Dissociated Press

Dissociated Press n.  [play on `Associated Press'; perhaps
   inspired by a reference in the 1949 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}.