What does Pudd'nhead Wilson's joke about half a dog mean?

Question

In _Pudd'nhead Wilson_, by Mark Twain, the character David Wilson makes a remark that results in the townspeople writing him off as a "pudd'nhead". > He had just made the acquaintance of a group of citizens when an invisible dog began to yelp and snarl and howl and make himself very comprehensively disagreeable, whereupon young Wilson said, much as one who is thinking aloud-- > "I wish I owned half of that dog." > "Why?" somebody asked. > "Because I would kill my half." Like the townspeople, I am rather literal minded and can't really understand what the character is getting at. Can someone explain?

Answer 1

Yeah, Twain's also the guy that said, "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." The joke, of course, being that he's either dead or not; there are no degrees of it to exaggerate. So here too, the joke is the faulty logic. Imagine Peter Griffin saying it and see if that helps.

Answer 2

Without a fuller context from the book, I would guess that he is saying that he wants to quiet the dog, but he isn't mean enough to kill the (whole) dog. The passage says that the dog is yelping, snarling, and totally unpleasant. To kill half of the dog would quiet it, but wouldn't be (technically) responsible for killing (the whole) dog. Sure, killing half the dog would result in the whole dog dying, but I think it is a play on being technical and picking apart a piece without considering ramifications on the whole of something.