GROUP THERAPY FOR THE

LISTLESS AND PUN-EMPLOYED

The helpful folks at the I.S.T.P.F. are happy to offer several avenues of on-line help for unrepentant punsters. Below are details on three different listserv groups where you might find and commune with like-minded souls who suffer the same inflections as yourself. You'll soon find yourself starting to list and it won't be long until you're over the edge. Here are your options. Choose one or all.

P.U.N.Y. - (The hard corps)

You don't have to be the fastest punslinger in the West to join our merry band of online word-manglers. A sincere love of punnery is the only qualification required to join P.U.N.Y. (Punsters United Nearly Yearly). Signing up gets you on PUNY's listserv, and you can join in the fun, banter, and games. What happens in PUNY? Above all, of course, there is free-form punning, with one member posting an original punny groaner, a word-butchered quip, or some other mirth-provoking post, and another member adding on to it, then a repost of a riposte, and another, and another.... There are punny riddles, and every Saturday there are word games known as Loops. It's fun, it's free, it's where you belong if you're irreverent in your use and abuse of the English language. You can join easily by sending a blank EMail to PUNY- subscribe@yahoogroups.com.


LIMERICKS & HAIKU (Light verse and worse)

Alhough not strictly a wordplay list, the Limericks and Haiku group is an offshoot of the punny PUNY list, so it should surprise no one that the limericks are, for the most part, paranomaisiacal (punny). We even get occasional punny haiku! Members (anyone is welcome to join) are free to post original limericks and/or haiku at any time. Often a limerick will inspire a responding lim from another member, and a chain reaction gets started.
Every Saturday our Loopmeister posts a new challenge - either a topic or a first line, which members are encouraged to write a suitable limerick for, with the results posted the following Saturday. If you enjoy limericks and/or haiku, just send a blank EMail to: limericks_n_haiku-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

PUNOFF - (Curious about competitions)

Are you brave enough to take to the stage and pun before the friendly crowd of openly appreciative folks that gather on the green behind the O. Henry Museum each May in Austin,Texas during the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships? If not, would you like to be part of the aforementioned friendly crowd? (Every ham needs an audience to play to. What's the point to punning if no one's listening?)
Or maybe you're indecisive and simply want more info about the Pun-Off *in case* you decide to attend and/or participate?
If that's you, Bucky, have we got a listserve for you! Join the punoff list and be kept up to date on plans for each year's Pun-Off - not only the Pun-Off itself but the associated festivities the weekend of the Big Event as well as other events taking place in the run-up to the Pun-Off. (Hey, trying saying that five times real fast: "The run-up to the Pun-Off.")
We can't promise our group will keep you in the black, but it *will* keep you in the know! Wanna join? Just send a blank EMail to punoff-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.