Americans do believe in progress and there is almost certainly a kernel of truth in the joke.

The professor instead decided to invest it in the study of folklore. ) Every Man His Way: Readings in Cultural Anthropology. "A Study of Ethnic Slurs".

His work was said to have been central to establishing the study of folklore as an academic discipline. [citation needed] He wrote 12 books both academic and popular and edited or co-wrote two dozen more. Alan Dundes (September 8 1934 – March 30 2005) was a folklorist at the University of California Berkeley.