[play on `Associated Press'; perhaps inspired by a reference in the
1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Up, Doc?] An algorithm for
transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more
efficiently than by passing it through a {marketroid}. The algorithm
starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text.
Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the
original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and
then prints the next word or letter. {EMACS} has a handy command for
this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied
to an earlier version of this Jargon File:
wart: n. A small, crocky {feature} that sticks out of an array (C
has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to
spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention
to the medium in question.
Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to
the same source:
window sysIWYG: n. A bit was named aften /bee´t@/ prefer to use
the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout
getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a
move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace
logic or problem!
A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to
a random body of text and {vgrep} the output in hopes of finding an
interesting new word. (In the preceding example, `window sysIWYG' and
`informash' show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated
Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called
travesty generators have been employed with considerable satirical
effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see {pseudo}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {banana problem}{dahmum}{dispress}{DP}{HAKMEM}{pseudo}]