The SPT (Shaggy Pun Test)
Found during a pun session with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
envirobearIt happens to all of us. You're sitting with a group of friends, and all of a sudden you are overwhelmed by the urge to tell a long, somewhat improbable story that ends with a pun. Loud groans are made, and you are pelted with pillows, cushions, paper, garbage, and anything else that comes to hand. Why does this happen, and why do certain people seem to be more likely to be stricken with this dread disease? Dubbed SPS (Shaggy Pun Syndrome) by prominent psychologists, this illness has baffled scientists. What causes it — love of groaning sounds, subconscious desires to be hit with loose objects in the room, or some deeper cause, such as becoming fixated at the silly phase? Whatever the cause, SPS can become a serious mental illness, and if unchecked in its early phases, can result in minor injury (from beatings), major injury (from worse beatings), and even death (from still worse beatings).
Don't despair — treatment is becoming available, ranging from oral counseling to gags to tongue removal. As an early warning device, the SPT (Shaggy Pun Test) has been developed, based on the idea that retention of puns can lead to SPS. The SPT is a collection of "punch lines" from said stories. Recognition of more than a critical number of these punch lines can indicate serious potential for SPS. If caught early enough it is hoped that the puns maybe removed by surgical means.
To take the SPT, merely make an X beside each punch line that you either remember the story that goes with it, or that you can easily build a story to fit. Remember, a score of 100 percent is not necessarily desirable!
( Proceed at your own risk... ) ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
