Judith Lacy's Jottings: International Joke Day chance to self-validate

Gaping holes appearing in suburbs close to the city centre are not signs of decay, but of people wanting to invest and live in Palmerston North. Photo / Judith Lacy

OPINION:

Today is International Joke Day. Don't you just love these slightly pointless international days.

I know only one joke. I first heard it about 15 years ago from a tour bus driver and have retained it ever since though every time I tell it I alter it a bit. I'm not going to repeat it here as it is misandrist and not complimentary to men called Paddy Murphy.

Palmerston North is often the butt of jokes on July 1 or any day. It's called poo town, a s*** town, flat, boring, a place where lots of teens have unprotected sex. The city has its own Poo Town tune and an anthem courtesy of Laura Daniel.

Earlier this year, Whakatāne District Council had a dig at our sunshine hours.

A 2013 Kiwiblog post on New Zealand's dullest towns attracted plenty of comments about Palmy while, just this year, Wellington blog Eye of the Fish called it a "flat and boring city".

It doesn't take the research skills of a postdoctoral student to find plenty of negative comments about Palmerston North on the internet and social media.

A 2009 Australian Associated Press article was headlined "Boring Palmy butt of all jokes".
The article went on to say: "It's as flat as a pancake and rates among the most consistently overcast towns in the country."

As for the English comedian with the Fawlty sense of humour, does anyone have any rubbish to dump?

'City at the Centre: A history of Palmerston North', published last year and edited by Massey University academics, addresses the image issue head on.

"Like many provincial centres, Palmerston North had to cope with perceptions that it was boring for the young, at least compared with 'bigger smokes' such as Auckland and Wellington. And, in a country where the populace loves its sea and beaches and lakes, Palmerston North could suffer from its inland location."

Earlier this year, a Facebook friend from Havelock North tagged me on a post that said there was nothing to do in Palmy. I'd love the commenter to sit in the 'Guardian' editor's chair for a day and try to keep up with all the events in this city. I know we barely scratch the surface of everything happening. The variety is something to behold and many of them are free, too.

I could spend the rest of my word limit today defending the many barbs thrown at our fine city, but instead I challenge you to reflect on why you love this place. We are too intelligent, too creative and too resourceful to need validation Palmy is a great place. We can validate ourselves in song, verse, photo, film, paint, dance, oratory - the list goes on.

We don't need to run down other cities and towns in Aotearoa to feel pride in our own. We're too good for that. In fact, we're so good we often take those barbs and creatively turn them to our advantage.

If you haven't yet, check out the Creative Giants of Palmerston North website. It is great reading. There sure is something in our water - or wind.

Born and raised in Palmerston North, satirist John Clarke (aka Fred Dagg) has been described as the man who invented humour in New Zealand. We know how lucky we are to live here.

So on International Joke Day, the joke's on all those who need to make themselves feel better by having a jab at our place. The joke's also on those who lack the creative clout to create original humour based on at least a modicum of truth.