Punch line

URI of original source

Explanation (rarely necessary, e.g. to clarify a date, pronoun, or personage)

What is a punchline?

punch line

1921, a specific phrase or sentence which hammers home the point.

A punch line is a short, idealized quote which is often the dénouement of a joke or essay. Um… okay, we better add that.

dénouement

the unraveling or untying of the complexities of a plot.

Punch lines can be a beautiful or startling twist of phrase. A newly minted neologism that isn't the sux0r. A shaft of light stabbing out the gloom. This is the place to share them. This is the place to find them.

A punch line should be as short as possible. One sentence is ideal. Two is fine. Three is getting long. Four means you misunderstand what a punch line is. They should be quotable, not just simply inflamatory or harsh. You are given a little leeway but keep it short and sweet!

Is a punch line just a quote? Yes, no. Depends.

How do I submit one? Use the “Submit a punch line” form above. You'll be asked for the punch line and the URL where you found it. You may provide an explanation but don’t unless it absolutely needs one.

May I submit my own? Sure! Make it good.

Are the moderated? This is not currently a moderated site. That will change if it is abused.

Can I edit the punch line. You may clip out irrelevant content for length with an ellipsis, “…” You may make simple changes like changing a pronoun to the noun it represents for clarity. E.g.–

The U.S. has many problems. It has 50 of them.

–could be chopped down, badly but not incorrectly, to read–

[The U.S.] has 50 [problems].

My punch line won’t submit.

• The punch line is not found on the URI you gave.
• Punch lines will only be retrieved from URIs with http or https schemas.
• The site the punch line is on is members only so our checker could not get in to verify it.
• The site the punch line is on is JavaScript, Flash, or otherwise not HTML and our checker couldn’t read it.
• The punch line validator will not return super huge pages. You should use the definitive source and not an index containing many different articles.
• The page the punch line is on must have a <title>title</title>.
• You have tried to enter broken XHTML like <i>neither italic, nor bold</b>.
• Our code is maybe buggy still…

3 February 2008. It is new. It uses Catalyst and jQuery and some other open source goodies. Things may change considerably as we progress. Have fun!