Also see Kansas, Notable Kansans and Location Humor.

You know you're from KANSAS if:

(author unknown)

• All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, or grain.
• Down south means Oklahoma.
• Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
• Everyone in your family has been on a "float trip" before.
• In August, you break a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:00 a.m.
• A Mercedes Benz is not a status symbol. A Ford F10 4x4 is. (Except in Johnson County)
• The terms Sooners and Huskers cause hairs on the back of your neck to stand up straight and your blood pressure to rise.
• A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.
• A traffic jam is two drivers staring each other down at a four-way stop, each determined to be the most polite and let the other go first.
• Traffic congestion is ten cars waiting to pass a combine on the highway.
• There is a highway with 318 miles and 11 curves.
• Using an elevator involves a wheat truck.
• A short trip means going to Hutch to the fair or to Abilene to Ike's museum.
• A long vacation means going to Silver Dollar City, Oklahoma City, or Worlds of Fun.
• Without thinking, you wave to all oncoming traffic.
• You are not surprised to find movie rentals, ammunition and bait all in the same store.
• You can drive 60 MPH through a foot of snow during a blizzard without flinching.
• You can properly pronounce Basehor, Cimmeron, Schoenchen, Kechi, Chautauqua, Arkalalah, and Osawatomie.
• You can see the grain elevator in the next town, which is twenty miles away.
• You can tell it's a farmer working late in his field and not a UFO.
• You carry jumper cables in your car and you know how to use them.
• Your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead.
• You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
• You discover that in July it takes only two fingers to drive your car.
• You don't buy all your vegetables at the grocery store.
• You don't have to ask, "What's a Jayhawk?"
• You end sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: "Where's my coat at?"
• You failed geography because you thought Peru, Havana, Manhattan, Pittsburgh, and Cuba were only cities in Kansas.
• You go to a tailgate party every Friday night.
• You go to Wal-Mart for your Saturday shopping, and look forward to it
• You had at least one summer job that was bucking bales or custom cutting.
• You have been asked, "Where is Toto?" more than once.
• You have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number.
• You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
• You have never met any celebrities. (Bob Dole isn't a celebrity; he's your neighbor.)
• You have owned at least one belt buckle bigger than your fist.
• You have worn shorts and a parka at the same time.
• You install security lights on your house and garage and then leave both unlocked.
• You instantly know someone is from Johnson County when they call everything west of Topeka "Western" Kansas.
• You know how spell "wash" but it still comes out "warsh" when spoken.
• You know in your heart that K-State can beat Oklahoma in football.
• You know several people who have hit a deer.
• You know a few people who have hit more than one deer.
• You know that the true value of a parking space is not determined by the distance to the door but by the availability of shade.
• You know the difference between field corn and sweet corn, while still on the stalk.
• You know the words to "Home on the Range."
• You know what's knee-high by the Fourth of July.
• You like sitting on the porch in the middle of the summer during a thunderstorm.
• You lock the doors to your truck but leave the windows rolled down.
• You measure distance in minutes rather than miles.
• You no longer associate bridges or rivers with water.
• You only own three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup.
• You pronounce Arkansas differently when speaking of the state or river.
• You really do think Sunflowers are beautiful.
• You see people wear bib overalls at funerals.
• You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events.
• You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better."
• You think of the major food groups as beer, beef, beans and Jell-O salad.
• You think people who complain about the wind and weather in their states are SISSIES!
• You think sexy lingerie is white tube socks and a flannel shirt.
• You think that opening day of the deer season should be a national holiday.
• You think the opening day of pheasant season is a national holiday.
• You went to skating parties as a kid.
• You are unaware that there is a legal drinking age.
• You'll pay for your kids to go to college...unless they want to go to OU or NU.
• Your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead.
• Your earliest driving lessons were in a field while picking up hay.
• Your excuse for being late is the cows got out, and the boss accepts it
• Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
• Your main drag in town is two blocks long.
• Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.
• Your school classes have been canceled because of cold.
• Your school classes have been canceled because of heat.
• Your town has an equal number of bars and churches.
• You're totally unfazed by a squadron of B1 bombers flying overhead.
• You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
• You've ever said, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."
• You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way.
• You've seen all the biggest bands but ten years after they were popular.
• FINALLY...you are 100 percent Kansan if you actually understand these jokes and forward them to all your friends from Kansas.

Why I Love Kansas

(Ann Lindholm)

When it's Christmas time in Kansas,
And the gentle breezes blow,
About seventy miles an hour
And it's fifty-two below.

You can tell you're in Kansas,
'Cause the snow's up to your butt,
And you take a breath of Christmas air
And your nose holes both freeze shut.

The weather here is wonderful,
So I guess I'll hang around;
I could NEVER leave Kansas now,
My feet are frozen to the ground.

The Creation of Kansas

(author unknown)

Once upon a time in Heaven, God was missing for six days.
Eventually, Michael the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God. "Where have you been?"
God proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look Michael, look what I've made."
Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?"
"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it.
I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."
"Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused.
God explained, pointing to different parts of earth.
"For example, some places will have opportunity while other parts will be poor."
"Some areas will be extremely hot and others very cold and covered in ice."
The Archangel then pointed to an area and said, "What's that?"
"Ah," said God. "That's KANSAS, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful lakes, rivers, streams, hills, and forests. The people from KANSAS are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, humorous, hardworking and high achieving."
Michael gasped in wonder but said, "But what about balance?"
God replied, "Wait until you see the losers I'm surrounding them with in Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska

Travel Tip

Planning a trip to Kansas soon? Winter is at 6am, spring is at 10am, summer is at 2pm, fall is around 5pm. Pack accordingly.

The Eleven Seasons of Kansas

While most places have four seasons, Kansas has eleven: Winter, Fool’s Spring, Second Winter, Spring of Deception, Third Winter, Spring, Tornado Season, Summer, Road Construction, Fall for Four Day, Christmas

Kansas Tourism Council Bulletin

(author unknown)

This list will be handed to each person as they enter the state.

• It's called a 'dirt road.' No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your BMW. I have a four wheel drive because I need it. So drive or get out of the way.
• We all started hunting when we were nine years old. Yeah, we saw Bambi. We got over it.
• Any references to "corn fed" when talking about our women will get your butt kicked...by our women.
• Don't make fun of that slope-shouldered farm boy. He did more work before breakfast than you'll do all week at the gym. How'd you like to go home and tell your momma you got your butt kicked by a guy in bib overalls?
• Go ahead and bring your $600 Orvis Fly Rod. Don't cry to us if a flathead breaks it off at the handle. We have a name for those little 13-inch trout you fish for...bait.
• Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.
• Turn your cap right, your head isn't crooked.
• If that cell phone rings while a bunch of mallards are making their final approach, we will shoot it out of your hand. You might hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
• The Jayhawks and the Wildcats are as important here as the Lakers and the Knicks...and a dang sight more fun to watch.
• No, there's no "Vegetarian Special" on the menu. Order steak. Order it rare. Or, you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the two pounds of ham and turkey. Yeah, we have sweet tea. It comes in a glass with two packets of sugar and a long spoon.
• You bring coke into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served over ice.
• So you have a sixty-thousand dollar car. We're real impressed. We have quarter of a million dollar combines that we only use two weeks a year.
• Our women hunt, fish, and drive trucks-because they want to. So, you're a feminist. Ain't that cute.
• Yeah, we eat catfish, carp and turtle. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the bait shop.
• The 'Opener' refers to the first day of pheasant season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November. You can get breakfast at the church.
• So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.
• Yeah, we have golf courses. Don't hit in the water hazards. It spooks the fish.
• Those are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny to you. But they smell like money to us. Get over it.
• We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.
• We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat ... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!
• You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.
• Turn down your car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it any more than we want to see your boxers.
• Four inches of snow isn't a blizzard - it's a flurry. Drive in it like you got some sense, and DON'T take all our bread and milk from the grocery stores. This ain't Alaska. Worst case you may have to live a whole day without croissants. The pickups with snowplows will have you out the next day.
• Now, enjoy your visit and then go home.

Kansas Temperature Conversion Chart:

(author unknown)

• 70 Degrees above 0 -
  Californians start to shiver
  Kansas people sunbathe.
• 60 Degrees above 0 -
  New Yorkers try to turn on the heat
  Kansas people plant gardens.
• 50 Degrees above 0 -
  Italian cars won't start
  Kansas people drive with the windows down.
• 40 Degrees above 0 -
  Floridians wear coats, gloves and woolly hats
  Kansas people throw on a sweatshirt
• 32 Degrees above 0 -
  New York landlords finally turn up the heat
  Kansas people have the last cook-out before it gets cold.
• 20 Degrees above 0 -
  Californians fly away to Mexico
  Kansas people get out their winter coats.
• 10 Degrees above 0 -
  Hollywood disintegrates
  Kansas's Girl Scouts begin selling cookies door to door.
• 0 Degrees -
  Polar bears begin to evacuate Antarctica
  Kansas's Boy Scouts postpone "Winter Survival" classes until it gets cold enough.
• 10 Degrees below 0 -
  Mt. St. Helen's freezes
  Kansas people start saying "Cold 'nuff for ya?"

Kansas Info

(Jeff Foxworthy)

• If you see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings), you might live in Great Bend, Kansas.
• If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked, you might live in Augusta, Kansas.
• If you carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them, you might live in Manhattan, Kansas.
• If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you might live in Wichita, Kansas.
• If you know all four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you might live in Pittsburg, Kansas.
• If your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce, you might live in Derby, Kansas.
• If "Going Down South" means Oklahoma, you might live in Coffeyville, Kansas.
• If a brat is something you eat, you might live in Altoona, Kansas.
• If your idea of going out to eat is a tailgate party every Friday, you might live in Cimarron, Kansas.
• If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you might live in Goodland, Kansas.
• If you find 0 degrees 'a little chilly', you might live in Concordia, Kansas.
• If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his fore head, you might live in Pratt, Kansas.
• If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Colby, Kansas.
• If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Hays, Kansas.
• If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you might live in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.
• If you often switch from 'Heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you might live in Fredonia, Kansas.
• If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in Kansas City, Kansas.

Long Distance

A man decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started in San Francisco. In a church there, he saw a gold telephone with a sign that read "$10,000 a minute."
He asked the pastor about it. The pastor answered that the gold phone is a direct line to Heaven and if he pays the price he can talk to God.
As he visited other churches, he found more phones, with the same sign.
Upon entering his first church in Kansas there he saw the usual gold telephone. But THIS time, the sign read "Calls: 25 cents."
Fascinated, he said to the pastor. "I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found a gold phone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven, but, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 25 cents a call. Why?"
The pastor replied, "Son, you're in KANSAS now . . . it's a local call."

KU versus K-State

A graduate from the University of Kansas, a graduate from Kansas State and a pig were in the hospital waiting room, each awaiting the birth of his firstborn.
Suddenly, the lights went out. Fortunately, power was restored shortly thereafter and the head nurse made her way to the waiting room.
"I've got good news and bad news, gentlemen and pig," she announced. "Despite the electrical outage, two healthy boys and one healthy piglet have been delivered. However, since the lights went out at the most inopportune time, we aren't sure which firstborn belongs to whom. The only way we know to resolve the problem is to draw straws and have the winner choose first."
The three proud papas agreed, and the K-State grad won the drawing. He was escorted into the delivery room and looked at the three newborns for a painstakingly long time. Finally, with head bowed, he scooped up the piglet and headed for the door.
"Sir, are you quite certain that you've made the right choice?" the nurse asked.
"No, I'm not," replied the Wildcat. "But I just couldn't run the risk of ending up with the KU kid."

After I sent this to my high school graduating class, some of whom attended each of the above schools, I got this reply:
" . . . I can see how a K-State Grad would make that decision. KU people know about DNA testing."

(NOTE: feel free to reverse the names of the school if you pass this on)

Kansas Board of Education

A number of years ago the Kansas board of education decided that evolution was simply an unproven theory. There was a lot of reaction from around the country. One quote was a in a column by Gene Weingarten that appeared in the Washington Post.
"Memo to members of the Kansas Board of Education from God: Thank you for your support. Much obliged. Now, go forth and multiply. Beget many children. And yea, your children shall beget children. And their children shall beget children, and their children's children after them. And in time the genes that have made you such pinheads will be eliminated through natural selection."

Survivor...Kansas Style

Due to the popularity of the Survivor shows, KSN Networks is planning to do it's own show.
The contestants will start in Wichita, travel west to Pratt, Garden City and up to Colby. From there they will head over to Hays, down to Great Bend, up through Salina and then on to Concordia. They will then proceed to Marysville down to Topeka, then south to Fort Scott and Pittsburgh, west through Independence, Arkansas City and Wellington, then back up to Wichita.

Each contestant will be driving a pink Volvo with New Jersey license plates and large bumper stickers that read "I'm a Vegetarian", "NASCAR Sucks", "Go Duke", Copenhagen is for Idiots", "Hillary in 2008", "Deer Hunting is Murder", "Say No to Budweiser", and "I'm here to Confiscate Your Guns". The first one to make it back to Wichita alive wins.

Gotta Love Those Kansas Girls

Three men were bragging about how they had been giving their new wives duties.
The first man had married a woman from Colorado. He bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning that needed done at their house. He said that it took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to a clean house and the dishes were all washed and put away.
The second man had married a woman from Oklahoma. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. He told them that the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.
The third man had married a Kansas girl. He said that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything. The second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down and he could see just enough out of his left eye to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and telephone a landscaper.