 That non-word was snuncoople. With a non-word like that, in other words, one that has no meaning, you're reacting purely to the sound. And this particular sound, snuncoople, it makes people chuckle. Westbury discovered this while working on a study that had nothing to do with humor. His team was looking at aphasia, a form of brain damage that affects people's ability to process language. They asked participants to look at non-words among a sea of random letters on a screen.