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Punctuate the following sentence. The distance between St George and and and and and dragon is not equal. (That's right, there are five consecutive 'ands'. I promise it is possible. But you may need to know the story behind it.)

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  • My guess is that the distance is not equal :)
    – Darius
    Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 21:02

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The story behind it is a landlord criticising the signwriter over his pub sign for the George and Dragon pub.

George and   Dragon

The distance between “George” and “and” and “and” and “Dragon” is not equal.

[Note that this should be distances and are not equal, but that's not really the point here...]

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  • Well done! Take a brownie point. I should have said 'British participants not eligible'. It may have puzzled one or two of the others. Quite right about the plurals!
    – user52780
    Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 21:15
  • YYURYYUBICURYY4ME
    – user52780
    Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 21:18
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    Why would it puzzle non-Brits more than Brits? The sentence does not have anything that would be different in, say, Canadian or Australian English. To add to that, it’s a very well-known pun (not a good name for it, but can’t think of a better one), so I’d guess most regulars here already know it, just like “John where James had had had had had had had had had had had the better effect” or “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo”.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 21:31
  • Obligatory to point out here (even if false) that the distances in your quote between 'George' and 'and' and 'and' and '"and"' and '"and"' and 'and' and 'and' and '"and"' and '"and"' and 'and' and 'and' and 'Dragon' are not equal. (Anybody who wishes to criticise the spacing in my comment had better use italics.)
    – Tim Lymington
    Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 21:46
  • @Janus Bahs Jacquet. Why...? I suppose it never occurred to me that Christmas-cracker jokes got beyond the shores of Blighty, and that anyone who had lived here would have seen it before. And anyone educated in the UK will know very well that 'had had' hadn't had the 'better effect' at all, indeed 'had had' had had 'the full marks'.
    – user52780
    Commented Oct 3, 2013 at 23:45

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