I get jokes emailed to me regularly, and while I'm not averse to redneck jokes, I have a slight, er, language problem with this one.

Here's the text (which is identical to what I received):

A Tennessee couple, both bonified rednecks, had 9 children. They went to the doctor to see about getting the husband "fixed". The doctor gladly started the required procedure and asked them what finally made them make the decision--why after nine children, would they choose to do this.

The husband replied that they had read in a recent article that one out of every ten children being born in the United States was Mexican, and they didn't want to take a chance on having a Mexican baby because neither of them could speak Spanish.

And of course we all know that there is no such word as "bonified." It's "bona fide." Unless the idea is to imply that rednecks would use the word "bonified" (which I doubt), it's a clear mistake by the joke's author. And surely (so I thought), no educated person would use the word "bonified," so people who don't know how to spell "bona fide" are merely revealing that they belong to the uneducated classes, and are not in any position to be ridiculing rednecks.

At least, that was my first reaction until I found the word in the Urban Dictionary, and read the definition:

1. bonified

A word used by people who don't know the proper spelling of "bona fide", like Sheila Marikar of ABC News.

"The movie made $31 million in its opening weekend and transforming "Grey's Anatomy's" Katherine Heigl into a bonified movie star"

So maybe I'm the one who's being unsophisticated here. Writers for ABC -- especially film reviewers -- are the height of cool, right?

My concern is, if it's cool to use the word "bonified," then what is the basis for ridiculing the ignorant?

By the way, there was a picture which accompanied the joke:

I couldn't help notice that Ann Coulter is sitting on the porch next door while aiming a rifle.

A little research revealed that it's a photoshop of this widely circulated picture of Coulter (which is attributed to Coulter's site):

The picture of the rednecks with Morlock teeth has been superimposed onto the Coulter picture, so someone must have gone to a little bit of trouble to....

Hey wait!

Ann Coulter?

Hmm...

Might the word "bonified" possibly be a pun at Coulter's expense? Am I a dumbass redneck for not getting it?

Maybe I am (because I do cling to my guns and everything), but please, dear God, don't make me get bonified by Ann Coulter!

See what happens when you start out with a small bone to pick?

Sheesh.

Why does everything have to be such a pain in the ass?

(Or maybe I should say, "why should bonified deconstruction end up being a pain in the ass?")