In the Old West, humor was an essential part of life, providing relief and fellowship among all the characters of the great cowpunching tradition. Cowboy Folk Humor is a collection of jokes, tales, and anecdotes about these people and their pranks and foibles, told in a manner as dry as the Western wind.

In the Old West, humor was an essential part of life, providing relief and fellowship among all the characters of the great cowpunching tradition. Cowboy Folk Humor is a collection of jokes, tales, and anecdotes about these people and their pranks and foibles, told in a manner as dry as the Western wind.

Howdy pard'ner! You might think us cowboys to be serious folk, but after a hard day's work there ain't nothin' better than relaxin' by the fire with a sarsaparilla and havin' a good laugh. And believe me when I tell you a cowboy could tell you a million stories that would have you splitting your sides. I took some time to scribble some of them jokes down for y'all, and I hope you enjoy them. Some of 'em are even true! Like the time this young whipper snapper was twirlin' his gun about and flappin' his chin about how tough he was and that if that famous outlaw was right beside him now he would shoot him dead between the eyes. Well, wouldn't you know it, that tough, old outlaw happened to show up, and that little greenhorn dang near peed his pants. If you like that, I got way more fer ya! If 'n there's one thing we cowboys love to talk about and have plenty to say on, it's the critters. We probably spend more time around them beasts than people. Horses especially, and they can impart wisdom to your life. Ya know what? A horse ain't trying to be polite when he comes to a fence and allows you to go over first! And when we ain't got no more stories, the classic one-liner always keeps us laughing. Try these: What's the nearest thing to silver? The Lone Ranger's bum. Why did the cowboy sleep with his saddle on? In case he caught any nightMARES! And my favorite (cause it's true): What's the last thing you hear before a cowboy dies? "Hey y'all! Watch this!"

The tradition of storytelling and folklore reaches deeply into the American notion of national identity, and among the more prominent emblems of American culture stands the cowboy. Despite the attempts to modernize the cowboy of our frontier past, today's mounted horsemen have learned how to adapt to a rapidly changing world--while tenaciously holding on to their heritage. Tall tales and yarns make up a great amount of the folklore of this literary tradition, yet woven throughout such stories stir an American mixture of humor, wisdom, and philosophy. In Horsing Around, Clayton, Davis, and Collins draw upon the vast amount of anecdotes portraying the lighter side of working on the range. The collected vignettes in Horsing Around will provide the collector of Texana greater accessibility to stories that are often told only at public performances.

A collection of cowboy humor.

The American cowboy is an icon recognized all over the world. There is, however, an aspect to the lifestyle that's rarely mentioned, which is a proclivity for practical jokes. Isolated ranch life, long hours, and the boredom that occurs at day's end serve as fodder for ingenious and diabolical pranks. This book celebrates the cowboy sense of humor and memorable highjinks from author/cartoonist Dr. Robert M. Miller's own days as a wrangler, as well as those of his colleagues.