What's So Funny?

Most Texans blame sheer envy for the fact that in recent years Texas has come to rank well ahead of mothers-in-law as a butt for U.S. humorists. Last week in the Dallas News wry Columnist Paul Crume offered another explanation: "Texas is the only thing left in the U.S. strong enough to stand being laughed at ...

"You can't laugh at other states or cities, for instance, or they will get mad. As a state, California is very sensitive and has a right to be. Anybody who has ever seen Philadelphia knows that it is no laughing matter. Florida is a few fauna and flora entirely hidden by New York salesmen; when the alligators spot the first visitors arriving they run off in the swamp and hide. If you josh Oklahoma a little, they bring up that football team . . .

"You can't laugh at people any more. The dialect story is out. Stories about races and creeds are bootleg items. Only the Irish have not laid down the law, and the Irish joke has been damaged because people have found out that Pat and Mike were really not Irishmen. All Irishmen are named Sean ... All this leaves Texas as the thing that the U.S. people can laugh about without looking over their shoulder or lowering their voices, and it is a good thing. The people which can't laugh at itself is going crazy."

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