Author Archives: Alex Bozzo

Game Custom – California

Ping Pong Counting Start

“Ping Pong Rallies On”

“P-I-N-G”

This is something I noticed in my fraternity after we purchases a ping pong table. When playing someone it is customary to begin with some general rallying to warm up. After doing this for roughly two to five minutes, the game officially starts. In order to determine who serves the ball first a rally is began with either one of those two chants mentioned above. I find it quite interesting however because I had never heard of the second chant involving only P-I-N-G. I have only used the chant that goes “Ping Pong Rallies On.” I was quite surprised to hear this other version and for some reason it threw me off. Although they are not very different, both have four beats to their rhythm, I still could not get used to this alternative beginning. Upon further research I discovered that according to the International Table Tennis Federation, the proper way to start a game is with the P-I-N-G version. This was very frustrating to me as I was quite comfortable with the alternative way.

It is curious to note that I am from northern California and the majority of the people in my fraternity house who employ the alternative ping pong chant are from southern California. Just as I was unfamiliar with their version, they were not familiar with mine either. I had learned my version from friends and I can recall using this as far back ten years ago when I was nine and we had our first ping pong table.

This piece of folklore is a perfect example of the Krohne historic geographic method where one can trace where a particular piece of folklore is in common practice. In this case “Ping Pong Rallies On” is prevalent in northern California, while “P-I-N-G” is more apparent in southern California. Ping Pong in my opinion is a very social and great game because you do not have to be a tremendous athlete to play, therefore you have a wide variety of people involved in the sport.

Proverb – Pakistani

Sabbar ke phal meethe hotein hai

The fruits of patience are very sweet

Shanzeh told me she heard this proverb many times especially from her parents and her elder relatives, her family s from the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. She says this proverb would be used when either she or someone around her was being impatient. There was one time in particular that she recalls hearing this saying from her mother. Shanzeh was about seven years old and her birthday was approaching, she remembers being in her parents room and seeing a very large box wrapped up. It just had to be her birthday present her parents were hiding from her. Just as she was about ready to rip off the wrapping, her mother grabbed her by the hand and scolded her. This of course set her into a fit of tears, as seven year olds typically do when not getting their way. Later as her mother talked to her she mentioned this proverb. There were several instances in Shanzeh’s life where she heard this saying, but felt this situation was a perfect application.

Shanzeh agrees that this proverb could certainly be directed at children because of their often impatient behavior. But she also mentioned that it is not limited to just use toward children. It is very natural for people to always be wanting things, we live in a very materialistic world. Shanzeh feels as though we focus too much on our material wants and that if wait and let things happen naturally, everything will work out in the end.

I would agree with Shanzeh’s thoughts on this proverb. It reminds me very much of the other proverb, “patience is a virtue.” Indeed, that ideal was reflected in Shanzeh’s thoughts and in my own as well. The situation in which Shanzeh recalls the proverb being used also reflects the very materialistic attitude many people have in life today. I feel this is quite apparent in the United States today, unfortunately I feel the majority of my generation has no appreciation for hard work. It seems that Shanzeh took her mother’s words to heart because the Shanzeh I know today is one of the most hardworking people I know here. Just recently she has been pledging a business “forority” which is a long process. She has displayed great patience and worked very hard. She was recently initiated and she was rewarded greatly, proving the proverb quite true. If more people could display patience and understand things are not easily handed to you, the world would be a better place.

Family Proverb

Bozzo Family Proverb: “Many hands make light work”

My father Gus has always used this proverb for as long as remember. When I asked him about where he had heard it he answered that this saying had been with him since his childhood growing up in nearby Gilroy, CA. He heard it from his father whenever there was work to be done. My father is one of seven children, which is perfectly understandable within the context of the expression. Whenever there was work to be done, if everyone pitched in, it would go by faster. My dad said his father ran the family in this manner because there was always so many of them, whether it was doing work on the yard or doing dishes, there was no shortage of work nor a shortage of helping hands. My dad believes this phrase emphasizes the fact that within a family everyone must work together in order for things to run smoothly. No one is more important the other and the work must be done so everyone might as well pitch in.

When I asked my dad further about some of the times he would hear his dad use the phrase I noticed that many of the jobs were constructed based on gender roles. For example whenever there was hard manual labor to be done his father called on my dad and his two brothers to see to it. Meanwhile there was other work more fit for the girls such as preparing the meal, cleaning, or taking care of other household tasks. My dad described his father and very old fashioned and he remains that way today. Which certainly makes sense as to why he has these very narrow view points about what jobs are suitable for a girl and which for a boy.

I feel this proverb focuses on the theme of cooperation which is certainly an important aspect to any family’s daily life. My dad continues to use this phrase around the house today and likewise I feel I will when I become the head of a household. The family is one of the most important things in life and how in order for it to operate smoothly everyone has to pitch in and do their fair share as reflected in this proverb.

Annotation: The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3th ed., edited by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., et al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Festival – Indian

Holi Festival- India

Sudharam very enthusiastically recalled the tradition of Holi festival celebrated each year in his native India. The festival occurs in late February or early March and is based on the lunar calendar, this festival always happens after a full moon. The premise of the holiday is spraying and covering one another in many brightly covered paints. The expression “Happy Holi” is exchanged between everyone through the course of the day. Also, a drink known as “bhang” that contains milk and some form of drug that Sudharam could not identify, the drink is served to all people including children. The result is everyone feeling inebriated and an extreme high.

Directly connected to this celebration are the festivities that precede it the night before which are known as Lorri. According to Sudharam during this night the whole family gathers around a fireplace and they all through wheat grains into the fire which produces a loud popping noise. Sudharam spoke very fondly of this day, saying it was always a good time. He especially enjoyed it as a little kid and recalls waking up early and make balloons of paint and filling squirt guns with paint.

According to Sudharam this festival exists to celebrate the victory of good over evil. Specifically it celebrates the tale of King Hiranyakashyap, he meditated for years and years and embraced the Gods and the Gods asked him what he wanted and he replied that he didn’t want to die by animal or human being or during day or night, he essentially wanted to live forever. Because of this he became very powerful and misused his powers and when he went back to his kingdom he abused the people, raping women and causing trouble. So to combat this the God Vishnu came down and took the form of half man, half animal, and killed the King at dawn, neither at night or day, on his doorstep. The celebration known as Lorri the night before with the burning of wheat in the fire represents a woman who was raped by the King and who kills herself by throwing her body on a pile of burning logs.

I feel this celebration represents feelings of ecstasy and delight. Why people need to pain themselves is a little beyond me. However, the festival exists to celebrate good therefore covering everyone with paint and having a good time certainly invokes feelings of euphoria and happiness. Also, the fact that everyone is served a drink to get them feeling drunk adds to the feeling of joy. This celebration also reflects the worldview of the Indian people that involves their religion. I feel that this celebration is very important because it shows that we should not focus so much on the wrongdoing in world but rather celebrate and enjoy life.

Contemporary Legend – California

Haunted School House

Apparently back in the 50’s and 60’s the hillside behind Mt hamilton was used as a missile test site and other government tests and was highly top secret. Those who worked back there made new lives for themselves because they were rarely able to leave. They had food and other products delivered to the small communities and the children even went to a school back there. The teacher of the school was going insane from the isolation and one day she hung all of the children (some say she even slit all of their wrists). She then took her own life and since then it has been haunted. People told me the story and said that if I went there and actually walked into the school, the kids try to help you and push your car away from the school to keep you from the ghost of the teacher, leaving fingerprints on the car. The first time I went there I was too scared to get out of the car and nothing happened. I went there again with my friend Trent and Dusty and oddly enough three other people were there. The weird thing was, the three kids went to my school Cuesta college and majored in architecture – same college as me, same major, all of which I thought was extremely weird because we were 200 miles from our school in San Luis Obispo. Then we went inside and saw a few ropes hanging from the ceiling and the atmosphere of the school was freaking me out. We then walked back to the car and parted ways with the people we met. They left first so we know they didn’t follow us but we happened to see them a few blocks from my house. We then got home and noticed a few finger prints on the car and the whole experience was pretty hard to comprehend.

Chris went on to tell me that has never been so scared in his entire life especially when we went into the school and saw ropes hanging from the ceiling. In retrospect he thought someone else might have gone in there and hung them to make it even scarier. Also the fact that the three other kids whom he had never seen before even though they were students with the same major at his college were there hundreds of miles away. He claims since seeing them that night he has never seen them again. The combination of all these things scared him to no end.

I feel this ghost story does so well because of the childhood aspect. The children’s handprints on the car are a very nice touch to the story that add a twisted aspect to the story. The children were innocent in this case, although sometimes in the media we see the children portrayed as evil. This story in general invites discussions about the belief of ghosts, after all, Chris did say he noticed some hand prints on his window. A ghost story is so popular in my opinion because of that unknown element, who knows why those handprints showed up or why there happened to be kids from his school there that same night.