Step right up! It was back on this date in 1881 (and not for the first time) that Phineas T. Barnum and James A. Bailey combined forces and circus wagons to create what they billed as the greatest show on earth: Barnum and Bailey's Circus. (来源：英语e问e答 http://ask.englishcn.com)

Our ringing endorsement of their merger consists of ducking out from under the Big Top and rifling through the reference materials for words circusiana. Circusiana is the catchall word for "materials or objects relating to circuses or circus life;" after flipping past freaks and ringmasters, hey rubes and bandwagons, we're painting a picture of the somewhat confounding history of the clown. (来源：英语麦当劳－英语杂志 EnglishCN.com)

Modern circus-goers know the clown both by his or her grotesque dress and make-up and by the comedic acts of that beloved (if sometimes a bit scary) performer.

But originally—well before Barnum and Bailey, back in the 1500s—clown named a countryman or farmer; a rustic. Although its origin is uncertain, clown's long ago linguistic kin meant "clumsy fellow; lump of metal." Country folk must have been considered the furthest thing from urbane, since clown then came to refer to any "rude, ill-bred person;" or "boor" before developing (in the early 1600s) its circusy sense. (来源：英语麦当劳－英语学习门户 EnglishCN.com)