I'm curious as to who actually likes clowns? I bet the ratio of people that find them creepy or annoying far outweighs those that find them fun or amusing. Especially the drunk, child-dangling types.
Well, coulrophiliacs for one. I have a friend who trained to be a clown, but I haven't really asked her about it. I suspect that people who train to be clowns also like clowns. What I would like to know is about when the shift in attitude towards clowns occurred, when the familiar pattern of clown makeup became predominantly creepy vs. amusing, or if clowns have always evoked negative feelings in some way.
I'm sure your mother was a lovely clown, one of the good ones and in now way the drunken child dangling type. -It only takes one to ruin it for the whole lot of them. I'm looking at you Johny Wayne Gacy -by the way, humanodon, my guess is that the shift started occurring at a more rapid clip around 1972.