Author Archives: Adam Woodnutt

Chew on a Piece of Thread

Informant: B is a 20-year old born and raised in Southern California. He and his family are Jewish, and are all involved in theater.

Main Piece:

Informant: “Something my mom always told me is: if you’re wearing a garment of clothing that is actively being sewn or mended or stuff of that nature, you need to chew on a piece of thread.”

Interviewer: What happens if you don’t?

Informant: “Well, bad luck. There are all sorts of associations to death shrouds and dying, so it’s pretty bad to do.”

Background Information about the Performance: The informant’s mother told him this superstition when he was younger. The family frequently sews clothes due to their involvement with the theater.

Context of Performance: The piece is told as a warning against bad luck, mostly during situations in which people are mending clothes.

Thoughts: The informant noted that although he is not very superstitious, he very much believes this superstition. I was not aware of this superstition, but was aware of other sewing-related superstitions, such as knotted threads signifying an argument in the future, or not leaving something unsewn through New Years.

Manaiakalani

Informant: Uluwehi is a 21-year-old student from Hawaiʻi. She is from the island of Oʻahu.

Main Piece: “Okay so…Māui was the youngest of four brothers. And one day, he wanted to go fishing with his brothers. But they told him ‘no, no Māui, you’re the baby brother, you can’t come fish.’ So Māui went to his grandmother and asked her for help. She took her jawbone and made it into a magic fishhook, Manaiakalani.

So Māui was really smart and he hid himself on his brothers’ boat. When they got too far out to turn around, Māui jumped out. They were annoyed with him but let him stay because it was too late. But they were telling him off and didn’t think he would catch anything. He told them he would catch something really big, but they had to trust him and keep rowing until he caught it and not look back.

Māui baited his hook with feathers and threw it into the ocean. It caught something really big, and the brothers started rowing and rowing and Māui told them to kept rowing. And the boat was almost capsizing because the fish was so big. But the fish was actually the land that would become Hawaiʻi, and Māui was going to bring them all up and together.

Because the boat was rocking so much and they were really worried, one of the brothers looked back and saw all of the islands being dragged up from the ocean. And they’re all beautiful, but because the brother looked, the line broke. Manaiakalani went into the sky and became a constellation. And the islands stayed as separate islands. But Māui had made Hawaiʻi.”

Background Information about the Performance: This piece was told to the informant as a means of explaining the constellation Manaiakalani, which is composed of roughly the same stars as the Western constellation Scorpio. She was told it as a child by her family, and also learned it in school. It is important to her as it describes the creation of Hawaii, her home.

Context of Performance: This piece is told primarily to children as a means of understanding the constellations, but also fits into the larger story of Māui.

Thoughts: It is noteworthy that this piece explains a constellation, much like the Western constellations are explained in stories. Since both the Hawaiians and the Ancient Greeks sail avidly, these constellation-based stories could have been created to help sailors remember directions when navigating.

Un dólar y pico

Informant: Liz is a 24-year-old student born and raised in Southern California. Her mother is from a town near Guadalajara, Mexico. Liz returns to Mexico sometimes to visit family, but speaks Spanish at home.

Main Piece:
Original: “¿Cuanto le regreso el cajero al pato después de que le dio 5 pesos por una volsa de semilla de 3 pesos 25 centavos? Le regresó un dólar y pico.”

Translation: “How much did the cashier give back to the duck after he paid 5 pesos for some seed that cost 3 pesos and 25 cents? He gave him a dollar and change.”

Per the informant, “the joke is funny because, in Mexico, pico can mean either ‘change’ or ‘beak’, like a duck’s beak. So it’s a pun, although it doesn’t translate that well into English”

Background Information about the Performance: The informant was told this joke by her cousins when she was in Mexico.

Context of Performance: This joke is told between people when bored or just as entertainment.

Thoughts: I thought this joke was interesting because it resembles another joke in English, namely: “What did the duck say to the waitress? Put it on my bill” or something similar. That such a joke can exist cross-linguistically is notable. The joke is also a good example of how poorly puns translate into other languages, as this joke makes very little sense in English.

 

Bonfire Night

Informant: Valerie is a 61-year-old, born and raised in Dorking, England. She moved to Pennsylvania at 40, and to San Diego at 45. She still regularly visits England, where all her family still live.

Main Piece: “Back when I lived in England, we would celebrate Bonfire Night every 5th of November. Every Bonfire Night when I was growing up, my family would go out to the center of town and there’d be a big celebration. It was all about remembering Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot and celebrating that he was caught. We’d set off fireworks and burn an effigy of him, and have a big…almost a party, with loads of food. Kids would go around dragging big…scarecrows dressed like Guy Fawkes. It was very important to my mum.”

Background Information about the Performance: The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt by Guy Fawkes at destabilizing the British Government in the 1600s. Bonfire Night celebrates the fact that he was caught before the Plot was executed. For the informant, she remembers this piece because of how important it was to her family at the time. The informant still celebrates Bonfire Night in San Diego by cooking a special meal that night.

Context of Performance: The piece was performed annually on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot.

Thoughts: Upon further research, I have found that the celebration of Bonfire Night has dwindled significantly since the time the informant lived in England. However, she continues the tradition, although in a much more subdued manner, in the United States.

Bob Ross Twitch Meme

Informant: Alex is a 23-year-old from Southern California. He self-identifies as a gamer. He also frequently uses Twitch, a website that allows people around the world to stream videos – especially of themselves playing video games – live.

Main Piece:
twitch-bob-ross

Background Information about the Performance: This piece was found online by the informant. It depicts Bob Ross, a famous painter and TV personality, painting the Twitch logo. Bob Ross is a popular meme on Twitch following a nine-day-long marathon of his original program, The Joy of Painting. In this meme, his face has been replaced by another Twitch meme, Kappa. Kappa is a prominent emote used on Twitch videos.

Context of Performance: This meme is spread around internet communities, specifically through Twitch and other social media sites.

Thoughts: This particular meme is somewhat unique as it combines two separate memes in the Twitch community. It is also notable as it is authored media that has become a meme spread around the community.