Two elephants are in a bathtub. One elephant says to the other, “Please pass the soap.” The other elephant says, “No soap, radio!” My informant first heard this joke from her father, who’d been telling it for as long as either she or he can remember. My informant told me that her father used to… Continue Reading »
“Il Malocchio” is the gesture of “throwing the horns” in the air to ward off bad luck. My informant is half Italian, and the Italian side of her family would always do while she was growing up. It’s a second nature, reflexive gesture. My informant says that occasionally family members will text her messages telling… Continue Reading »
My informant’s mother is Colombian, and her father taught at an American school in Colombia. They met because her dad was her mom’s English teacher at night school for adults. They took their honeymoon in the Amazon jungle. The villagers in Leticia (the city bordering the jungle) had a story about a man who traipsed… Continue Reading »
Pique et pique et tout les grammes Bora bora ratatam Ans, vam, dram Pique et pique et tout les grammes This is the French equivalent of “eeny meeny miney mo,” a rhyme used to pick a person for something, like who will be “it” in a game of tag, for example. It’s said in the… Continue Reading »
This story is told at a summer camp in rural Pennsylvania. Over by the lake, there used to be a huge house. It belonged to a man named Josh Friar. Josh was a very strange man, and very reclusive. He stayed in his house all year round, only leaving once a month to do his… Continue Reading »