DQ Gets You DQ’d

(My friend and I are preparing for a science competition taking place the following weekend. We are entering an event which requires one person to write instructions for the other in a certain amount of time. The instructions for the event have stated several times that any abbreviations you use must be defined clearly on the paper.)

Me: “Hey, [Friend], look. An abbreviation!”

Friend: *leaning over* “What? Where?”

(I point to the abbreviation I found in the section talking about ways to get disqualified.)

Me: *jokingly* “What do you think it means?”

Friend: *sarcastically* “I don’t know; there’s no key. How are we supposed to know what their abbreviations stand for when there’s no key? Those hypocrites!”

Me: “Ah! Don’t you love the smell of hypocrisy in the afternoon!”

(The abbreviation they used was DQ, which was supposed to stand in for disqualification, despite the fact that undefined abbreviations could cost you points or get you disqualified.)