Author Archives: Dominique Fong

Contemporary Legend – Beijing, China

Folklore: Urban Legend

I learned it in China, in Beijing, the summer right before high school (maybe around 2002?). My friend (Yin Chao) told me while we were on the street, I hadn’t seen him in a while and I was visiting. We were talking about what changed after I left.

We were walking across the street and he said to be careful walking around because during that year there was a big scare of people poking needles into you. He told me a story. There as an old lady who needed help crossing the street and someone helped her and she stuck a needle in him and that person got stuck with AIDS.

So it was really scary. In downtown Beijing it’s really crowded so you can’t avoid being close to someone. He said it was fading away but he said there were cases in the newspaper for the past year or two.

Analysis

If one person has a disease, he’ll want you to have it too. He wants to feel balance in his heart, why does he have something and you don’t have it too. You know? He wants you to have it too. It’ll be fair if everyone has it. It’s human nature, basically.

He was warning me to be careful walking around in crowded places. I think Chinese people tend to spread a lot of rumors; they’re just like, maybe there’s like a couple cases they tend to amplify.

For the past century, the communist government has kept control of Chinese people through spreading fear. It could not even be true. I was in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square thing I was two and my mom said she heard gunshots. Maybe nothing happened. Maybe it was just one person shot someone. Maybe the government made a big fuss just to scare people. People said even in the suburbs they heard gunshots but that’s impossible, how can you hear gunshots hundreds of miles away? But that’s just what I heard. But SARS was true, but I don’t know. It’s probably true but people amplify the stories.

My Analysis

“Welcome to the World of AIDS” plays on the fears people have about homosexuality and about this deadly disease. In the 1980s, even up to the late 1990s, not much was known about the disease. People only knew that it could cause rapid death and that once you were infected, there was no cure.  So stories like people intentionally stabbing strangers magnified these fears. As David mentioned, because people walk very close to each other in crowded places in China, it is difficult to keep your distance and avoid touching someone.  This urban legend has also spread across the United States, and people began spreading rumors that you could catch AIDS from toilet seats or other unclean areas.  People just generally were not educated, and there was not much research at the time to support any academic views.

Eating Custom – Chinese

Folklore: Eating custom

Eric: The closer you hold your chopstick to the bottom end, the closer you are to getting married. If you hold it very close, chances are you’re marrying your neighbor. I think from my mom.

Angela: The closer you hold to the tip, that means you’re going to be close to your parents geographically, you’re going to end up close to home, if you hold it to the tip, that means you’re traveling far away. I heard just from my extended family.

Analysis

It’s related to how family is a big thing. You want to predict where their children are going to end up. It’s kind of like, if you’re away from your parents, then you left for real.
My Analysis:

Because Chinese people grow up with the idea that respecting your elders (whether they be your parents, grandparents or other relatives) is of top priority, moving away from them is nearly a sign of disrespect. Moving far away from your family, which should be the core of your life your, shows how you actually really do not love your relatives and want nothing to do with them. Even if no words are said, this would be extremely offensive.  In old Chinese customs, children are also expected to take of their parents when they get old. So parents are always anxious that their children will suddenly leave them.  To have a light-hearted superstition like the chopsticks one masks these underlying fears.

Swimming Language – California

Folklore: Swimming “language”

One thing you ‘just know’ from swimming is the swimming ‘language’. Such as my friends would say to me “today we did 5 2’s and ten 1’s. Then we did 50’s on the 45. It was easy.”

Analysis:

Well, the numbers represent certain things like time and distance and difficulty. We have been doing it forever. This ‘swimming language’ has always been around and most swimmers know it. We use this language in and out of the pool, usually just when talking about swimming, or when comparing something to swimming. We do it because it is like a shorter way of saying things, like how the Hawaiians and beach bums talk in Pigeon. Also, we use it because we can tell who is a swimmer and who is not. Only swimmers understand what we are saying.

My Analysis:

These numbers are similar to Jen’s example of swimming lingo, except with a little variation. Amanda explains how frequently this language occurs and how indecipherable it is to non-swimmers. It becomes a natural form of conversation among athletes, and a measure of strength or easiness of the swim.  It can also be used as a measure of comparison to gauge the physical adequacy of a swimmer.

Swimming Culture – California

Folklore: Swimming culture

What people just know:

-if you’re on the wall, you don’t push off right before someone is coming or is going to turn

-floating on the wall in the middle of a set means you’re “weak sauce”

-people usually don’t REALLY have cramps.

-being the lane leader means you can’t slack off.  If someone’s in front of you, you can’t just catch up and ride the drift …people in the front hate this

-if you’re slacking…its obvious. Cheaters piss people off cause everyone else is dying as they suck it up.

-the words “for time” or “test set”= instant dread

-the right most lanes are the “fast lanes.”

My Analysis:

The most interesting point that Jen made about what only swimmers know is the joke of “cramps,” usually used as a lame excuse for people to skip practice.  It becomes a phrase that everyone knows to be false, yet people have accepted it and are continuing to use it to ditch. When someone says they have cramps (menstrual cramps or stomach aches), they are usually mocked by other swimmers.

People who use excuses to be lazy are really frowned upon in swimming because the sport is so physically grueling: waking up at dawn, cold water, exercising all muscles in the water.  People who do not know or understand the unwritten rules of floating on the wall or being the lane leader are shunned and cause a lot of annoyance.  Everyone is expected to hold up their part and carry the same work load.

What people just do:

-changing in front of people is no big deal.  Panties and bras a basically the same as a suit, and for many, being naked is not much less. Even around non-swimmers, swimmers typically don’t really care about showing skin

-morning practice. if you don’t wake up early…you’re not that hard core.

-parkas, ugs, pjs, and sweats = standard swimming gear

-swimmers don’t know what to do in a pool with pool toys and no lane lines.

My Analysis:

The actions of many swimmers carry the same sense of commitment and also a sense of shamelessness. Being naked in front of each other is not humiliating because changing from street clothes to swimsuits is done so often. This is a unique social aspect because many Americans value their privacy, both personal information and their bodies. For instance, some families in older Japanese customs would bathe together. In America, anything suggesting inappropriate nakedness is shunned upon.

Folk Speech

Folklore: Swimming Language

-Will you cap me?

Explanation: “Will you help me put my swim cap on?”

-Do 10 2’s, descend each one by 50s.

Explanation: “Swim 200 yards, getting faster every 50 years. Repeat 10 times.”

-We’re tapering this week.

Explanation: (It means taking it easy to rest up for a big meet)

-Ones ready go!  Two’s on the bottom.

Explanation: “Lane leaders off the wall, second swimmers leave when the clock says 30 seconds.”

-Leaving on the top.

Explanation: “Start the set when the second hand reaches 60 seconds.”

My Analysis:

Because the pace of swimming is pretty rigorous with very early morning hours, strenuous workouts and frequent meets, time tends to go by fast. Swimmers are clocked by the hundredths of a second, so abbreviations of language are just an extension of that quick mentality.  Jen also mentioned that because only swimmers intimately know this language after years of practice, experienced athletes will instantly know who is not really an established swimmer.

The language is a pretty essential part of the swimming culture because everyone speaks this way all the time. It’s interesting to note how numbers become the center point of the sport, not as a measure of points but a measure of speed. So most of the words spoken at meets or practices are spoken in terms of numbers.  This contrasts greatly with other sports like soccer or basketball, where other terminology such as passing, goalie, slam dunk are the main words.