Definition of Zany

Youth

ZANY noun

	A popular character in old Italian plays, who imitated with ludicrous incompetence the buffone, or clown, and was therefore the ape of an ape; for the clown himself imitated the serious characters of the play. The zany was progenitor to the specialist in humor, as we to-day have the unhappiness to know him. In the zany we see an example of creation; in the humorist, of transmission.

		definition from: *The Devil's Dictionary* by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Zanzibari

Last updated: 9/3/2011 12:48:30