The impulse and atmosphere are as old as man, but the typical weird tale of standard literature is a child of the eighteenth century.

Joe Frazier's story is a typical rags-to-riches tale of boxing success.

This is a typical tale of hoisted by your own petard!

Early in a typical tale, the older brothers appear to have much greater chances of success in life.

A legal eviction in New York City may be a typical tale of hard luck.

But there's a wrinkle in this otherwise typical "tale of great destruction": Lot's wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt.

Lenore Schmidt, a lecturer for Weight Watchers and a regular patient, told a typical tale of being turned off by a male doctor.

"But these are typical old tales," I said.

Another school-dinner lady in Wigan told me a typical tale:

It would have been a fairly typical tale of new development on the Upper West Side.