science, Liverpool University
Nntp-Posting-User: scst52

Actually, getting a printed book onto disk is not that difficult, no more
than 2 minutes per page (really on the outside that), I read in over 80
pages of printed program listing using an OCR package and managed to get
a compiled program after an hour & a half.  For a novel substitute a spell
checker for a debugger to locate errors, of course we will abide by 
copyright laws now won't we.  We don't want a repeat of what happened in
alt.fan.douglas.adams where someone posted the *entire* HHGTTG book.


   Andy

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
  ANDREW BLANCHARD                 "The opinions expressed above do not
                                    reflect anyone else's opinion (most
  scst52@uk.ac.liv.csc              of the time anyway)"

  "When he's not in class he's busting his ass"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: mblaser@nyx.cs.du.edu (mike blaser)
Subject: Re: An Ogden Nash poem
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 16:02:59 GMT

Giggle. Nice


--
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  \O O/ O               "What is a figment anyway?" 
   \o/  X 
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Nathan Torkington)
Subject: Re: Yawn.
Organization: Contract to CSC, Victoria Uni, Wellington, New Zealand
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 03:06:47 GMT
Distribution: alt

leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) writes:

   Maybe I'll do one of "Eric" instead, for our American friends...

Yup - I think some enlightened criticism and informed debate is called
for: "Pbbbbbbt!!  Look what we've got.  Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!"

   "Everything works both ways"? Please explain...

On pg 261, the following piece of dialogue occurs:

	'How's Urn's steam machine?' said Didactylos.
	'I think he's a bit upset about it,' said Brutha.
	Didactylos cackled and banged his stick on the ground.
	'Hah!  He's learning!  Everything works both ways!'

It smacked to me of Newton's law ("every action ... equal and opposite
reaction ... until death do us part", or something like that).  Then
again, that's probably a case of the reader's sick mind finding his
own jokes.

   I personally liked Didactylos' version of Alexander The Great's
   "there's no royal road to learning, sire" anecdote.

Classic.  Hmm, would it be okay with Terry if we collected together
the best gags and quoted and explained them?  That way we avoid things
like "that witty bit on p196 where Brutha points out that the lion den
has steps on it" and other circumlocutory prolix.

   It's difficult to come up with more Small Gods gags from memory, though.
   There were so many I'm sure I did not get all of the references.

Darn straight.  I'm going to have to reread the book (and to hell with
my project) and see if I can find any more.

   Which brings me to the fact that I more and more wish that there was
   an "Annotated Pratchett" file somewhere. The FAQ makes a good start,
   but it could be a whole project in its own right.

Exactly.  I think the FAQ is in danger of becoming too large - it should
be informational, but not exhaustive.

   Tell you what; if people are interested in this, I'm willing to
   start the Annotated Pratchett Project right here and now. If there is any
   in-joke in a Terry Pratchett book that you feel people might easily "not
   get" because they are not familiar with the subject matter it refers to,
   mail an explanation to me at

       leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl

   And I will collect and post the results back to the net. Maybe the existence
   of the project and this address can be put in the FAQ as well? (BTW, with
   the many new readers Pratchett's appearance has attracted, I think the
   FAQ might be posted for a while with a higher frequency than usual...)

Ok, and I offer to specialise in Small Gods.  So far I have listed:
  * "royal road to learning"
  * "all ephebians are liars"
  * "ambi-sinister"
and will fill in more when I get time.  My e-mail address is
	gnat@kauri.vuw.ac.nz

Cheers;

Nat.
Xref: sparky alt.fan.pratchett:1327 talk.bizarre:24127
From: mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: You geeks
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 15:37:01 BST
Followup-To: alt.newbie,misc.test
Distribution: world
Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK.

bradfiel@phakt.usc.edu (The B-field) writes:
> Well, he's had his say so let's just ignore him and keep up the IQ level
> of the Internet.

He said, posting to

> Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett,misc.test,talk.bizarre
                                ^^^^^^^^^
I love it.


mathew
-- 
This posting is shareware.  If you enjoy it, please send $5 to the author
within 7 days, or else report to the FBI for selective brain erasure.

Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: DW setting and typoes
Organization: Taronga Park BBS
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 23:55:33 GMT

In article <4132@inca.comlab.ox.ac.uk> gordon@robots.oxford.ac.uk (Gordon Buxton) writes:
>I found it a bit off putting to read the conversation on the left hand
>page, with this *HUGE* 'YES.' staring out from the page opposite,
>destroying the comic tension (IMHO).  The surprise (and therefore
>humour) element could have been immeasurably improved by arranging the
>page breaks so that the 'YES.' came at the top of a left hand page,

It *is* in the US edition.

Nyah nyah nyah.
-- 
                                                                `-_-'
                         Have you hugged your wolf today?        'U`

Peter da Silva, Taronga Park BBS, Houston, TX  +1 713 568 0480/1032
From: garton@jeeves.ucsd.edu (Simon Garton)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: You geeks
Date: 29 Jul 92 22:38:59 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego

In article <Bs4Mp4.CF9@wpi.WPI.EDU> sauron@parrot.WPI.EDU (Amelia Ruth Rich) writes:
>though i do agree with your assessment of the previous poster, id
>like to stand up for craig shaw gardner. he has written some rather
>amusing fantasy/humor books.  i also like pratchett, and i think that
>if you like pratchett that you might also like CSG.
>
>just my   $.02

oops had a feeling I would upset somebody with that. I was in
flame mode, and wasn't about to admit that I have read a couple
of CSG's books, and did enjoy them.

by the way, although Mr Echverri has apparently denied writing
that original post, talk.bizarre is full of posts from him, and
a couple of people wrote to me, saying ignore him, he does this
all the time. Go figure.

Apologies to the Pratchett for wasting space in his group. Shall
we call it a day and get back to doing some real meaningful
discussion ? What did happen to the water going off the rim of
the disc ? I personally favoured the 'vacuum cleaner'
hypothesis... though with that recent posting about the disc
being in Vishnu's navel, all sorts of things come to mind.

Simon>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: icklinck@cayley.waterloo.edu (Ian "Rhys" Klinck)
Subject: Re: Chapters
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 17:28:29 GMT

In article <memo.550062@cix.compulink.co.uk> tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:
>DW books don't have chapters because, well, I just never got into the habit
>of chapters.  I'm not sure why they should exist (except maybe in children's
>books, to allow the parent to say 'I'll read to the end of the chapter and
>they you must go to sleep.')  Films don't have chapters.  Besides, I think
>they're interfere with the shape of the story.  Use a bookmark is my advice.

...or read it straight through - that's always my approach.

Ian

The Unniversity of Waterloo gets enough of my money, so It can't have my
opinions!
From: pm3_norr@csd.brispoly.ac.uk (Paul Norris)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Alligator Sandwich
Date: 28 Jul 92 12:01:52 GMT
Organization: Bristol Polytechnic, England

In article <leo.712226720@galaxy> leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl writes:
}There is a running gag in "Witches Abroad", where Granny Weatherwax
}attempts to tell a joke, which of course falls horribly flat each time,
}I already figured I was missing something (because I can't make heads
}or tails of this 'joke')

For probably the fortieth time :

Man walks into a sandwich bar.  There's a notice saying "We sell all kinds of 
sandwiches"  (play it out a bit with dialogue - then)

"OK, get me an alligator sandwich - and make it snappy!"

Paul


-- 
Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.
                                            --  Charlie Brown
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: mblaser@nyx.cs.du.edu (Fox)
Subject: Re: Passin' thru 
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 03:22:08 GMT

tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:

>3) Write.  For more than three years I wrote more 400 words every day.  I
>mean, every calendar day.  If for some reason, in those pre-portable days, I
>couldn't get to a keyboard, I wrote hard the previous night and caught up the
>following day, and if it ever seemed that it was easy to do the average I
>upped the average.  I also did a hell of a lot of editing afterwards but the
>point was there _was_ something there to edit.  I had a more than full-time
>job as well.  I hate to say this, but most of the successful (well,
>okay..._rich_) authors I know seem to put 'application' around the top of the
>list of How-to-do-its.  Tough but true.

>Terry


Hmmm.  Question: You had a grounding in writing through the newspaper industry
and I've noticed that a number (well ok, two that I know about) of Britain's
other popular S&SF writers (namely Gaimen and Gemmell) have aswell.  Would 
it be true that this experience tends to allow a fuller knowledge of how to
write a full blown novel, what with the editor looking over your shoulder
when you write at work, making sure that 'sloppy writing' is jumped on? Or
is it just the case that all reporters want to publish as novelists and
the few who make it happen to be notable in this context?

Also, forgive my ignorance but what do you mean byputting 'application'
at the top of the list of priorities?

Regs. Fox
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
  /\_/\ F   "Have you danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"
  \O O/ O
   \o/  X   "Oh ha de ha ha. Now shut up and finish drawing that pentagram!"
From: rizzoe@FASECON.ECON.NYU.EDU (Emily Rizzo)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: SFBC selection
Keywords: SFBC book club selection
Date: 30 Jul 92 21:38:19 GMT
Organization: New York University

In article <1992Jul30.143211.1216@hemlock.cray.com> cargo@cray.com 
writes:David S. Cargo writes:

>REAPER MAN is one of this month's selections from the Science Fiction
>Book Club.  This is somewhat bad timing on their part, since the paper
>back has been out for a while.  Many Pratchett fans have probably
>already bought a copy in paperback.  Still, it's nice to see him
>getting that kind of exposure.


I'm another closet SFBC member.  Actually, that's how I first discovered 
the T.P. books -- I bought Good Omens first, then ordered the first 6 
Discworld books from them.  They  used the Josh Kirby cover for the 
Light Fantastick, I believe; but all the other covers have been privately 
commissioned and pretty poor.   

Emily  Rizzo
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: mblaser@nyx.cs.du.edu (mike blaser)
Subject: Re: hejsan
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 02:32:34 GMT

rm104449@ee.tut.fi (M{kinen Riku) writes:

>And BTW, who is Mike Jittlov (or something).

Forget that, who the heck is this Kibo dude?

Fox
--
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  \O O/ O          "To be, or not to be.  Who's askin'?" - Popeye              
   \o/  X 
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: jrs@netcom.com (John Switzer)
Subject: Re: Scanning books
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 16:10:16 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 

In article <1992Jul20.195318.12311@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> mblaser@nyx.cs.du.edu (Fox) writes:
>chrisc@debra.dgbt.doc.ca (Chris Camfield) writes:
>
>>In article <#!+ml3d.jrs@netcom.com> jrs@netcom.com (John Switzer) writes:
>>>Yeah, but I'd still like a chance to go one-on-one against the Luggage - 
>>>mano-a-mano as it were!
>
>>Why?  Do you REALLY want to find out where people go when the Luggage
>>eats them?  *GRIN*
>
>Nah, he's just got this thing about copious amounts of pain followed
>by immediate termination *8)

Naah - it'd be a historic battle of epic proportions! One thing for certain 
would be that this journey into the undiscovered country would be far more
interesting that Star Trek VI!
-- 
John Switzer               | "Gammera is really neat,
                           | Gammera's full of turtle meat, 
74076.1250@Compuserve.com  | We all love you, Gammera."
jrs@netcom.com             | ---MST 3000
From: drobb@cs.strath.ac.uk (David M Robb IE90)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: O and A levels
Date: 24 Jul 92 13:03:22 GMT
Organization: Comp. Sci. Dept., Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland
In-reply-to: jarvis@smeg.reo.dec.com's message of 23 Jul 92 07:19:01 GMT



> --
> In article <35999@sdcc12.ucsd.edu>, garton@jeeves.ucsd.edu (Simon Garton) writes:

> O and A levels. Scotland have their own system of Lowers, Highers 
> and Sixth Year Studies. Confusing, well even the English Universities
> don't know what they are when you apply to them :-)

Scotland have never had "Lowers".  They used to have O-Grades
but now have changed to "Standard Grades", but who really
cares I thought this news group was about TP not
the education system of Britain.

> -Neil "British, unless provoked, when I become Scottish"

David - Always Scottish
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: tdc1004@dircon.co.uk (Barry Freeman)
Subject: Re: Upcoming Stuff 
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 13:51:16 GMT

mblaser@nyx.cs.du.edu (mike blaser) writes:

>tdc1004@dircon.co.uk (Barry Freeman) writes:
>
>
>>And when are we going to see the Wizards experimenting with 
>>computers? eh? I mean, they have the High Energy Magic facility, 
>>sure they need some form of computer to run it all? Does the 
>>Librarian know about virus' (virii?) Do they have a debugger 
>>for complex spells?
>
>Wizards don't use computers.  Druids do remember (was it the Colour of Magic or
>the Light Fantastic when Rincewind landed on a huge slab of sillicaceous
>rock heading for a huge terminal?
>
>Fox
>
 
I assumed that thatwas an '8-bit' <grin> machine.. I'd like 
to see s0omething a bit more advanced...
 
I'd *love* to see what the librarian would do tothe first support 
person to say M****y..
 
BAzz
-- 
+-------------------------------------+---------------------------+
| TDC1004@dircon.co.uk                |  \__/  'Hey, Laser-Lips,  |
| The Fox's Den BBS +44-(0)689-827085 |  |oo|     Yer mother was  |
| Bazz@compulink.co.uk                |  :==:      a snow-blower!'|
From: gordon@robots.oxford.ac.uk (Gordon Buxton)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: DW setting and typoes
Date: 27 Jul 92 14:30:28 GMT
Organization: Robotics Research Group, Engineering Science Dept, Oxford, UK.

In article <memo.542450@cix.compulink.co.uk> tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:
>... as soon as we had a finished version (ie, my final draft plus any
>editorial changes we agreed on) I turned over the disc.  I'm not interested
>in the whole DTP bit -- I'm not knocking it, and maybe I'll get involved if
>publishers get a little less technophobic, but right now I'm not hugely
>attracted to it.

Do the humour possibilities of this stage interest you then? A
specific example is the part in Reaper Man when Death talks to Azrael.
I found it a bit off putting to read the conversation on the left hand
page, with this *HUGE* 'YES.' staring out from the page opposite,
destroying the comic tension (IMHO).  The surprise (and therefore
humour) element could have been immeasurably improved by arranging the
page breaks so that the 'YES.' came at the top of a left hand page,
ie. it's *supposed* to be the first thing you read, rather than the
first thing you *actually* read.

I guess that I'm being nit-picky, but I reckon its something similar
to 'comic timing' in visual or aural humour.

Gordon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Buxton			|	The application of laziness  |
gordon@robots.oxford.ac.uk	|	is the solution to most      |
Tel: 0865 772318		|       intractable problems.        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: rsholmes@rodan.syr.EDU (Rich Holmes)
Subject: Re: Patrician's assassination, plus two questions
In-reply-to: ans0@aber.ac.uk's message of 24 Jul 92 20:36:09 GMT
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
	<1992Jul23.122024.13169@vela.acs.oakland.edu> <dxgmprg.jrs@netcom.com>
	<1992Jul24.203609.24523@aber.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 92 03:02:19 EDT

In article <1992Jul24.203609.24523@aber.ac.uk> ans0@aber.ac.uk (Austin Newton Shackles) writes:

>someone mentioned flamefests etc., so here you are, i'll start a spelling 
>flamefest:
>
>the english spelling for disc is disc, unfortunately americans and (possibly) 
>small children just don't like the idea of the c being hard, so they have to 
>mess around with a perfectly good (if arcane) language, and replace it with a 
>k. funilly enough, the english spelling of licence has a soft c, but the have 
>to change that too, making it license...wierd.
>
>:-) X10^19 for those who can't take a bit of light sarcasm.

No, it's worse than that -- one of the few instances in which the
American spelling isn't an improvement. :-). In the U.S. you can
listen to a compact disc while backing up your hard disk. Usually,
computer discs are disks while other disks are discs.

I've heard it explained as follows: when small floppies were invented,
since "discette" didn't look right, they called them "diskettes",
which then got shortened to "disk", and said spelling got applied to
all computer discs. Probable urban legend, but there you are.

(By "small floppies", I mean 5 1/4" ones. Anyone remember 8" floppies?
I wrote my dissertation on them. No, not about them; just on them.)

--
  - Rich Holmes - - - - - - - - - - - - - rsholmes@mailbox.syr.edu -
	WARNING: This .sig has been cruelly tested on animals.

Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: daniel@csunb0.dcs.leeds.ac.uk (D N Crow)
Subject: Re: Alligator Sandwich
Organization: School of Computer Studies, University of Leeds
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 12:59:39 GMT
X-Posted-From: csgi63.leeds.ac.uk
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <leo.712226720@galaxy>, leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) writes:
> There is a running gag in "Witches Abroad", where Granny Weatherwax
> attempts to tell a joke, which of course falls horribly flat each time,
> and which goes like this (paraphrazing here, I don't have the book
> with me):
> 
> A man comes into a fast-food restaurant whch advertises that they can
> make all kinds of sandwiches, and he says: "Give me an alligator
> sandwich, quick".
> 
> I already figured I was missing something (because I can't make heads
> or tails of this 'joke'), But recently I reread "Mort", and I'll be
> damned if there isn't a reference to the same situation (the scene
> where Harga asks Death to make him an alligator sandwich).
> 
> So now I know for sure I am not 'getting' it. Any ideas, anybody?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Leo Breebaart  (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)

You don't get it because the joke you quote is still not the actual
joke. Tha actual joke is:

'A man comes into a fast-food restaurant whch advertises that they can
make all kinds of sandwiches, and he says: "Give me an alligator and
make it snappy."'

It exploits the double meaning of "make it snappy" which is an English
colloquialism for "do it quickly" and can also mean (for example, in
the context of an alligator...) "make sure it has plenty of snap".

If you paraphrase the joke, and don't use the exact crux phrase then
it comes out, well, rather flat.

-- 
Dan Crow
daniel@scs.leeds.ac.uk