knuckles.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

knuckles = u"""
|⌒|⌒|⌒|⌒|╲  /|⌒|⌒|⌒|⌒|
|%s|%s|%s|%s|ノ \|%s|%s|%s|%s)
\⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀/⠀⠀  \⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀/
⠀\⠀⠀⠀⠀╱⠀⠀⠀⠀   ╲⠀⠀⠀⠀/
⠀ |⠀⠀⠀|⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ |⠀⠀|
"""

print "GET A TAT"
while True:
    # split/join is the easiest way to remove all whitespace
    try:
        tat_string = "".join(raw_input("> ").split())
    except (EOFError, KeyboardInterrupt) as e:
        break
    if len(tat_string) != 8:
        print "EIGHT LETTERS. LEARN TO COUNT, TRY AGAIN.\n\n"
        continue

    print knuckles % tuple(tat_string.upper())
    break