Author Archives: Jeremy Katz

Legend – Beckett, Massachusetts

Legend—USA

“At Camp Greylock, a summer sleep-away camp in Beckett Massachusetts, counselors dressed up as clowns and terrorized boys in the middle of the night.”

David informed me that he first heard this legend when he was a counselor at Camp Greylock during the Summer of 2007.  He decided to build a campfire with his co-counselor and tell the kids in their bunk ghost stories,  Though most of the stories were fictional, his co-counselor did tell one extremely alarming tale, which he swore was true, or at least is believed to be true.  Apparently in the 70s (the camp was founded in 1916), a group of sick and twisted counselors decided that it would be funny to torture children.  They decided that the best way for them to this was to dress up in complete clown costumes; white faces, colored wigs—and scare 11 and 12-year-old boys.  After they put on the costumes, a bunch of them would go into a bunk and sit in the center of the main room, staring into space.  When one or more of the kids would wake up, they would be terrified as they would see a group of frightening clowns, not moving, just sitting on the floor staring off into space, or worse, at the children.

Though we will likely never know if this is a true story or not (the current owners of the camp say it’s false, but the events allegedly happened 2 or 3 owners before them).  Clowns must be a common fear amongst people, because I have heard several legends involving clowns.  The most notable is an urban legend that I heard while here at school in L.A.; apparently a girl is house sitting for her neighbors when she sees a statue of a clown and calls the owners of the house to ask about it.  They say that they don’t have a statue of a clown, and the idea is that some random guy dressed as a clown was terrorizing her.  Whether or not the two are somehow related—one somehow being a variation of the other, or one coming after the other, we will never know for sure.  This is why such urban legends are so fascinating, not only are we unsure as to whether or not it is true, but we also wonder what relationship it has to other legends.

Saying – Hillsdale, New Jersey

Saying—USA

“Just Work.”
Michael first heard this saying in his hometown of Hillsdale, New Jersey.  He played Varsity football all throughout high school, and had a very close relationship with his coach.  His coach had a way with words; his favorite saying was always “just work.”  He would use this all the time; if someone was struggling through a weightlifting session, he would look him in the eyes and tell him to “just work.”  If the team was messing around during practice, his players always got serious when he would tell them that it was time to stop messing around by telling them to “just work.”  Though Mike originally heard this saying exclusively during some sort of sporting event or physical activity, he now applies it to just about everything he does.  As he has explained to me, telling someone to “just work” is like telling them to disregard everything else, all erroneous and potentially detrimental distractions, and just get something done.  He has applied this to a number of situations—from writing a paper to finding a job.  “Just work” is a saying meant to encourage.

Though Michael is unsure where his coach picked up the saying, he understands that other statements that have the same meaning have been around for a while, Nike for example, used to popularize its products with the slogan “just do it.”  To me, “just work” is a terrific saying because it is so versatile yet is simple and to the point, but bears immense significance.

Folk Speech – Scarsdale, New York

Speech—USA

“Agreesion.”

Dave learned this word from his older brother Donnie when he was a Junior in high school.  While the word does not exist in the English language, it means a lot to Dave.  Agreesion is basically the verb to agree made into a noun.  When you use the word, you are saying that you are in a particular state—a state of agreement and accord.  A scholarly individual might wonder why someone would waste their time making agree into a noun, because agree already exist as a noun: agreement. The answer is simple–  Agreesion is a much more powerful word.  It is to be used sparingly and to be chosen wisely.  As Dave explained to me, telling someone that you are in agreement may be grammatical, but it doesn’t convey the same emotion as agreesion.  Agreesion is the best way for someone to express their sincerest and almost obsessive feeling for what has been said.  It is a way for an individual to establish his/her intense and deep-seated state of agreement in so few words.  It is for this reason that agreesion is to be used in rare instances, when someone says something that you love, you have an ample opportunity to reply with the world agreesion.

I find folk speech to be one of the most fascinating forms of folklore.  This is because its origin, especially in the case of a world like agreesion, is so mysterious.  While the English language is extensive, it is only natural that people have their own words which our speech does not recognize as proper.  In fact, people create folk speech in part because they want to create a word that is unusual and unique and not known by everyone who speaks the language, but only by a select few.

Custom – USA

Custom—USA

“The public bathroom hand washing technique…”

Alexander learned this custom from his grandfather when he was in the 7th grade.  His grandfather, a passionate and devoted doctor, often found and acquired ways of bringing some of his medical skills and habits into the world outside of medicine.  The perfect example of this comes in the form of the “public bathroom hand washing technique” as Alexander calls it.  The theory behind the custom is that bathrooms are filthy beds of bacteria.  Alexander’s grandfather believed that a sure way of getting sick or picking up germs was touching something in a public restroom.  As a result, he taught Alexander this technique as a means of avoiding skin contact with anything in a public restroom.  If you’re lucky, the bathroom operates on automatic sensor devices, in which case you don’t need to touch anything to begin with.  In the event that you do need to touch something, you begin by locating the paper towels.  If there is a fresh stack on the counter, you can pick up the top towel and use that to turn on the faucet as well as dispense soap into your hand.  In the event that there is a knob or roller that you must touch to dispense paper towels, you have to move to plan B.  If you are wearing a long sleeve shirt, you can pull you sleeve down and cover your hand with that.  If not, you can use your elbow to crank the lever (if your elbow gets bacteria on it it’s ok—your elbow doesn’t come in contact with your eyes, ears, nose, mouth very much, just be sure to wash your elbow when you get home).  After using paper towels to get soap and turn on and off the faucet, you need to perform the same operation with the door handle.  To avoid contact with it, use a paper towel to pull it open, and hold it in that position with your foot.  Throw the paper towel into the garbage and walk out.  If the garbage bin is far away, do your best to throw it in but do not sacrifice putting in the garbage by touching something.  Throw it on the floor if you have to.  If you really know what your doing, as my grandfather does, carry around paper towels or tissue at all times so you don’t have to go about the whole paper towel routine, you can just use your own in not touching anything and going about your business.

This technique was taught to Alexander’s grandfather by one of his colleagues.  While it’s a useful way of avoiding bacteria and other germs, it’s almost comical to think about someone using the technique.  His grandfather has made it a custom of his because he finds it extremely significant in maintaining good health.  The extent to which avoiding bathroom germs in a such a manner really keeps us healthy we may not know, but doctors certainly have folkloric customs such as these that they swear by.

Tradition – Sicilian-American

Tradition—USA

“On Christmas Eve, Sicilians eat 7 different types of fish.”

Liz informed me that she has been observing this tradition for as long as she can remember.  Every Christmas Eve, her mother cooks seven different types of fish for the family to eat.  During normal meals, they eat some sort of chicken or red meat, but not on Christmas Eve.  Usually her mom prepares Salmon, Calamari, Shrimp, Mussels, Clam, Tuna, and Snapper.  This combination of sea creatures varies from year to year depending on what the family feels like, and whether or not family from out of town [with certain preferences] is visiting.  The most important piece is that seven, no more no less, types of fish are prepared and consumed.  This tradition is observed by most Sicilians and has biblical implications.  Seven is arguable the most important number in the bible.  As Italian Food Editor Paula Laurita describes the importance of the number “seven is a number of perfection”—the seven days of creation, seven sacraments of the Catholic Church to name a few (Italian Food Editor).  Though seven is an important number for Sicilians, Liz herself has always wondered why seven types of fish are consumed on Christmas Eve.  Yes, the number seven is important, but why this food on this particular day?  This question shows how with folkloric traditions sometimes people are clueless,  but traditions are observed religiously nonetheless—almost the same as if they were recorded somewhere.

This is an interesting piece of folklore because numbers and what they mean to different cultures are a big piece of folklore.  To Indians, good luck and good things come in groups of fours.  To us Americans, good things come in groups of threes (third time’s the charm,  three little pigs, etc.)  It is thus interesting to examine the way in which Italians observe a tradition in sevens.  It also must be noted that both the origins and reasons for this tradition are mysterious.  Eating seven different types of fish and not seven different types of vegetables or meats may have been a random tradition or may have come about for a very specific reason, either way it has given Italians a way to celebrate the importance of the number.

Laurita, Paula. “Italian Christmas Eve: Feast of the Seven Fishes.”  Italian Food Site. 2008