Yesterday, I had to spell out a name over the phone at work and said this, "C" as in...and for some reason, I thought of clowns and how you really don't see them much anymore. My question for you is this: why is that? What has happened that clowns are no longer popular? It can't be all the fault of Prince Charles (see the photo above!)Oh, and my pause on the phone for the letter "C", as I was thinking over the loss of clowns? The person next to me said, "Cat, Kay, C as in CAT".... You really should feel sorry for the people who have every worked with me or known me in any way. You really, really should!
Hello Kay [now, is that with a 'C' or a 'K']:
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed, where have all the clowns gone? Or is it that we are never at the circus?
Hey! It is with a K! (HA HA!)
DeleteDo we still have a circus? Most of the ones here were found out to have been mistreating animals, so many of them are gone.
I think a lot of people find clowns very creepy. I'm not really sure why, but I guess it doesn't help to think of that awful clown in Stephen King's novel IT. Pennywise was his name.
ReplyDeleteKay,
DeleteI never read that book and I only saw that it was on TV but never watched it. The last Stephen King book that I read was "The Stand" and I read it in the winter-time which was a mistake because when someone sneezed near me, I would almost panic! His writing scares me so. I really liked his book "On Writing", I wonder if you have read it.
Dear Kay, both my sister and I have never liked clowns, either in the Circus as part of the programme or elsewhere, we somehow always found them a bit scary, and I still feel like that today.
ReplyDeleteBut I appreciate people who make other people laugh and feel better, and I have heard of men and women who, for instance, do charity work, acting as clowns in children's hospitals and so on.
As for the C - well, Steve was a radio amateur, and I heard him spell out the international alphabet so many times... C is for Charlie :-)
Oh yes, C is for Charlie...we had to use the international alphabet a lot in the travel agency, I just couldn't remember it when I needed it...
DeleteIf you type in "clowns" in a search engine, scary clowns are about the first things to come up...
The funny thing is that neither my sister nor I ever read any books or saw any films with scary clowns in them, we simply never got into the whole clown thing ourselves.
DeleteWe are a product of our times and I suspect that by the time you were growing up, they were already growing out of favor. There is something about having a disguised face that disturbs me a bit, either by a clown or a mask. And of course, because of that scary movie, Halloween, don't even get me near an ice hockey rink!
DeleteNever liked clowns and after reading a few Stephan King books I now fear clowns.
ReplyDeleteStephen King has a lot to answer for! Read his book "On Writing"...no clowns there!
DeleteKay - I took my kids to the circus this year and they really did not pay much attention to the clowns. I am not exactly sure why they don't capture their imagination - perhaps over exposure to video games. I think we'll have to try a rodeo and see if those bull herding clowns make them laugh.
ReplyDeleteIt is really funny how much we are influenced by TV and movies, isn't it?
DeleteA rodeo sounds like fun, I've never seen one!
You're right, no one sees clowns anymore. They've become these scary characters and I'm not sure when or how it happened. I loved clowns as a kid. Mind you, none of them chased me with axes or knives either!
ReplyDeleteI like your "C" as in clown reference.
Hey Sandy!
DeleteThere are even more things that I am noticing... I have always called my purse my "pocketbook" but no one says that now, so I have to say purse or handbag! Must keep up with the times, must keep up the times....
I dislike clowns and part of it may be the fault of horror movies, which I watched a lot through my teens. Quite often it was the clown... !!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are not afraid of Birds because of the Hitchcock movie! You would not believe how many people tell me how that affected them.
DeleteSo, I think a combination of movies and the Stephen King book must be the reason why...
Small children of a certain age are as afraid of clawns as they are of Santas and Easter Bunnies. When I was little, there was a live clown on TV and I liked him, but when I saw a clown in person (I was about 4) it seemed kind of scary. Now I am in a Christians retreat organization that makes use of a clown (minister in disguise) communion that is very meaningful. I think clowns mediate something and we don't overcome our fear of them because there are fewer clowns, just as there are fewer circuses. I blame the scacity of clowns on the eclipse of the circus.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about it but some children really do cry when they see Santa Claus. You should read my post about Bernie Bourdon who was our local Santa Claus...the real Santa as our son called him! (From Dec. 23rd of last year.)
DeleteMy Sweetie and his brother, now nearing 60, are creeped out by clowns to this day from a circus incident as 2-year-olds. Even when we go to the circus once a year we don't see too many of the old style of clown. They are toned down a lot, and more sophisticated in their humor.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been traumatic if they can remember it when they were only two years old! Twin boys! Are they identical? Poor little guys, whatever happened?
DeleteSo, so many adults talk about how afraid of clowns they were when they were little that maybe someone got the message that clowns aren't all that loved by the world.
ReplyDeleteDear Nan,
DeleteI see what you mean... all these people that were scared of clowns would, of course, not have them around their little ones!
After Stephen King's 'It' book (and movie that followed), clowns were really creepy. The movie industry has had a part in ruining them!
ReplyDeleteSome books and movies have such an influence upon us!
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