01/23/2012
Maine Humor (Humah)
Everybody knows the one about the old Mainer sitting on the porch of the general store who, when asked by the tourist if he can take the road to Bar Harbor says, “I wouldn’t bothah, they got plenty theyah already”. Other variations: “How far to Bar Harbor?”, “About 24,000 miles the way you’re headed” or “You cahn’t get theyah from heah”. Mainers are known for their dry humor and clever witticisms. Being isolated helps to sharpen the tongue. We’re not at the end of the earth, but you can see it from here.
Photo by George French, courtesy Maine State Archives
The jokes tend to fall into four categories: the weather, tourists, “people from away” (who now live here) and quirky Mainers themselves. Tim Sample is the father of Maine humorists. In this video clip he explains the difference between a native Mainer and someone from away:
But if Tim Sample is the father, Marshall Dodge and Bob Ryan are the grandfathers. As Yale University students in the 1950s they put together an album of Maine humor and called themselves “Bert and I”. They practically invented the genre with their slow storytelling, dry humor and sound effects. Their albums sold over a million copies:
Bill Sawyer wrote a pamphlet in 1982 called, “A Collection of Maine Humor” which I was lucky enough to find at our Lamoine dump’s swap shop. In it he tells a story about an encounter with a tourist:
Some years back Ben Prichard, driving his old pickup truck, went clean through a stoplight and smacked real hard, broadside, into a big Cadillac with New York plates. He really whaled it. The fellow from New York was some upset, got out, walked over to Ben, yelled and hollered, and gave him a real hard time.
When the New Yorker had finally blown off most of his steam, Ben said, “Now young fella, there ain’t no sense in you carryin’ on like this. It ain’t so bad!” He then opened the glove compartment, drew out a pint of whiskey he always kept there, and said, “Now try a pull of this and calm down a bit.” The fellow from New York took a long draw of the whiskey and handed it back to Ben, who promptly put the cork back in the pint and started to put it back in the glove compartment.
“Aren’t you going to have some?” asked the New Yorker.
“Nope, ” says Ben, “I’ll wait till after the police come.”
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Filed under Acadia by on Jan 23rd, 2012. Comment.
Comments on Maine Humor (Humah) »
My snowplow guy is named Ahtha. Thought he was from Eastern Europe or somewhere like that. Jon (born in Boston) said, “No. From Maine. Arthur.”
That reminds me of my first job here. Someone told me “Go see Dawn”. I went looking for a woman. None was there so I asked a guy, “Have you seen Dawn?”….He says, “I’m Dawn (Don)”
“Bert and I were out in the boat when we saw a smaller boat off a couple dozen yards from us that was rocking and reeling even though the sea were calm and didn’t look like nobody were in it. We sailed over to have a look, and when we pulled up alongside, we looked down in the boat and saw a young couple in there without a stitch of clothes on. It was obvious by what they were doin’ that they was right fond of each other. ‘Well,’ says Burt, ‘At least you got a good day for it.’”