The Droodle Creativity Test
86The Droodle Creativity Test
Are you a personality test addict?
Me, too. I like the short, sweet, sometimes funny tests best. So here is my newest test regarding creativity featuring Roger Price’s “Droodles.”
Do I hear you asking, “What is a Droodle?” Or maybe even, who the heck is Roger Price? Roger is my favorite comedy writer and cartoonist of all time. Back in the 1950s, he created the droodle – a combination of a doodle – what you scribble while attending a very dull lecture. Or while you are listening to some long-winded person on the phone. And a riddle. It’s a droodle.
First, let me tell you about Roger Price
Roger was born March 6, 1918 in Charleston, West Virginia. During the 1940s, he was a comedy writer for The Bob Hope Show. He performed in the musical revue, Tickets, Please! (1950), and wrote sketch material for New Faces of 1952. He was a panelist on several other game shows of the early 50s including the popular What's My Line? Your parents may remember that one.
His book, Droodles, published in 1953 became so popular it launched a droodles craze and subsequently became the subject of a new TV game show with the same name. Roger was the host. The commercial success of his collections of droodles led to the founding of the Price Stern Sloan publishing house. Roger had met Stern when they were both writers on the Tonight show.
Mad Libs Books
Price was the prolific author of a number of other Droodle books as well as numerous books in which he collaborated with Leonard Stern including the popular Mad Libs series based on a mixed-up story-telling game.
Other books by Price include What Not to Name the Baby, In One Head and Out the Other, I’m for Me First, J.G., the Upright Ape, and The Great Roob Revolution. As well as an album, Roger and Over.
There was a sense of the sublime in his writing. He once described a colleague as having “a physique that is just barely noticeable and a long expression.
In fact, he looks like a beagle who is too polite to mention that someone is standing on his tail . . . and pretty girls frequently stop on the street to scratch him behind the ears.”
A little history about Droodles
You won’t find the word in any dictionary, but droodles can be traced back to the 16th century.
The Italian painter, Agostino Carracci (1557- 1602), drew one of the oldest known droodles - a vertical line with a small circle near the top and another line at an angle – representing a blind beggar behind a street corner. At least that’s what Agostino said it was.
Baby-boomers may recall these puzzles from when they were younger. Roger Price's name may not be well known, but the images of his droodle drawings prove that his work resides in the deep recesses of our minds. These simple line drawings with sometimes complicated answers may be silly and almost impossible to guess but they are fun to try to decipher.
This graphic by the way is famous – it appears on the front cover of Frank Zappa’s album of the same name (1982) -“Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch.” Can you see it? Price also had an alternate caption for this droodle – “Mother Pyramid Feeding Her Baby.” These whimsical diagrams can often have more than one punch line so there are no wrong answers – as long as the answer is funny.
Finally – The Droodle Test for Creativity
Here are 12 examples of popular Roger Price droodles – only the graphics and not the original captions. Each graphic is numbered from 1 to 12. Your mission if you care to undertake it, before I self-destruct, is to think of a caption that you think describes each droodle.
Take a sheet of blank paper and write down the numbers from 1 to 12. Write your title for each graphic next to the appropriate graphic number. Your caption may be Roger’s if you remember it, or your own as long as it is applicable . . . and funny.
Example: Look at the Droodle on the Frank Zappa album. Can you see the “ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch"? Now go forth and write captions on your paper for each of the twelve graphics.
Scientific Explanation of Droodles
How does the human brain make sense of these unfamiliar diagrams? Without going into a long scientific explanation, our interpretation of droodles is based on the pareidolia, an innate human tendency to impose a pattern on random or ambiguous shapes.
Think about the way we decipher cloud formations in the sky. “There’s a puppy . . . now it’s a turtle . . . no, it’s Uncle Louie.”
In the same way, our experiences and our knowledge interact with what we see, and allow us to recognize a scene, even a portrait, from minimal cartoons or droodles. Roger described his droodles as "a borkley-looking sort of drawing that doesn't make any sense until you know the correct title."
Besides being entertaining, droodles are also used in cognitive research and as a tool for building creativity.
(I often use droodles, both Roger’s and my own, in my motivational presentations to illustrate concepts and, if necessary, to wake up the audience,)
How to Score
Did you remember or create amusing captions for 9 to 12 droodles? Congratulations! You are hereby declared creative and ingenious – a Squiggle of the highest order (see “Simple Symbol Personality Test” ).
Did you write applicable funny captions for 5 to 8 droodles? Then you are a Squiggle in training. There is hope for you.
Could you think of only 4 or less? Then you may want to practice more thinking outside of the box, or Square, whichever applies. And take another Tylenol.
Answers
Do not look at the answers until you have attempted to supply captions for all 12 diagrams. If you disobey, you know I will know. Then I must inform Vlad Dracula and he really knows how to hurt a guy. Read about his favorite impalement methods in “Interview with Dracula.” Muuhhwaaahaaa.
1 Man wearing bowtie caught in elevator doors
2 Egg wearing a bikini
3 Pig emerging from a heavy fog
4 Tomato sandwich made by amateur chef
5 Child blowing giant bubble gum bubble
6 Person soaking in a bathtub
7 Obese bent-over person on bench
8 Four elephants inspecting an orange
9 Giraffe that swallowed landline phone
10 Man committing suicide falling past window
11 The Three Musketeers and D’Artagnan
12 Four guys looking under card table for card that fell on floor.
Marriage is a three-ring circus: first, there's the engagement ring, then there's the wedding ring, and finally, the suffering. – Roger Price
Roger Price knew what he was talking about - he married four times. He was not only a helluva cartoonist but a helluva optimist. as well.
© Copyright BJ Rakow, Ph.D. 2011. All rights reserved. Author, "Much of What You Know about Job Search Just Ain't So." Readers say this book was the BEST! Includes most-needed information for older workers.
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Please tell me in the Comments what creative captions you may have invented. Could be a whole new Hub there.Loading...
I must be totally lost here since I obviously did it wrong at first! I was more counting stripes and rings....How is that for creativity? And it looks like I am not funny at all, maybe I am hungry since nr 9 looks like a stove, and nr 7 looks like a dough emerging from a square bowl?, nr 3 is definitely a pig stuck in something, nr 4 looks like a sandwich, nr 1 is a closed refrigerator and nr 5 looks like a man that just have been eating too much but I don't know what has happened to his head....maybe he has swallowed that too!
I will spare you the rest and go to the kitchen!
Anyway, I am a personality test addictive and this one was very funny when I got the hang of it! And your hub was awesome as always!
Tina
This used to be a daily feature in many newspapers.
Sorry, drbj, but is one thing I can't do and because of that gave up a long time ago.
Very interesting, I imagine you scored well yourself with this one drbj, you have that whimsical ability we all admire! Maybe it's too early in the day, but couldn't come up with anything funny! Oh well
Drbj - now you just made my day. I'm a squiggle according to this one! I thought #1 looked like a present! It's a wrapped box with a bow! So I titled that one - Get Your Goodies Here! And I thought #6 looked like a romantic potato - so I titled that one - "Look Deep into My Eyes" lol!
What fun! Thanks and I hope you get the squiggle giggles today too!
I have never been artistically creative. I try, but it's not there.
I was thinking that these droodles are the modern version of a mandala. To be use as an aid to meditation.The goal being to perceive things directly,spontaneously and immediately.Visual thinking with a sense of humor.The result for me unfortunately necessitate a trip to the medicine cabinet for some tylenol...:) and I'll be expecting a visit from Dracula :))
Hahaha for that Roger Price quote about 'rings'. 90% of all married couples will surely agree with him, I'm sure. It is wonderful to love somebody and to be loved, but to live in the same house for weeks/months/years requires some other exhausting actions subdued to love.
Anyway, I think 'droodle' is a perfect word for the scrabbling we do unintentionally while our attention is elsewhere. My list of creative captions of above droodles is definitely a whole new Hub. I'm afraid if I publish it here, I might be labeled as a mmmmm - we never know how others will interpret our interpretations and it is better not to give them any ammunition. You know me...
By the way, I always droodle flowers, trees and candles... because I can't droodle anything else :))) Oh, and I'll cover the left top corner of a page with lines until I can't see the color of the paper. Thanks for another very interesting hub, drbj!
They all look like eggs wearing bikinis to me (except for the one that's totally naked and hiding in the cupboard).
This was so much fun. ( I know i need help ) I must admit that i did pretty good. I like my number 8 better
( Two Bunnies kissing ) Like i said, " I need help" Thank you. Your hubs are so much fun. Don't stop!!
Cheers
Sometimes I can get lost in this stuff. Is that a good thing?
The Frog
My captions weren’t very funny, and I saw different shapes than the artist intended in some of the drawings. It was fun to read the original captions, and the whole hub was enjoyable and very interesting!
THAT WAS GREAT! HAD A LOT OF FUN AND CAME UP WITH SOME REALLY CREATIVE TITLES.
Hi there.
I,ll just give you a few of mine, as I cant be doing with all that typing.
1 exactly the same as yours.
8 The four snooker cues were bullying a ball.
10 The two submarines looked both directions.
12 Squashing a tortoise is not a nice thing to do.
The rest of them I will keep secret, but I did them all.
That was a fun test. Thank you.
You are very creative, my friend. I had never heard about this before. I love science and this was so beautiful to be learned. I'll show this to my students. Well done and you got my VOTE. Have a nice weekend!
Prasetio
Right!
1 an angry box
2 Homer Simpson jogging off into the distance with a head band and a bandaged jaw
3 Two peas having a swim
4 a Mexican carrying two briefcases
5 an elephant tying his shoe laces
6 a french aristocrat's head dropping into the basket
7 a couple lying in bed watching the sun come up
8 four elephants telling a Mexican off
9 tapping a rubber tree
10 someone falling from a high-rise building
11 four Mexicans square dancing
12 four ladies making a Mexican's day
Oh well, that's my spin on it, i'll await the knock on the door from those men in white coats. cheers
1 magnetic buttons
2 an egg silenced and blinded
3 two peas on a platter
4 a back side of a cannon on it’s side.
5 back side of a person bending over
6 person turned upside down surprised to
find his nose did not come with him
7 bread on a rack, raising
8 wow, he ate his own head!
9 bugs finding their way out of water pipe
10 he fell of the bed
11 eggs, sunny side up
12 four peeps trying to hide under the same table
great hub! :D hugs :D
#8 Dilbert and 3 of his relatives laying down with the tops of their heads pointing at the top of another Dilbert relative who is standing up.
I love all of your tests and this is no exception. But...I really think there is something wrong with me after the answers I came up with :) OK - Doctor - here it is!
1. A box full of money with a bow on it
2. An easter egg
3. My little sister as a kid
4. Balancing a book on my head
5. Do I look fat?
6. Look ma - I'm standing on my head!
7. She can't fit on the sofa.
8. tapping the sap from a tree
9. 2 udders on a cow
10.exhausted
11.4 fried eggs
12.a balloon in heat
??????????? What fun! Thanks!
This actually turned out to be a particularly fascinating article for me, so thanks for having written it. The mind, and the way the mind works, and the way each individual person envisions something is wholly telling of why the world is the way that it is. We all live in the same world. Yet we all see the world in our own way. And something obvious to me may not be something obvious to you, and vice versa.
As I said, fascinating.
I cannot go through this many girations without sharing it...it's not in my sick demeanor.
1. Arriving late into the elevator.
2. A baked potato with racing stripes.
3. Heard of the outlet, well, this is the piglet!
4. What an "orange sandwich" looks like from the side.
5. Now, we'll just wait for the swelling to subside.
6. A circle...doing cartwheels!
7. Git your fat butt out of bed!
8. Look what the four headless brothers found!
9. Passing a kidney stone.
10. Why won't "U" come out of there?
11. All eyes upon it!
12. Flames coming off the front of a blimp (as seen from the rear!).
I know, I know, several of you brain people out there want to offer me some free therapy....not doin' it! no way! WB
Thanks for introducing me to these intriguing droodles drbj. There's hours of fun there in trying to think up those captions..if nothing else, I think it'd be good for your brain. I've bookmarked it for something to do on a rainy day.
Frankly, I'm amazed at the creativity of the answers!
Cheers
Would your icon be considered a droodle, or simply an optical delusion? :D Fun hub - thanks for the giggles!
1) cafeteria doors
2) grilled potato
3) a 2 yoke egg
4) a new toilet that replaces the low flow toilets in America
5) my ex-girlfriend
6) Yul Brenner's head- upside down
7) my ex-girlfriend in bed
8) a vacuum cleaner contest
9) a venereal disease
10) a parachute didn't work
11) 4 eggs on a griddle
12) an omelet
I must be hungry!
Well better late than never right??
1. Bowtie caught in elevator
2. Laying sideways on a bunk looking out a prot - seeing Ostrich legs.
3. Pig nose pressed against a window
4. Tomato sandwich (LOL sort of got that right!!)
5. My Butt - before the accident! (You know the accident that gave me the big crack)
6. egg shaped bowling ball
7. Plating tent in bed with a fan under the blankets
8. 4 people at the table all reaching for the last biscuit
9. Foot rinser at the beach that didn't work so somone shot it.
10. Oops!!! I didn't realize it was so high up!!
11. racist donuts (all avoiding each other)
12. 4 chickens all going to the same piece of grain...
Whew... did I pass?? Tell me true Doc!!! Do I get the straight jacket yet??? Or better yet we'll just call it the "I Love Me" jacket!!
Miss me??
LOL - You are the greatest!!
Well, I haven't stopped writing!! But doing it in shorter form on other places. I got a little discouraged with the changes that were made here.... I had to remove a couple of my hubs for being 'too personal'... I got in a huff crossed my arms and said to myself "Well isn't this a fine kettle of fish!!"...
Then I got over myself... decided yep they were too personal for HubPages, so I put them elsewhere. I still like HubPages the best!! Not sure about all this Panda/Google stuff yet...
I save HubPages for the more serious/informative hubs/articles. That have more words etc...
Other than that, I am doing well!! Keeping busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest!!
How did I miss this? Consider a drawing of #2 in this box - the tracks of my tears. But then, the laughter took over again :)
Thank you for the brilliant Sunday morning read!
WOW that was fun. enjoyed the hub very much! and I am a fan of all these droodles :-)
carrie
1. Cabiner, closet.
2. Bread.
3.Button.
4. Basic Geometry toy for kids
5.Man dressed as snow flake(ball)
6. Table from above with few plates
7.Bed
8.Cross road
9. Trunk of a tree
1o. Man under car fixing it
11.Stove from above
12. Money saver
Too fun! I love stuff like this. I thought a good caption for #5 was "The headless horseman who kicked anorexia's a$$!" Voted up!
drbj: What an amusing, informative, useful summary of droodles in terms of their history, manifestation and meaning! My favorite is the tomato sandwich made by an amateur chef.
Thank you for sharing, etc.,
Derdriu









































Pamela99 Level 7 Commenter 11 months ago
I came close on a few at least somewhat similar but not particularly interesting.