Tuesday, 12 February 2008

Trashy Roots




Trashy Roots, an anagram of A Short Story

A college professor was lecturing his students on writing a good, short story. He stressed that four features must be present.

  • First, one ingredient is Sex -- for without it, there would be no human race, so there is no academic pursuit.
  • Second, one must have Religion, for this differentiates Homo Sapiens from animals, as religion governs humankind's way of daily living and leads to his/her civilization process. Otherwise, there is no history.
  • Third, there must be Mystery, for this challenges the reader to read on to test his imagination and detection power if he could transcend the writer's creative prowess and guess the ending.
  • Lastly, by definition, a short story must have brevity; otherwise, ..... it's not wise to underestimate your reader's intelligence.


So the class of Nobel laureate-aspirants set to work, and except for the rustle of pens on paper, there was pin-drop silence.

From where he sat on the front table, the professor spied a restless youth watching the courtyard outside through the window, obviously contemplating the old banyan trees, the chirping birds, both the feathered and human kind (with lads in tow, holding hands, and picnic baskets, what else). And the young man's thoughts strayed.

The professor tapped the young-man, deep-in-reflection, on his shoulder, enquiring if he had problem with his assignment.

"No, professor, I have accomplished my mission," the bespectacled lad proudly replied, handing over a page of paper. All eyes of his course mates were now focused on the potential winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

On the piece of paper was written the following:







The Duchess of Santa Crux is pregnant, O' God!

I wonder who did it?



On egin!

3 comments:

The Ancient Mariner said...

I wrote about a similar joke some time ago. Read it here:

http://cyusof.blogspot.com/2006/12/sex-and-mystery.html

Anonymous said...

hi MM:
I may send thee a lawyer's letter for 20million; except for Santa whatever -- minewasKent, methinks -- the restof writing was Desi's. But if you buy me tehtarik and kambing at Lingam's, I will stop Lingam from sending ooouch dat letter!:) -- YL, Desi knottyaSsusual

mindful mariner said...

Dear AM & anonDesi in disguise.
Thanks for the comments.
Good things like that must re regurgitated periodically.
TT & KK on me for you both at the next rendezvous.