PUT YOUR QUIZ ACUMEN TO THE ULTIMATE TEST

1 The multiple-choice quiz became a popular instrument of:

A. It dissipated our anxieties about our personality, aptitudes, vocabulary and command of trivia.

B. It answered the call for accountability, eliminating the inefficiencies of the leisurely sketches that had proliferated during humour’s arch-decadent phase.

C. We could retake it, improve our score and achieve a sense of productivity and self-improvement.

D. While flattering the relativist’s rejection of the true/false dichotomy, it indulged the fundamentalist’s pursuit of salvation via the free exercise of choice in the marketplace of ideas.

2 The mass-circulation joke quiz arguably reached its apex with:

A. “Check Your Reading Comprehension.” Playboy, 1987.

B. “It Pays to Enrich Your World Power.” Mother Jones, 1993.

C. “Test Your Fly-Q!” Rolling Stone, 1997.

D. “Where Are They Now?” Modern Bride, 1999.

3 Why did so many wags and funsters write joke quizzes?

A. Because those who can’t teach, test.

B. To exorcise embarrassing high school demons.

C. To pay the bills while they waited for the sophisticated light verse market to recover.

D. Hands time on way too much.

 

4 What do humour historians tell us was the most difficult challenge for many beginning joke quiz writers?

A. Mastering alphabetical order.

c. Effecting disruptive incongruity.

2. Parallel construction.

$. Respecting the vibrant cultural hot-buttons of the other inmates.

 

5 Which humour format most deserves to accompany the joke quiz into a long and happy retirement?

10.  The rant.

  9.  The fake news item.

  8.  The sex-advice column.

  7.  The snarky recap of a reality-TV show.

  6.  The Oscars.

  5.  The Whimsy McFey.

  4.  The jock-radio morning zoo.

  3.  The single gal’s dating and dieting diary.

  2.  The Royal Family.

  1.  The sock puppet. 

6 The joke quiz was to the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) as:

A. The Myers-Briggs is to the zodiac.

B. Humping is to shtupping.

C. Sex and the City is to The Glass Menagerie.

D. Emotional intelligence is to dispassionate reasoning.

E. Tupperware is to Delaware.

7 Despite its retirement, why will the joke quiz probably not go away?

A. It remains an irresistibly supple and inexhaustibly fascinating medium.

B. From time to time, humorists may wish to pay respect to the Education President and show support for the Education Presidency.

C. No better vehicle has yet been found to deliver equal helpings of instruction and delight.

D. Hieratic and demotic, fixed and fluid, rigorously regimented and chaotically carnivalesque, “dutifully kissing civility’s mighty ring while merrily kicking conformity’s saggy pants,” the joke quiz today speaks more urgently than ever to our condition.