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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Buttons, Jam and the Amish I just came back from a much-delayed trip to visit Pennsylvania's Amish country for my Bible book. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Amos Smucker, a distant relative of the Smuckers of strawberry jam fame. I liked him enormously. Amos probably won't be going on the road with Dane Cook anytime soon, but he did give me a little taste of Amish humor. Including this joke: Question: What happens when an Amish woman marries a Mennonite man? Answer: She drives him buggy. There you have it. Not bad, given that Amish comedy is working with some pretty constraining preconditions. I also learned that my beloved Britannica made a mistake in the Amish entry. Well, perhaps not a mistake, more of an overstatement. The EB says that the Amish refuse to wear buttons, instead opting for the hook-and-eye system. For reasons unknown, this fact has stayed in my brain. So I was shocked to see Amos' suspenders attached to his pants with -- yes -- buttons. I asked, and it turns out that, at least in modern times, buttons are allowed every day but Sunday. More soon. |
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4 Comments:
what part of lovely PA did you visit? There's a lot of Amish parts around, especially in the rural part of Central PA. (I'm from State College.)
I am grateful for their cheese.
I can hear crickets...Has this blog died a quiet death? Where, oh where are you A.J. Jacobs?
I plan on visiting the Amish some time in the [near] future.
maybe he's in the red tent...
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