Are You a Compulsive Fencer?

These questions were pulled from rec.sport.fencing. Evidently the original source was an Ann Lander’s column on compulsive gamblers with someone simply substituting the word “fencers” for each occurance of “gamblers”. Scary, isn’t it?

Aedan

Here is a quiz to find out if you are a compulsive fencer:

  1. Have you ever lost time from work or school due to fencing?
  2. Has fencing ever made your home life unhappy?
  3. Has fencing affected your reputation?
  4. Have you ever felt remorse after fencing?
  5. Have you ever fenced to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
  6. Has fencing caused a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
  7. After losing, have you felt you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
  8. After a win, have you had a strong urge to return and win more?
  9. Do you often fence until your last dollar is gone?
  10. Have you ever borrowed to finance your fencing?
  11. Have you ever sold anything to finance fencing?
  12. Have you ever been reluctant to use “fencing money” for normal expenditures?
  13. Has fencing made you careless of the welfare of yourself and your family?
  14. Have you ever fenced longer than you planned?
  15. Have you ever fenced to escape worry or trouble?
  16. Have you ever committed or considered committing an illegal act to finance fencing?
  17. Has fencing caused you to have difficulty sleeping?
  18. Do arguments, disappointments, or frustrations create within you the urge to fence?
  19. Have you ever had an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of fencing?
  20. Have your ever considered self-destruction as a result of your fencing?

Most compulsive fencers will answer yes to more than half of these questions.