MtheGM (04 Sep 13 - 01:06 AM) and McGrath (03 Sep 13 - 07:35 PM), we agree completely, and what you are stating is in fact what I mainly try to convey in this thread.

Humoristic licence for a cliché can be granted when all listeners or readers can be expected to recognize it as quoted rather than endorsed. This expectation depends strongly on the cultural context; inside British culture, it is particular high, particularly if counter-valued by a really good joke. Naturally, some people either do not "get it" or disagree. John Cleese once complained in an interview that he gets many letters from "fans" who congratulate him to the very prejudices he wanted to satirize.

As for the morris article, I think it can at least be proved not to be serious. MtheGM wrote: Isn't it funny how the rest of the world unquestioningly believes that the locution "Hey nonny no" occurs ubiquitously thruout folklore, when the only actual instance that I can think of occurs in a song wrote by Will in As You Like It. An unshakeable near-universal misapprehension. Very strange! — I do not know about "the rest of the world", but writers and understanding readers of British newspapers cannot possibly believe that "Hey nonny no" occurs ubiquitously throughout folklore.

If a joke is good, and produced safely inside a British context, the "victim" is supposed to laugh and possibly add "By the way, the irons are only worn in certain areas ...". It will earn you a reputation of good sportsmanship, as many morris dancers have.

In cases of flippant abuse, you can either argue about the humoristic quality or exercise stoicism. Arguing requires arguments that can be understood by the abuser - chances are rarely promising. (You realise that I am experienced.)

There is nothing intrinsically comic about the morris or of being a US American, but there are many comic aspects in inter-cultural communication. Where would we be without our comedians?!