As anyone who has read my profile knows, my ethnic background is mostly Norwegian. However, my maternal grandmother was of English, Scotch, and Welsh stock. One of the family legends that has been passed down may shed some light on the cause of the mental disorder behind these Saturday Stupidity posts.

It seems that one of my ancestors was a knight in the service of a Scottish laird. On one occasion, his castle was under attack by the English, and it looked as though defeat was imminent. The castle had been under siege for many days, and the supplies of food and arrows were quickly being depleted. They could not hold out much longer. As the lord of the castle was nearing the end of his rope, my noble forefather came to him with a plan.

“I have several relatives within these walls who are very clever jokesters,” he explained. “My strategy is to position them on the castle walls and have them shout jokes to the enemy, incapacitating them with laughter.”

“Hmm, that might work,” replied the laird. “It sounds like quite a punning clan…”