Author Archives: Katie Chorao

The Girl in the Bathroom

Main Description

The informant describes the story of the little girl said to haunt her high school’s bathroom. The girl’s name was Pearl (a name derived from her high school’s mascot’s name), her cries could be heard between flushes, and she became the joking scapegoat of most high school girls’ problems. 

Informant’s Opinion

“Pearl wasn’t a scary ghost at all… more of an inside joke that everyone could bond over. Like, ‘Your hair’s looking bad? Pearl must’ve had something to do with it.” I’m really curious about where she came from though, because every girl knew about her but no one knew anything about her. How did she die? Why did she haunt the bathroom? No one knew.”

Thoughts

This story reminds me of Harry Potter‘s Moaning Myrtle: a girl who died in the girls’ bathroom and who provides comic relief throughout the Harry Potter series. I would assume that the girls of the informant’s high school watched Harry Potter and then wanted to create their own Moaning Myrtle in their bathroom, and in doing so they were able to iterate authored literature and create folklore from a copyrighted source.

Quack Diddly Oso (Childhood Game)

Overview

The informant grew up in Long Island, New York and remembers playing this game throughout elementary school and middle school. It was usually played in big groups at social school gatherings (like field trips, recess, etc). 

The Game

2+ players sit in a circle with their right hand on top of the left hand of the person on their right. They chant a rhyming song and clap their hands in a wave around the circle. Whomever has their hand clapped on the last word of the song is eliminated, and players continue until there’s only one person left standing. 

The chant: “Quack diddly oso quack quack quack, from San Diego, eggo eggo waffle, Dolora, Dolora, potatoes on the floor-a, go 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10”

Collector’s Thoughts

I also played this game as a kid, but I remember a different variation. Instead of “potatoes on the floor-a” we said “I’ll kick you out the door-a”. I’m sure there’s so many other iterations of this game, and I hope to find more of them!

Annotation

For another version of this game, see: https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/folklorearchive/2019/06/03/quack-diddly-oso-clapping-hand-game/

The Guardian Angel

Interview/Overview/Context:

Interviewer: “I remember you mentioning a crazy story from when you were young. You were in the car with your mom.”

Informant: “Yes! I think I was about seven or eight. We were in Florida, where a lot of our relatives live.”

Interviewer: “So you were in the car, where were you driving?”

Informant: “We were coming home from a family party, actually. It was really late and we were driving back to our hotel. We were so tired at that point. I fell asleep on the ride home, and the crazy part is that my mom swears she fell asleep, too. When she woke up, I was still asleep in the car, and our car was parked at our hotel.”

Interviewer: “Woah, that’s so freaky. What does your mom think about it?”

Informant: “My mom always says that it was a guardian angel that brought us home. We were with so much family that night, I think it was my grandma looking over us. I don’t know, I find it very comforting.”

Thoughts

I’ve heard of a lot about belief in “guardian angel” presences. Throughout my childhood, people would say that their deceased relatives watched over them and protected them, and when something crazy would happen, they would cite their savior as their guardian angel. Oftentimes, these people were religious. As a non-religious person, I wonder how many other non-religious people also believe in guardian angels.

Merd

Overview

The informant is a dancer from Birmingham, Alabama. He has danced at home in Alabama and at school in Los Angeles and in both locations he’s encountered the word “merd”. Merd is something dancers say to wish each other good luck before a performance (similar to how actors say “break a leg”). 

Explanation

The informant gave background on the word. Apparently it comes from Louis XIV era France, when dancers would perform for the king. Horse-drawn carriages would arrive in a procession around the king’s palace, so naturally there was lots of horse poop on the streets. “Merd” is french for poop. So, the carriage drivers would warn, “merd!” when they arrived at the palace so that the dancers wouldn’t get their feet dirty. 

Thoughts

I love the parallels between dance-folklore’s “merd” and theater-folklore’s “break a leg”. Both phrases are dirty and negative, but they really suggest well wishes and positivity. Like with most group folklore, it requires initiation in the group to understand the true meaning, since it differs so much from the literal meaning.

Horse Walks Into a Bar

The Joke

Horse walks into a bar. Bartender says, “Why the long face?”

Description

The informant describes this joke that her mom used to tell. Her mom thought it was hilarious but no one else found it funny. So, whenever something unfunny happened, family members would say this joke to show that the present situation wasn’t funny.

Analysis

This is a great example of metafolklore. This is essentially a joke about another joke, specifically a joke about the unfunniness of another joke.