Author Archives: Crystal Vine

Internet Folklore

The Bumper Sticker application on Facebook is a program that allows people to search for different virtual bumper stickers that can be added to their profile or shared with friends.  The Bumper Sticker application has categories ranging from “Witticisms” to “Gangsta” to “Cute Animals”.  You can also view the most popular bumper stickers (the most popular has been sent 5,436,346 times), newly popular bumper stickers, and recently added bumper stickers.  Though the makers of the application created some of the bumper stickers, the majority of bumper stickers are created by Facebook users that upload them to the application.  Most bumper stickers are not specific to a certain individual (or if they are, it is a widely recognized person), but there are bumper stickers that are meant to be understood only by a select group of people.  Also, bumper stickers are constantly being created as events take place in the world or as pop culture phenomenons take place.  For instance, one very popular type of bumper sticker is the LOL Catz.  There are dozens of different pictures of the “catz” that you can share with your friends or add to your own profile.  Another popular type of bumper sticker involves the Greek fraternity/sorority system.  Recently, there have even been bumper stickers created about bumper stickers.  One such bumper sticker reads “Wow. The amount of bumper stickers you are sending me is beginning to get ridiculous.” and then in small print at the bottom says “and of course I love it”.

On the surface, it seems like the Bumper Sticker application is a fun way to waste time on the computer.  There are thousands of bumper stickers to browse and send to friends, in addition to the ability to create your own bumper sticker that you can upload and share with others.  However, the bumper sticker application is so revolutionary because it is a digestible piece of pop culture that can be spread instantaneously.  For instance, as the democratic candidacy race has intensified during recent months, there has been a large amount of bumper stickers that feature people from the Democratic Party.  One memorable bumper sticker shows the faces of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, and underneath reads “Bros before Hoes”.  Like many bumper stickers, this one is humorous yet vulgar, and clearly aimed at a fairly young audience (teens through early twenties).  Despite the crudeness of this bumper sticker, it’s popularity shows that this audience still cares about political issues but has a unique way of conveying this.

Bumper stickers are also used to share jokes and similar interests with friends.  There is an entire category of bumper stickers that feature “life lessons” quotes, and it is very popular for friends to send these to one another as a testimony of the strength of their friendship.  An example of this is the most popular bumper sticker shared on facebook, which reads “My friends are the kind that if my house was burning down, they would be making s’mores and hitting on the firemen.”  Again, this bumper sticker illustrates the common theme of humor mixed with a bit of truth, which makes it especially fun to share with friends.  As a result, many people have a wide variety of bumper stickers displayed on their facebook profiles that are from different friends and contain various inside jokes, funny images, or even a beautiful scenic image.

Especially since the Bumper Sticker application allows users to both share and upload their own creations, the application can be considered a means of transmitting cultural values and establishing individual or group identity.  People display quotes or images that they feel represent their personality, and also keep bumper stickers sent by friends that have a special meaning.  By looking at a person’s bumper sticker collection, it is possible to learn something about the likes and dislikes of a person, as well as their sense of humor.

I have a fairly extensive bumper sticker collection, and I really enjoy finding bumper stickers that remind me of my friends.  I love the feeling of reading a bumper sticker and saying “That is so true!”  I think that this feeling is shared by other users of the application, and helps explain why it is such a popular feature on Facebook.  Also, since the primary users of Facebook are in their teens and twenties, the application is especially popular because it appeals to the tastes of that audience; bumper stickers are easy to find and send, there are both images and text, and bumper stickers are small and do not contain a lot of information on any given image.  As a result, bumper stickers have become increasingly popular and have even become a topic of conversation outside the realm of facebook.  I have had multiple conversations with friends about a hilarious bumper sticker, or about an idea for a bumper sticker that has not been made yet.  Although the application may seem trivial, it actually has served as a unifying force when talking with friends or even people I have just met.  Also, it has helped distinguish my group of friends from other groups because we all share certain bumper stickers that display group interests and inside jokes.

Hand-Clapping Game/Rhyme

Miss Suzie had a steamboat/?The steamboat had a bell (ding ding!)/?Miss Suzie went to heaven/?The steamboat went to/?Hello operator,?Please give me number nine/?If you disconnect me?I’ll kick you from/?Behind the refrigerator there was a piece of glass/?Miss Suzie sat upon it and cut her little/?Ask me no more questions/?Tell me no more lies/?The boys are in the bathroom zipping up their/?Flies are in the meadow/?The bees are in the park/?Miss Suzie and her boyfriend are kissing in the/ D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, DARK DARK DARK/ Dark is like a movie/?A movie’s like a show/?A show is like a TV screen/?And that is all I know!

Sarah said that she would sing the “Miss Suzie” song when she was younger while playing a hand-clapping game.  She said she would do it for fun and would play the game with other girls her age during recess.  Although the clapping itself was fun, Sarah told me that the main reason she enjoyed playing the game was the play on words in the lyrics.  As a little kid, she said that she felt sneaky and cool when she would almost say the word “ass” but instead actually would say “ask”.  Also, Sarah noted that even though she did not actually use any cuss words, she would try to avoid singing the song in front of adults because she did not want to get in trouble.  However, whenever older kids were around, Sarah said she would try to play with them because she wanted to be cool and sing the song with them.  Once Sarah graduated to middle school, she stopped playing the game but to this day still remembers all of the words to the “Miss Suzie” song because she used to sing it so much as a kid.

The “Miss Suzie” song clearly seems to be a way for younger children to experiment with more “mature” concepts like intimate relationships and faux-vulgarity of words that sound like cuss words.  Technically they are not saying anything inappropriate, but they come very close, which emphasizes how immature singing the song is, since genuinely mature people would not sing such lyrics.  The childish nature of the song is further illustrated by its simple rhyme scheme and use of repetitively spelling out words.

Sarah said she liked to sing the song when older kids were present, thus showing how the song was used as a method of being accepted by others in the community.  For Sarah, being deemed “cool” by older kids was something desirable, and she felt that the play on words in the song would help her achieve a higher social status.  Her position within her group of friends was very important to Sarah as a child because it helped her form her identity and establish herself as a member of a certain group of people.  As Sarah grew up, though, she no longer needed to rely on acting cool via hand-clapping songs in order to make friends and eventually stopped signing those types of songs.  Even so, the song is such a memorable part of her childhood that even today she can recite the words.

I remember singing this song when I was younger, and like Sarah, I felt cool to almost say cuss words and be able to get away with it.  Most importantly, I remember this song made me feel like a part of a special group, since only certain people knew the rhyme and the clapping game that went with it.  The song contributed to the formation of my identity in elementary school and helped connect me with others that could sing the song with me.  Also similar to Sarah, as I grew up, I found other ways to form bonds with people (and I also realized that it was not very cool to sing clapping game songs) so I abandoned the practice of playing these games.

Superstition/Folk Belief

Superstition- If your nose itches that means that someone is thinking of you or talking about you.

Annie was told this by her mother, who was told by her mother.  I am unsure if this matrilineal transmission of the superstition/belief has any significance.  It is possible that since the traditional role of the mother is to raise children and teach them how to behave well and become successful members of society, it may also the job of the mother to also pass along cultural superstitions and beliefs as part of a child’s informal education.  However, it is just as possible that Annie’s mom and her grandmother passed on the superstition randomly and not because they felt it was important to teach their children about the belief.

The context of this belief is clear; if you tell someone your nose itches, they might tell you that someone is thinking/ talking about you.  The reasons why someone would say this is less obvious.  One reason might be that people want to bring as much structure to their lives as possible, including strange bodily functions.  If someone’s nose inexplicably itches, the idea that someone is thinking of them might be reassuring.  Also, it gives people a sense of control that they can explain what is going on inside themselves and in their lives, so believing in this superstition adds to that sense of control and knowledge of one’s body.

I have heard this superstition before, but a slightly different version.  I have been told by friends that if your ears are ringing, someone is thinking/talking about you, and that if your nose itches, you are going to kiss a fool.  The different versions of the superstition illustrate how these superstitions are not grounded in verifiable fact and can easily be altered and still sound correct.  And since these superstitions cannot really be proven, they continue to exist and be passed on to other people.  Also, belief in these superstitions is strengthened if the saying actually comes true- if someone’s nose itches, and then a friend calls and says “Hi, I was just thinking of you and decided to call…”, that will reinforce a person’s belief even if it may have been a pure coincidence.

Contemporary Legend/Prank

“There was this website online called Bonzai Cats that was really controversial for awhile.  No one could tell whether it was a practical joke or not, but basically it was about this Japanese guy who was selling pets called Bonzai Cats.  These cats were treated horribly, put in cages and fed through tubes, and given muscle relaxants and then shoved into different bottles so they would morph into these really bizarre shapes.  Then the cats are sold as souveneirs.  Some people got so outraged by this that a huge petition was created to stop the guy from making Bonzai Cats, even though no on even knew for a fact if it was even possible to do something like this.  The problem was that there were pictures posted online that show what a Bonzai Cat looks like.  But no one could determine whether the pictures were Photoshopped or edited to make them look like they were being mistreated.”

The controversy over the Bonzai Cats hoax shows the power and dangers of the internet.  Because everyone with internet access could view the Bonzai Cat site, it quickly became a topic of conversation (and anger) for many people.  However, because it was online and not able to be viewed live, no one could actually verify if such a practice actually existed.  Even so, the shock and outrage that many viewers of the website shared united people and actually led to the creation of a petition and legal action against the alleged Bonzai Cat operation.  This group formation eventually exposed the Bonzai Cat hoax, which was actually run by a group of MIT students.  While this hoax is pretty clever and humorous on one hand, it is also dangerous because it convinced so many people of something that was not true.  Also, it may have opened the door for copy-cat hoax websites that could potentially manipulate audiences into believing in something that is not true.  Fortunately, in the case of Bonzai Cats, the public was united in order to fight against animal cruelty.  This shows how society values fair and humane treatment of living creatures and is willing to stand up and fight if those values are violated.  However, it is interesting that the people who fought against Bonzai Cats did not invest more time verifying the legitimacy of the website and company before creating a petition.  Perhaps this is because Bonzai Cats was created a few years ago when technology like Photoshop was relatively new.  Many people probably thought that images could not be manipulated in extreme ways and considered the photos concrete proof of animal cruelty.

Dylan said that he first heard about Bonzai Cats when he was at a friend’s house and his friend showed him the website.  He said that the pictures looked very realistic, but he still could not believe that it was physically possible to deform the cats in such a drastic way without killing them.  More so than that, Dylan doubted the cats could legally be sold as “art”, since it was such an obvious demonstration of animal cruelty.  For Dylan, critical analysis of the website allowed him to make a rational judgment that the website must be a prank.  However, many viewers were less sure and believed that Bonzai Cats actually existed.  This varying level of belief shows how the website was able to perpetuate this prank and turn it into a legend that was not readily verifiable.

Like Dylan, I was initially shocked when I saw the Bonzai Cats website, but then decided that it must be fake.  Even though a part of me was fascinated by the idea of growing cats as decoration, I could not actually believe that something so cruel would actually be posted online and used to generate sales.  I think that the younger generations that are more familiar with computers had an easier time discriminating this site, whereas adults and people that had not used a computer often were more likely to be convinced by the images posted online.

Tradition – Polish

“During Christmas on my dad’s side of the family we celebrate it Polish Christmas style, meaning we eat a ton of fried food consisting of haddock, perogi, halushki, and lots of cabbagy stuff called kaputsa.  Also, it’s the Polish tradition to break this wafer-like thingy before we all sit down to dinner and so we say grace and then everyone has to break a piece off from the other people’s wafers.  I have no idea what the significance is to this, but my best guess would be that we break the bread just like Jesus broke the bread at the last supper although Christmas is a celebration of His birth, not the last supper, so I don’t know.  My family never really explained it.  It’s just something we do.”

Annie’s celebration of a Polish Christmas seems to show the combination of different traditions within one holiday.  During Christmas, Annie said that she sang Christmas carols and watched Christmas movies like “Elf” or “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”, both of which are very mainstream holiday movies.  In addition to these activities, though, Annie and her family would experience Polish rituals during the holidays, especially in terms of food.

Annie said that her parents wanted her and her brother to be aware of their Polish heritage and actually experience it instead of hearing stories from family members.  Annie does identify herself as being part Polish, and noted that participating in a Polish Christmas helped connect her more to these origins.  However, Annie said that even though she eats Polish food during Christmas and engages in some Polish rituals like the breaking of the bread, she does not know the significance of all of these traditions.  Since she was raised Catholic and is actively involved in the Catholic Church, it makes sense that Annie would try to make sense of the Polish traditions by drawing on her Catholic upbringing.

In order to learn more about the origins and significance of the bread breaking, I researched the topic and learned that there are connections with this tradition and the Christian faith.  The wafer-like bread, called oplatek, is traditionally broken in pieces and shared with everyone at the table.  The bread is very similar to an unleavened, unconsecrated bread used during the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church, and it is often stamped with religious images.  The sharing of the bread serves as an act of good will and hope for success in the new year (Cantoski, “Treasured Polish Christmas”).  Therefore, Annie’s assumptions were correct; this Polish tradition is very similar to Jesus’ breaking of the bread during the last supper, since that too was a profound act of kinship with others.  Thus, Annie’s Catholic upbringing compliments the Polish Christmas she celebrates, since the two have many things in common.  Because the two traditions do not clash, it makes sense that Annie’s family continues to participate in both types of celebration.  It allows her family to enjoy a unique holiday that establishes a special family identity, and also allows her family to grow closer as they share this experience.  This is further emphasized through the breaking of the bread, since that specific ritual is especially designed to unite people during the onset of the new year.

Although sharing food often brings people together, I think that the specific tradition of breaking bread is especially significant because of its religious implications and the power it has to unite people.  The tradition may have a different meaning for families that actually live in Poland, since they are more directly immersed in their culture, whereas Annie’s family has been removed from some of the other Polish Christmas traditions.  Even so, the central meaning of the ritual remains the same; uniting the family during the holiday.

Annotation: Contoski, Josepha K. Treasured Polish Christmas Customs and Traditions: Carols, Decorations, and a Christmas Play. Minneapolis: Polanie Co.