Spoof text is quite entertaining as well as educating. I find a very funny story of Abu Ali and his new donkey. It is a folktale from the Middle East. This story, which I think, can be labelled as spoof text is appropriate for children. Here is the story...
One day Abu Ali went to the fair, and bought nine donkeys. He rode home on one of them the rest of the donkeys followed behind.
After a while Abu Ali said to himself, “I must make sure all my donkeys are here.” And he turned round to count them.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Oh! Where’s number nine?” Abu Ali cried
He jumped down from his donkey. He looked behind the rocks and behind the trees. But there was no donkey to be seen.
“I’ll count them again,” Abu Ali said. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Oh, he must have come back.”
So Abu Ali climbed back on to the donkey and trotted away.
After a while he counted his donkeys again. He counted only eight! Once more he looked behind the rocks and behind the trees. But there was no donkey to be seen.
“I will count again,” he said, and this time there were nine.
Just then Abu Ali saw his friend Musa walking along the road. “Musa,” he called. “Help me to count my donkeys. I keep losing one. When I stop to count I have only eight, but when I get down looking for the ninth, there he is again!”
“Well, I can see ten donkeys, Abu Ali,” laughed Musa. “And the tenth donkey’s name is Abu Ali”
One day there was a prisoner that escaped from a jail when it was hard rain. He broke and damaged its wall. After that he ran away to the main road.
He walked away to the road slowly because it was rain. Due to hard rain, it made flood. The water volume increased and increased until it reached 2 meters. He ran fast. But he could not do because it was as tall as his chest and neck. It was so hard for him to walk. Moreover, he saw a car in front of him. It was about five meters. It was in the middle of the road. To make him safe, he walked to that car and reached its top. He didn’t know whose car it was. He sat on the roof of car. He waited and waited until it was normal again. He still sat on it the he slept because of so tired.
When he opened his eyes, he was so surprised and didn’t believe it. He was sat and slept on the roof of police’s car. It means that he would back to jail again. What a poor and unlucky prisoner.
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Computer and internet are useful as well as powerful. Information about health and safe usage of computer and Internet, especially for children, should be owned by each family. Computer connected to internet is powerful way to socialize with others. It can be good but also bad effect. Recently we hear a lot of children get the advantage of social networking sites but we often see the news about the disadvantage of it for children. Healthy and safety of computer and Internet usage should continue to be campaigned.
The role of parent in assisting and directing children in using computer is very necessary. Installation of software monitor such as key logger which has function to watch and note all activities relating to keyboard usage is helpful but not enough to protect children from potential harms. Children tend to hide what they have done in front of the computer to their parent. They see that all of they have done are their privacy and no one may know.
We can not prevent children from using computer because it is multifunctional. However, many parents worry about what their kids do in front of the computer; whether they are doing homework or even just playing games. Or spending all time to surf internet which is the materials do not fit with his age. There is a tendency, especially teenagers, want to become acquainted with many strangers out side. The lack parental supervision of children's activities is likely to pose a potential danger to them. So parental monitor against the use of computers needs to be done from time to time.
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Mathilde Loisel was one of those pretty and charming girls born,and she let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry of Education. One evening her husband came home with a large envelope in his hand, an invitation card:
"The Minister of Education and Madame Ramponneau request the pleasure of the company of Monsieur and Madame Loisel at the Ministry on the evening of Monday, January the 18th."
Instead of being delighted, she flung the invitation petulantly across the table, murmuring.
"Why, darling, I thought you'd be happy. You never go out, and this is a great occasion."
She looked at him out of furious eyes, and said impatiently: "And what do you suppose I am to wear at such a party?"
Her husband had not thought about it. But soon he had bright idea and exclaimed "Why don't you go and see Madame Forestier and ask her to lend you some jewels. "
She uttered a cry of delight. "That's true. I never thought of it."
Next day she went to see her friend. Madame Forestier went to her dressing-table, took and opened a large box. Her heart began to beat covetously. She discovered a superb diamond necklace. Her hands trembled as she lifted it. She fastened it round her neck, upon her high dress, and remained in ecstasy at sight of herself.
The day of the party arrived. She was the prettiest woman present, elegant, graceful, smiling, and quite above herself with happiness. All the men stared at her, inquired her name, and asked to be introduced to her. She left the party about four o'clock in the morning. Arriving at home, She took off the clothes. But suddenly she uttered a cry. The necklace was no longer round her neck. So her husband returned to the party to find the necklace but he had found nothing. His face lined and pale. "You must write to your friend," he said, "and tell her that you've broken the clasp of her necklace and are getting it mended. That will give us time to work and get money to replace the necklace"
She came to know the heavy work. She washed the plates, dirty linen, the shirts and dish-cloths, and hung them out to dry on a string. Every morning she took the dustbin down into the street and carried up the water, stopping on each landing to get her breath. She went to the fruiterer, to the grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched halfpenny of her money. While her husband worked in the evenings at putting straight a merchant's accounts, and often at night he did copying at twopence-halfpenny a page. This life lasted ten years and they had enough money to to buy and replace the necklace.
She went to meet Madame Forestier.
"You remember the diamond necklace you lent me?. Actually I lost it"
"How could you? Why, Well, you meet me to return the necklace now?"
"Yes, I bring you another necklace just like it. And for the last ten years we have been working hard for it. You realise it wasn't easy for us; we had no money. Well, it's paid for at last, and I'm glad indeed."
Madame Forestier smiled in proud and innocent happiness. She deeply moved and said;
"Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was only worth at five hundred francs!"
This example of spoof text is simplified from: eastoftheweb.com
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The king wanted to test Abu Nawas’ smartness. So he invited Abu Nawas to the palace. “You want me, your Majesty?” greeted Abu Nawas. “Yes, you have fooled me three times and that’s too much. I want you to leave the country. Otherwise you will have to go to jail” said the king. “If that is what you want, I will do what you said” said Abu Nawas sadly. Then “Remember, from tomorrow you may not step on the ground of this country anymore” the king said seriously. Then Abu nawas left the king palace sadly.
The following morning the king ordered his two guards to go to Abu Nawas’ house. The guards were very surprised found Abu Nawas still in his house. He had not left the country yet. Instead leaving the country, Abu Nawas was swimming in small pool in front of his house. “Hey Abu Nawas, why haven’t you left this country yet? The king ordered you not to step on the ground of this country anymore, didn’t he?” said the guards. “Sure he did” answered Abu Nawas calmly. “But look at me! Do I step on the ground of this country? No, I do not step on the ground. I am swimming on the water” continued Abu Nawas.
The guards were not able to argue with Abu Nawas so they left Abu Nawas’ house and went back to the palace. The guards reported what they had seen to the king. The king was curious on Abu Nawas’ excuse not to leave the country. Therefore the king ordered his guard to call Abu Nawas to come to the palace.
Abu Nawas came to the palace on stilts. The king wondered and said “Abu, I will surely punish you because you haven’t done what I have said. You have not left this country”. The King continued “And now, look at you. You walk on stilts like a child. Are you crazy? The king pretended to be furious.
“I remember exactly what you said, Your Majesty” Abu Nawas answered calmly. “This morning I took a bath in the small pool in my house so that I had not to step on the ground. And since yesterday, I have been walking on this stilts. So you see, Your Majesty, I do not step on the ground of this country”. The king was not able to say anything.
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A man wanted to get the best and most defective weight loss program so he called a company and ordered a 5-day, 10 lb. weight loss program.
The next day, there’s a knocked on the door and there stand before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19 year old babe. She dressed in nothing but a pair of Nike running shoes. She introduced herself as a representative of the weight loss company. A sign was around her neck. The sign read, “If you can catch me, you can have me.” So without a second thought, he took off after her. However, a few miles later huffing and puffing, he finally gave up. The next four days, the same girl showed up for and the same thing happened. On the fifth day, he weighed himself and was delighted to find he had lost 10 lbs. as promised.
He felt satisfied and called the company and ordered the 5-day/20 pound program.The next day, there was a knock at the door and there stand the most stunning and beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. She was wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes. The sign around her neck that read, “If you catch me you can have me.” Well, he was out the door after her like a shot. This girl was in excellent shape and he did his best, but no such luck. So for the next four days, the same routine happened with him gradually getting in better and better shape. Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighed himself, he discovered that he had lost another 20 lbs. as promised. Again he felt satisfied with that program.
Then he decided to go for broke and called the company to order the 7-day/50 pound program. “Are you sure?” asks the representative on the phone. “This is our most rigorous program.” He replied;”Absolutely,I haven’t felt this good in years.” So the next day there was a knock at the door. When he opened it he finds a huge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes. The sign around his neck that read,”If I catch you, you are mine!!!”
This example of funny spoof story is taken from onlyfunnystories.com
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Reading spoof and recount text will arouse the convenience. Both spoof and recount genre explore the informative fact for the past experience. In literary term, experience can be factual or imaginative, objective or subjective. Both spoof and recount focus on series of event which happened.
However for functional view, recount text emphasizes in detailed information of the events. It reveals the series of events in chronological order based on time or place. In the other hand, spoof text tends to project the amusement of reading. Spoof text uses tricky plot to drive readers to certain view and sooner brings the reader to the opposite point. This trick will result amusement of reading.
Clearly the different flow plots used by spoof and recount are seen at the applied generic structure. For the first stages, both spoof and recount have similarity. Both introduce the participants of the story and, orientate the main event and set the time and place. After that both spoof and recount text expose the following events in detail. The last phase is what makes them different. Recount text will summarize the introduction and closed with the writer's subjective feeling concerning the events. Meanwhile spoof text will end the story with what we call TWIST. It is the unpredictable thing. Reader has expected certain point in the ending on the contrary hand the story itself moves to another unexpected ending.
Goat Jumping into Deep Hole as EXAMPLE OF SPOOF TEXT
Two men were walking through the woods and come across a very big deep hole. "Wow...that looks deep." One replied,"Sure does... toss a few pebbles in there and we will see how deep this hole is." Then they pick up a few pebbles and throw them in and wait... no noise "Geeez. That is really deep... here.. throw one of these great big rocks down there. Those should make a noise." After that, they pick up a couple football-sized rocks and toss them into the hole and wait... and wait. but no noise they heard.
Wow.. They were really impressed with how deep hole it was. They look at each other in amazement. One gets a determined look on his face and says, "Hey...over here in the weeds, there's a railroad tie. Help me carry it over here. When we toss that sucker in this hole, it's must make some noise."
The two men drag the heavy tie over to the hole and heave it in. But, not a sound comes from the hole. Suddenly, out of the nearby woods, a goat appears, running like the wind. It rushes toward the two men, then right past them, running as fast as its legs will carry it. Suddenly it leaps in the air and into the hole. The goat disappeared into the deep hole.
The two men are astonished with what they've just seen. How could a goat jump into the hole? Then, not long after that, out of the woods comes a farmer. He seemed to seek something and asked to the two men, "Hey two guys... have you seen my goat out here?"
Feeling amazing with what they saw of a goat jumping to the hole, they answer straightly,"You bet we did! Craziest thing I've ever seen! A goat came running like crazy and just jumped into this hole!"
The farmer thought a moment and said, "That could not have been my goat. Because my goat was chained to a railroad tie." Then he left the two men.
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Commonly we define spoof and anecdote are similar, even both are same. Spoof and anecdote tend to be defined as text which relate to funny story and unusual incidents. Well it can be true as both bring the function mostly to entertain and share to readers. However, is spoof text like anecdote? If not, then what is the difference between spoof text and anecdote? Actually what is spoof text? and what is anecdote text? Well, let's go on. I have some comment which are identical. The point of the comments are asking what is the difference between spoof and anecdote text, or how to differ spoof from anecdote. From that view, this post tries to go on.
We often find understanding about the funny story in our society life. Every funny story is often defined as anecdote. In this term, anecdote is pointing to "cerita lelucon" or "konyol". Most the story are funny because they have unpredictable funny things in the end. All those types of story are often socially called anecdote and they are going on. However, the unpredictable thing in the end of story which is often funny is called TWIST. This Twist, in term of text type, belongs to spoof. While in the generic structure of anecdote, we can not find the twist. So it might be the funny story which we often hear in our social life and defined as anecdote story is not the the anecdote text in term of text types we are learning.
In text types discussion, Anecdote text has generic structure on how it is composed and the generic structures of anecdote are abstract, orientation, crisis, reaction and coda. while we know that the generic structure of spoof text is orientation, events, and twist. So the point is there are different generic structures between spoof text and anecdote text. Spoof ends with twist while anecdote is accomplished by coda. That is the point, how to differ easily between spoof and anecdote text
Once a man was walking in a park when he across a penguin. He took it to a policeman and said; "What should I do?" The policeman replied; "Take it to the zoo!".
The next day, the policeman saw the man in the same park. The man was still carrying the penguin. The policeman was rather surprised and walked up to the man and asked; "Why are you still carrying the penguin? Didn't you take it to the zoo?" The man replied; "I certainly did. And it was a great idea because the penguin really enjoyed it. So, today I am taking it to the movie".
Analyzing the Text
Generic Structure Analysis
Orientation;introducing participants: "He" and Penguin. They were in the park
Event1; The man tended to take the penguin to the park
Event; The following day, the man were still carrying the penguin
Twist; Even, finally the man would take the penguin to the movies
Language Feature Analysis
Focusing on certain certain participants; He, penguin, policeman
Using action verb; carry, walk up
Using adverb of time and place; once, in the park
Told in chronological order; chronological order by days, the next day
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There was a man who liked money very much. He worked all of his life and wanted to save all of his money for his own future. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything.
Even, just before he died, he said to his wife; "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife." So he asked his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him.
Well, one day, he really died. Then he was stretched out in the casket. The wife was sitting there in black clothes next to her closest friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said "Wait just a minute!"
She had a box in her hands. She came over with the box and placed it in the casket. After that the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away. Not long after that, her friend said, "I hope you were not crazy enough to put all that money in the casket."
The wife turned to her friend and replied; "Yes, because I have promised." Then she continued; "I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him." Feeling shocked, her friend said; "You mean that you have put every cent of his money in the casket with him?" Then the wife answered; "Surely I did. I got it all together, put all the money into my account and I just wrote him a check."
(Re-written from www.onlyfunnystories.com)
Notice on Generic structure of spoof sample
Spoof text is very similar to recount text. Both spoof and recount tell about the past event with chronological order. Its purpose is to amuse reader with funny story. The story mostly is ended with an unpredictable event.
The above spoof sample has generic structure as follow:
Orientation: It is the introduction of the story. By giving the orientation, reader will recognize, for the first time, who involves in the story.The above story talks about a wife and his husband who loves money too much even up to his death.
Events: Several events are explored in chronological way which able to arrange the story read nicely.Promising with her money miser husband, Putting the box inside casket, locking and rolling the casket are the events which build the complete story.
Twist: This is the unpredictable event/thing/way which amuse the reader. Readers even did not predict before that it would be. When reading the above story, for the first, readers likely think that the wife would put all the money instead of just a check
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