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@GottaLaff @PaulNickson @rberger

But, are they? 🤨

The word #clown first appeared around 1560 as clowne or cloyne, meaning “man of rustic or coarse manners, boor, peasant”.

It may connect to Scandinavian or Low German roots-such as Icelandic klunni (“clumsy, boorish fellow”) or North Frisian klönne (“clumsy person”)-all related to words for “lump” or “clod”.

This ties in with the English word clod, meaning a lump of earth, reinforcing the sense of a rough, unsophisticated country person.