the.com/clowns
professionally costumed proof that joy and terror share a phone booth
means The plural of clown — performers in exaggerated makeup and costume who entertain through slapstick, mischief, and absurdity, though the word also brands anyone behaving foolishly.
from "Clown" surfaced in English in the late 1500s, first meaning a rustic, a peasant, a clumsy country bumpkin — the sophisticated city sneer at the muddy-booted farmhand. Its deeper roots are murky, but it's plausibly tied to a Scandinavian word group (compare Icelandic 'klunni,' a clumsy oaf, and dialectal Swedish 'kluns,' a hard lump or boor). The leap from boorish hick to circus jester came as theatre put the bumbling rustic on stage for laughs — the fool who can't get anything right became the fool who gets it wrong on purpose.
- coulrophobia
- clown fear is real and surprisingly widespread
- makeup eggs
- clowns once copyrighted faces on painted eggshells
- ancient gig
- Egyptian pharaohs employed clowns over 4,000 years ago
- hospital duty
- medical clowns measurably reduce children's pre-surgery anxiety
- sad origin
- the tragic clown trope traces to a real grieving performer
bobo coloma — colombian clown who performed for 60+ years and founded the national clown school in bogotá
emmett kelly — american tramp clown who performed with ringling brothers circus from 1936-1956
ronald mcdonald — mcdonalds mascot clown character introduced in 1963, appeared in ads for 50+ years