A sort of history of the United States
by Dave Barry

What can one say that hasn’t been said already about Dave Barry, who sprung on the humor scene nationally in the early 80s with a syndicated column via the Miami Herald. “Funniest man alive” isn’t too far off the mark… and of course the question is why. What draws us to his zany worldview? That’s probably it! Dave Barry has a brilliant way of juxtaposing subjects, verbs, and objects of English prose from different worlds… that yield relevant commentary to our own experience:

“The typical lifestyle in the early colonies was very harsh. There was no such thing as the modern supermarket, which meant that the hardy colonists had to get up before dawn and spend many hours engaging in tedious tasks such as churning butter. They would put some butter in a churn, and they would whack it for several hours, and then they’d mop their brows and say, ‘Why the hell don’t we get a modern supermarket around here!’ And then, because it was illegal to curse, they would be forced to stand in the stocks while the first tourists took pictures of them. Continue reading →