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LONDON (Reuters) - Bad news for Coco and Blinko -- children don't like clowns and even older kids are scared of them.

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The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.

The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.

"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children," said Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer in research at the university.

"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison

Mmmm-kay. TFA has one (1) picture of a clown in a parade. Our dainty sensibilities are such that we have to reprint a "safe" version of the article without the picture?

Anyhoo, the quote that makes me scratch my head is, "We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable." Unknowable?

At least I know that if I ever want to terrorize the entire LoT, all I have to do is show up to a party in clown makeup. The Clownodore.

Clown Killer

for those clown phobic, its time for some payback

:evil:

I requested it. I. Do not. Like clowns. I don't even like the clowns in the Electrical Parade. And I still remember the horrible picture someone (I remember who, I will not name names) posted of a very scary clown. That was very mean.

Good to know. :rolleyes:

I think kids don't like clowns because people read others with body language and facial expressions. With all of the makeup, you can't read a clown. It's disturbing to have a person smile with a frown painted on. A lot of the newer clowns don't use the makeup. They have a funny nose and clothes, but no other human-altering makeup.

Oh, and my son like the Insain Clown Posse which REALLY frightens me!

I think the term "unknowable" is rather accurate. As RStar said, it's hard to read their faces, and you have no clue what they'll do next.

Eeech, the "clownodore". :p

Not to worry. If he tests out the makeup in our apartment I'll probably flip out and then you can see then Clownadore exclusively on the 11:00 news. ;)

Heather's brother and his wife are about to have their second baby, a boy, at the end of the month. For the past several months, they've been working on making their 2-year-old daughter comfortable with the fact that she's going to have a baby brother. They asked her what they should call the new baby, and without missing a beat, she replied "JoJo." JoJo is a clown that appears on the Disney Channel. I guess it's not a universal fear...

... I just realized that JoJo is a female clown... so I have no idea what that means...

It means she'd rather have a sister....or maybe a clown for a sibling instead!!