# Mid 60's Humor Frank Sinatra and WTF

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mid-60s-humor-frank-sinatra-and-wtf/368678>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 14, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mid-60s-humor-frank-sinatra-and-wtf/368678 "2006-08-14T15:48:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mid-60s-humor-frank-sinatra-and-wtf/368678/21 "2006-08-15T18:18:22Z")

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But this argument is still being made, and with a straight face.

In Alan Light’s review of John Strausbaugh’s _Black Like You,_ a history of blackface in America, (New York Times Book Review, July 16, 2006) he writes:

> [@](#):
>
> Most troubling is Strausbaugh’s central thesis — that those who are squeamish about blackface simply can’t take a joke like a real American. “Until the rise of multiculturalism and identity politics encouraged everybody to be ‘offended’ by everything all the time,” he writes, “it was presumed that earning a spot for yourself was a rough-and-tumble procedure. It took a thick skin and a sense of humor.”

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**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mid-60s-humor-frank-sinatra-and-wtf/368678/22 "2006-08-15T18:21:38Z")

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Here’s a Slate article on Royko that discussed this in more detail:

> **[I Like Mike](https://slate.com/technology/1999/04/i-like-mike.html)**
>
> When Richard J. Daley was alive and mayor of Chicago, no one gave him a harder time than Mike Royko did. Maybe the funniest piece Rokyo ever wrote was...

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**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mid-60s-humor-frank-sinatra-and-wtf/368678/23 "2006-08-15T18:45:43Z")

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> [@ddgryphon](#):
>
> So, I packed my straw suitcase and headed for New York I even had to bum a ride on a ferry. \>pause\< laughter. \>pause\< You people aren’t paying attention tonight. (is this a gay sex joke?

If he’s talking about the Staten Island Ferry, it’s free. If you down enough to have to bum a ride that’s already free, you’re pretty down.

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