Author Archives: Gabriel Orman

Mexican Euphemism

Text

Informant: Now this is a grosero one. This is like a bad one, like, um, I will say it to you because someone might come up with this one.

“Mucho jamón para dos juevitos.”

(Translation: “Too much ham for two small eggs”)

Both the informant and interviewer laugh 

Interviewer: I understood that one.

Informant: That is like, famous. People will say… like if they see a skinny guy with a big girl, they say “hm, mucho jamón para dos juevitos.” That’s referring to… you know what.

 

Context– The informant is a middle-aged Mexican immigrant who grew up in Mexico City and then immigrated to Los Angeles in her teenage years. She has many family members still in Mexico City, so she learned many popular phrases from those family members both while growing up and during her frequent visits and phone conversations.

 

Analysis– This metaphor is a very playful and informal one about dating and sex. Euphamisms are often amusing for people so it is not surprising that the imagery of ham and eggs is metaphor for sex. The phrase is probably a funny and more polite way a spreading gossip from one person to another. Instead of making an actual critical comment about a persons weight, they use a metaphor and present it as a joke so that the criticism would be more accepted.

Little Sally Walker

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Informant: So, “Little Sally Walker” is a game where there’s a bunch of people and you run in a circle… or, somebody runs out and they run in a circle. They go in a circle and they sing

 

Little Sally Walker

Walking down the street

She said “I didn’t know what to do”

So she stopped in front of me and said

 

(Now they stop in front of a person and the person copies their dance)

 

“hey girl do your thing

do your thing

hey girl do your thing do your thing”

Now stop!

 

And after that they do the same dance move and the person who did the dance move goes on and goes in the same circle and it continues to go along for a while.

 

Context– The informant is my twelve-year old sister. She learned these songs while going to various summer camps over the years and has often taught them to her friends so that they could sing them together for fun.

 

Analysis– This song has two aspects to it: the vocal and the physical. The singing alone would amuse children, but its combination with a dancing game would probably make it a great source of entertainment for younger children. It is also a great way for camp counselors to distract children when they are waiting for activity or event. The game only requires the knowledge of the song and, therefore, could basically be played anywhere. This fact probably helps the counselors when they need more time for preparation for activities, using the song to entertain the children while they wait.

Happy Llama

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Interviewer: So, what’s the song called?

Informant: Happy Llama.

Interviewer: Okay. Go.

Informant:
Happy llama, sad llama

Totally rad llama

Super llama, drama llama

Big fat mama llama

Baby llama, crazy llama

Don’t forget Barack O’llama

Fish, fish, more fish

Turtle! Unicorn! Peacock!

 

Context– The informant is my twelve-year old sister. She learned these songs while going to various summer camps over the years and has often taught them to her friends so that they could sing them together for fun.

 

Analysis– This song was primarily created to amuse children and it does so by relying on randomness and silly sounding words. Llamas are often amusing to children so basing a song after them makes sense. Words like rad, crazy, and big fat mama are often humorous to children because of their silliness. The songs appeal then comes from the silliness of the words and the combination of those silly words with the funny animal, the llama.

There Was A Great Big Moose

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Informant: This is called “There was a Great Big Moose.”

There was a great big moose

(There was a great big moose)

Who liked to drink a lot of juice

(Who liked to drink a lot of juice)

There was a great big moose!

(There was a great big moose!)

Who liked to drink a lot of juice

He went “woah-oh”

(he went “woah-oh”)

“Way-oh, way-oh, way-oh, way-oh”

(Way-oh, way-oh, way-oh, way-oh)

“Way-oh, Way-oh”

(Way-oh, way-oh)

“Way-oh, way-oh, way-oh, way-oh”

(Way-oh, way-oh, way-oh, way-oh)

 

Context– The informant is my twelve-year old sister. She learned these songs while going to various summer camps over the years and has often taught them to her friends so that they could sing them together for fun.

 

Analysis– This song is amusing mainly because of the absurd rhymes. The lyrics of the song make no logical sense and instead focus on making lines rhyme. This focus on rhyming is probably what makes the song amusing to young children, as young children like to rhyme. The song also as the added element of having a leader sing the lyrics initially and followers repeating those lyrics, which makes the song sort of a game that can be played by the children singing.

Mexican Phrase: “Descacharon con manos en la masa”

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Informant: You know what masa is? You know that, that doe that my mom uses to make the sopes?

Interviewer: Oh yeah.

Informant: That’s called masa.

Interviewer: Oh yeah, yeah. I know masa.

Informant: So, if you are doing something mischievous, people will say to you “descacharon con manos en la masa.” “They catch you with your hands in the dough.” That means they catch you doing something.

 

Context– The informant is a middle-aged Mexican immigrant who grew up in Mexico City and then immigrated to Los Angeles in her teenage years. She has many family members still in Mexico City, so she learned many of these legends from those family members both while growing up and during her frequent visits and phone conversations.

 

Analysis– This metaphor is very similar to the American one about catching a kid with his hands in the cookie jar. Both of these metaphors mean the same thing but have different culture connections. Because chocolate chip cookies and cookie jars are popular cultural imagery of the United States, the use of such imagery would not have the same affect in Mexico. The use of masa is logical as masa is used to make a variety of Mexican dishes. Because masa is so widely use, kids sneaking tastes of it while their mother was not looking would be very common. Therefore, the use of masa in this saying is appropriate.