Who has more fun than people !?

I made some mail the other night inspired by a saying that has been in my family for years.  You know all the "life is good" stuff you see around (especially at the beach)?  Well, my family's version of "life is good" is this--"Who has more fun than people!?"

It is both an exclamation and a question.  One could simply leave it as an exclamation (because it's obviously rhetorical), but my Grandpa Orlie--on particularly good days--demanded an answer.


"Who has more fun than people!?" he would shout (while camping/tailgating/watching a football game/smoking meat in the backyard/when the wheat was doing good).  Then he would slap whomever was nearest him on the back and say it again:  "Who has more fun than people!?"

We would all be quite jovial along with him because it was always so nice to see him that way.  He would say it again.

"Who has more fun than people? Eh?  Tell me--WHO.HAS.MORE.FUN.THAN.PEOPLE!?"

Over the years the family discussed this pressing question from several angles.  Occasionally, the question itself was brought into question.  Who has more fun than people?  Shouldn't it be what has more fun than people?  It doesn't even make any sense . . .

Other times, my dad and uncles would throw out possibilities as to who/what might actually have more fun than people.  Being the overgrown adolescent boys that they are, it was decided, after much insightful discussion, that the only real possibility was rabbits, and that due to their . . . breeding habits.

But even then--well, could rabbits really have more fun than people?  Do rabbits count as Who?  And the conversation went round and round.

So--the official answer to that question became--rabbits, maybe (because this really is one of the great questions of human existence, and we just can't be 100% sure).

The conversation would go like this--

Grandpa [in a good mood after wheat prices went up/the Sooners won the game/a good fish fry/a good fishing story/a good joke . . . ] :  "Who has more fun than people!?  Eh!  Heh, heh, heh. WHO.HAS.MORE.FUN.THAN.PEOPLE!?"

Whichever one of us was getting the most pressure to answer:  "I don't know!  Rabbits . . . maybe??"

We'd all agree this was a valid answer and a reasonable possibility.  My dad and uncles might even go into why . . .

But Grandpa was not convinced.  His answer:

"Well, I ain't never seen a rabbit on a bank with a fishing pole."

Hmmm . . . true?

And there we were, back at square one.  If Grandpa had just identified ultimate fun . . . and if a rabbit had never, in fact, been seen on a bank with a fishing pole, then . . . WHO HAS MORE FUN THAN PEOPLE???

We may never know for sure.  Perhaps no one has more fun than people, not even rabbits.  (But my dad and uncles would remind you that rabbits definitely do have a lot of fun . . . )

I love my family.

***

P. S. I thought this expression was unique to my grandpa until I heard MIKE DITKA say it on ESPN a few months ago.  C'mon, Man!  I googled it, and I also discovered a t-shirt with the saying on it and a blog that goes by that name (because the author's grandma used to say it), and several references to polka (which makes total sense).

I'd love to know where the saying originated.  Does anyone know?  Has anyone else been looking for the answer to this question?  Probably not.  But I bet now you are dying to know who has more fun than people.

P. P. S. Rabbits have become sort of a symbol of [good, clean] fun to me, free of innuendo (don't let my dad and uncles ruin it for you).  The question and answer has been repeated so many times, the only association I make is "fun --> rabbits." Two stately brass rabbits sit on my bookshelf as a reminder of just what a good life we have.  (Next, I would like to commission a painting of a smug-looking rabbit on a bank with a fishing pole.  That would blow Grandpa's mind.)

P. P. P. S. You guys--when I started this post, there were only TWO rabbits, and now . . .