Author Archives: D R

DWAI — Don’t Worry About It

Background on informant: Informant is a senior at USC, studying philosophy, politics and law. He is from New York City.

Informant: There’s this abbreviation I use with some of my friends. It’s DWAI and stands for “Don’t Worry About It.” My friend claims to have invented this abbreviation herself, and I’ve never heard it anywhere else so I totally believe her. She’s made up other types of acronyms like that so I totally believe it was originally her thought.

EXAMPLES:

“I haven’t really studied that much for this test but DWAI, I’m sure it will turn out OK.”

“Oh you spilled your drink on me. Just DWAI.”

It’s just sort of a fun saying to pepper your conversations with because it really rolls off the tongue because it’s a good life motto.

Analysis: This piece of folklore was especially interesting to me because I had heard the informant say it on many prior occasions and I noticed that I had started to spontaneously intersperse it in my own speech, from time to time. I think this folklore is really inventive but also very reflective of the culture. The informant noted that he and his friend like to use abbreviations and I think that is a larger trend in a generation that relies heavily on informal text communication. It is interesting then to see how that written form of communication is transferred to being folklore. The same perhaps could be said for other abbreviations, like IRL.

 

When journeying in Russia…

Background on informant: Informant is a senior at USC, studying international relations. He is from the Bay Area and lived and studied in Russia for a year.

He told me about a proverb he heard from multiple people about how to prepare for a journey in Russia. He can’t remember exactly who he heard this from but said he heard it from multiple sources.

Transcript:

“Otpravlyayas v dalniy poot, vzya butilku ne zabud.”

In English: “When you’re going on a journey don’t forget to bring a bottle.”

Analysis: This proverb is interesting because it requires the receiver to have some working knowledge of the Russian culture and perhaps stereotypes to understand that when they mean “bottle,” they don’t mean bottle of water but a bottle of alcohol. At first, I even thought it could have two meanings, depending on the audience, but the informant, who said he might not have been sober when he first heard it, said that it is specifically talking about a bottle of alcohol. It’s not the most weighty proverb in the world, perhaps, but it is definitely a proverb that would tell you something about the culture, its stereotypes, and the person delivering the proverb.

King’s cup

Background on informant: Informant is a senior at USC, studying philosophy, politics and law. He is from New York City.

Informant: I learned how to play it when I was in high school from my friend Andrew. We all used to play King’s Cup with a deck of cards in the dorm room. We would get a deck of cards and you put the deck of cards in a circle. Each person picks a card and depending on what each card is you have to do a certain thing:

If I pick up a three that means you have to drink.

If I pick up a two that means I have to drink.

etc…

I didn’t have any special codes with my friends that I know of. It’s just one of those things that gets passed along by word of mouth. I don’t know where Andrew heard it, but I assume he heard it from someone else. I don’t think he went out of the way to find this drinking game. Someone must have told him.

Analysis: This was interesting because the informant had such a strong memory of how this folklore was first performed, remembering who exactly had taught it to him and in what setting. That suggests that folklore serves a larger communal purpose that goes beyond the game as a leisure activity. It is interesting too that he learned this in high school before he could technically drink and his means for learning the technically illicit game was through folklore. Perhaps he and his friends didn’t want to write down the game or transmit it through writing but were comfortable performing it and spreading that way, in a way far more ephemeral/spontaneous than an authored record.

A descendant of George Washington

Background on informant: Informant is a senior at USC, studying philosophy, politics and law. He is from New York City.

Informant: My mom seems to think that my family is related to George Washington. It’s something that she’s told me but she’s never really proven it. She doesn’t really have any evidence as far as I know. She’s been able to trace our lineage back to a solider who fought in the Revolutionary War. But as far as I know, she doesn’t have any evidence of George Washington. But she says that it’s true. She says that he’s my great-great-great grandfather but I feel like a lot of people claim to have lineage from George Washington, so I really don’t know. It makes me feel virtuous and honorable. It inspires me.

Analysis: This was a fascinating legend because it highlights how important lineage is to families and how people assume their descendants without necessarily having proof to back it up. The fact that there is no proof does not detract from the meaning, however. As the informant says, “it makes me feel virtuous and honorable,” even though he also knows that the legend is unlikely true. It is interesting that they know they are related to a Revolutionary War soldier and assume that it is George Washington, perhaps because it gives the story more salience with a contemporary audience who would know George Washington by name and not necessarily the actual Revolutionary War soldier who the informant is related to.

Paul Revere and the seal

Background on informant: Informant is a senior at USC, studying philosophy, politics and law. He is from New York City and attended Phillips Academy Andover for high school.

Informant: It’s a known fact around Andover that Paul Revere created the school’s seal because he was a metal worker in Boston at the time. He designed it for the school and made it. It’s an interesting connection my school has to American history. I found out from a variety of different people there…students and teachers. I can’t remember who exactly.

Analysis: This folklore is interesting because it bears meaning for the people associated with the group since it plays with common historical knowledge. I also found it interesting to learn that the informant was told this by many people, not just students but also by teachers. The fact that teachers spread this provides the belief with even more credibility and incorporates in an academic setting, as if the legend is fundamental to the identity in a pretty integral way, in a way that suggests the teacher has made a conscious decision that the myth is not only worth telling but important in some way. Moreover, it is telling that the informant reports that he cannot remember exactly who told him the legend, suggesting that the meaning of the legend is more fundamental than anything else.

This folklore also appears on Andover’s website: “PA History.” Phillips Academy –. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.” According to the website, “Paul Revere casted Andover’s unwavering mission thus, personally engraving its official seal, which includes two Latin phrases: Finis Origine Pendet (the end depends upon the beginning) and Non Sibi (not for self). According to the account book of Paul Revere, on April 5, 1782, he received two pounds eight shillings from John Lowell, a trustee of Phillips Academy, for his work.”