Without necessarily meaning to, writer Susan Orlean has just confirmed what those of us who heard the "Words with a 'K' in Them are Funny" episode already knew: Words with a "K" in them are funny.
In this week's issue of The New Yorker, she writes about the revival of backyard chicken-raising. She became a chicken enthusiast herself several years ago. There's only an abstract of the article online, but suffice it to say that at a particularly heart-tugging moment in the article, her use of the word "chicken" ends up being just damn funny. And I think it's partly just because, as Neil Simon pointed out, the word "chicken" is just plain funny.
Aha! It all comes around. Earlier this month Orlean asked on Twitter, "At least 6 diff. sources credited w/ 'K sounds are funnier'. Who said it?" One of our listeners responded to Orlean, "Grant Barrett said that K sounds are funny on one of the A Way with Words (@wayword) podcasts. See http://bit.ly/QVhRL ." To which I responded from the @wayword Twitter account, "Neil Simon said words with K in them are funny in 'The Sunshine Boys' ca1973 http://tinyurl.com/qzq6rg 1st? Dunno." So, neat, eh?
martha said:
...suffice it to say that at a particularly heart-tugging moment in the article, her use of the word "chicken" ends up being just damn funny. And I think it's partly just because, as Neil Simon pointed out, the word "chicken" is just plain funny.
And then there's this.
LOL, Ron! You definitely have a point there! 🙂