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What Makes Florida The 'Punchline' State?

DOS.MYFLORIDA.COM
This is a depiction of the flag that flew at the 1845 inauguration of Florida’s first governor, William D. Moseley. The motto caused such a stir that it never became an official state flag.";

Florida has no shortage of weird and wacky stories that contribute to its reputation as the 'punchline' state.

Tampa Bay Times reporter Craig Pittman has spent decades collecting those stories. He’s made regular use of the Oh, #Florida! hashtag on Twitter for years thanks to a seemingly endless supply of bizarre news fodder. Now he’s compiled many of his favorites into a book. "Oh, Florida! How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country" is in bookstores now.

Pittman will be at Books & Books in Coral Gables Friday at 8pm to discuss his new book, which the New York Times calls compulsively readable.

In this interview, Pittman covers everything from the slogan on our first state flag – “Let Us Alone” - to a dead shark on the interstate, to the case that led to cameras being allowed in courtrooms nationwide.

WLRN: You are a Florida native. Where did you grow up?

PITTMAN: I'm from Pensacola originally, I grew up in the Panhandle. My parents are from the Panhandle. I can trace my family roots here in Florida all the way back to 1850 when my ancestors first arrived here looking for a good deal on waterfront condos.

Who did you write this book for?

I had in mind two audiences – one, the people who are here in Florida and don't know much about it…I wanted to explain to people that there's a lot of wild and crazy stuff that has happened in Florida over the decades and centuries, and you should be aware of that and you should treasure that. Then, for the folks who are looking at Florida from the outside - particularly in this presidential year - I wanted to explain to them that we're not just the punchline state, we're not just the state you like to laugh about. Lots of cool stuff has happened here that may be affecting your life and you don't even realize it.

Florida being the punchline state -- how did we get that nickname?

 I think it's a characterization that's been around at least since 2000 when our presidential election sort of went off the rails here. About a year after that, the snarky and satirical website Fark.com granted Florida the very first state tag. They have topic tags on Fark, but we were the first state and so far the only state to get its own tag on Fark. So people see a crazy news item and then see the tag and go “oh, Florida.”

You point out that people who have messed up horribly in other places tend to flee to Florida to start over.

Yes, and my favorite example of this is Carlo Ponzi, the guy who invented the Ponzi scheme up in Massachusetts. While he was out on bond, (he) came to Florida fleeing the jurisdiction and immediately got involved in a real estate fraud. So he did not turn over a new leaf at all.

You say Florida is your favorite state. Why?

I'm from here for one thing, so I can appreciate all of the cool stuff that we have - the award winning state park system, the beaches that are often ranked among the most beautiful in the world, our cotton candy sunsets that we enjoy. I even enjoy some of the stuff that's dangerous. You know, the fact that we're the lightning capital of America - it's nice to watch that from indoors and enjoy the light show. It's like having 4th of July fireworks every summer afternoon. Also, I think it's great that you can open the paper every morning and find something in there that just makes you shake your head and go holy cow.

 If there's another weird state, is there anything that comes close to Florida that you can think of?

Weird things happen everywhere, anywhere you find humans basically. California used to be the king of weird. That's the one that people used to make jokes about on the late night talk shows before Florida took its place. So I guess California is probably still producing some weird stuff, but not nearly in the league with Florida.

Click below to hear more of Craig Pittman’s interview.

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