"It was a dark and stormy night. A ship's crew had gathered in the 'Marquis of Granby' . The Captain said to the First Mate, 'Spin us a Yarn.' 'Aye, aye, Sir,' said the First Mate, and this was the Yarn he spun:
'It was a dark and stormy night. A ship's crew had gathered in the 'Admiral Benbow'. The Captain said to the First Mate, 'Spin us a Yarn.' 'Aye, aye, Sir,' said the First Mate, and this was the Yarn he spun:
'It was ... ad nauseam)

I told this some years ago to a small group of relatives' children, one of whom had asked for a Story, and of course they all got the humour of it very quickly. So, of course, I stopped the recitation. After a few seconds, a cousin said, encouragingly, "Go on...."


By the way, the recitation goes back to at least the Great War.