Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. Feghoots: Groan-worthy story puns. How your brain stores words.
Mar 24, 2026
They explore feghoots, those tiny stories built to end in groan-worthy puns and where they came from. They look at famous writers and cartoon examples that use punny payoffs. They explain the mental dictionary: how the brain stores words, retrieves them in milliseconds, and why tip-of-the-tongue moments happen. They touch on therapies and apps that help with word retrieval.
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Feghoots Are Stories Written To Land A Pun
- Feghoots are short narratives built entirely to deliver a groan-worthy pun at the end.
- Reginald Bretnor popularized them with Ferdinand Feghut stories in 1956, and writers like Asimov, Clarke, and King used them in sci-fi contexts.
Asimov's Sci Fi Feghoot Examples
- Famous sci-fi authors embraced feghoots as playful exercises in language and wit.
- Isaac Asimov wrote Feghut stories like "screech is silver, but violence is golden" and "a niche in time saves Stein."
Feghoots Show Up In Cartoons And TV
- Feghoot-like puns appear in cartoons and TV as quick joke payoffs.
- Examples include Rocky and Bullwinkle's Peabody quips, Simpsons' "I had a cow, man," and Teen Titans Go's "egg MacGuffin."