Author Archives: Sarah Tillery

Rigging It

Informant, was a Naval Officer for much of his life (though not any longer), and had gone to the Naval Academy. Though not open to telling me many stories about the Naval Academy Rituals as he thought they were too inappropriate to tell a young lady, he offered to explain a few.

Author: Tell me about

Informant: Bracing Up as a?

Author: Bracing Up!

Informant: Bracing up as a Pleeb at the United States Naval Academy?

Author: Yeah, yeah, tell me about that

Informant: It’s a requirement for

Author: And what does that entail and why would you do that?

Informant: It’s a requirement for Pleebs if they haven’t done what they were supposed to do like they didn’t memorize what they were supposed to memorize about nautical lore or uh uh they didn’t read the uh article in the newspaper that they were supposed to read and so that means that you have to take your chin and [demonstrates] suck it back into the neck [I laugh] and you tighten up your whole face [demonstrates] so that you don’t see your chin anymore it’s basically in line with your neck; your Adam’s apple, [Informant snorts; I laugh more]. You gotta hold it that way and then if they say RIG IT [pretend shouts it], you have to go like this [pushes face even farther into chin, with help of hands] and push it back in even further and then you just have to, you might have to walk around like that [I laugh more] or be up against the wall, or a bulk head. HIT A BULK HEAD AND RIG IT [pretends to shout it again, more laughter].

When asked about why these traditions are done:

Informant: Um. One it keeps the guy’s minds off of the fact that they might be homesick.

Author: Mmhmm.

Informant: It does, you know, they have to start working together as a group. Not so much shouting but just um [Pause] that you can get in and push and go beyond your limits, you know? But yeah, everybody does it.

 

Obo Shin Otten Totten

My Informant described this game that she played as a child at summer camp as similar in play to “Down by the Banks”, though the tune was different than most versions of “Down by the Banks” that she heard (Unfortunately, she could not remember the specific tune). Children would gather and sit in a circle and place their hands on top of their neighbors hand, so that each child could clap the next child’s hand. The children would go through the rhyme until the end of the count of ten, and whoever was clapped on ten was out. The game would continue until it was two children left, who would push their arms to each other, until the count of ten, when whoever’s arm was near their body would be out.

The rhyme’s words were this:

Obo shin otten totten, nay nay, I am boom boom boom, itty bitty otten totten, obo shin otten totten, obo shin otten totten boom! one two three four five six seven eight nine ten!

She remembered the game fondly, and that it was a good way for kids new to the camp to bond, and older kids to help younger kids acclimate to the camp environment.

It’s interesting to me how this clapping game is translated from group to group, as the general clapping motions stay relatively the same, while depending on the group, the melody or rhythm will change. I am not sure what this says about each group, but it is interesting that the motions stay consistent, while the song almost always changes fairly significantly.

Theatre Chant: My Acka Backa

Informant explained that to prepare and amp up for theatre performances, groups would gather in a circle, clap and dance in place to this particular rhyme, which they would chant over and over to a beat, increasing in energy, tempo, and volume, until it is shouted as loud as possible, and as fast as possible. Then the group would stop and cheer.

Informant:  And then this other rhyming one that goes like, “my acka backa, my soda cracker, my GTO, my booty ho, yo ma, yo ma, yo’ granny’s granny’s got a hole in her panties [Made a shape with her hands like a hole], got a big behind, like frankenstein [The hole shape made with the hand expands], goes beepbeepbeep [Often they would gesture honking a horn] down sesame street, that street is slick, as slick as glass, and if you don’t like it, you can kiss my [Rather than saying ass, she pointed to her back]—” and then loops over and over again, increasing energy/tempo/volume.

Informant explained that she had much more pleasant memories of this particular chant rather than the “Eat the Babies” chant. In particular, she remembers jumping up and down, holding hands, as the tempo and volume increased. Both rhymes are fairly similar in what they achieve, and in how they are physically practiced. The difference is simply in the aggressive the lyrics are, as opposed to these fairly sexual lyrics, though the actions performed and the volume of singing is both equally aggressive.

Theatre Chant: Eat the Babies

Two Informants told me of this theatre tradition, meant to prepare the cast and amp them up before the show. The cast gathers around in a circle, wrapping their arms around their neighbor’s shoulders, and begin chanting very fast:

We’re gonna rape, kill, pillage, and burn, we’re gonna rapekillpillageandburn (eat the babies!)

They will alternate between whispering and then shouting or screaming the chant until they feel adequately prepared for the show.

Neither Informant, one male and the other female, liked this chant very much. They found that their friends had more fun participated in this chant more than they did, and they chose to not participate themselves, despite participating in other theatre chants and traditions.

A different chant “My Acka Backa” was much preferred by my female informant, as it was much less lyrically violent. Both rhymes are fairly similar in what they achieve, and in how they are physically practiced. The difference is simply in the aggressive the lyrics are, as opposed to these fairly sexual lyrics, though the actions performed and the volume of singing is both equally aggressive.

Stella Stella Olla

Informant is a University student from Canada, and claimed to have a fuzzy memory of her childhood, and thus did not remember everything about the game. But she offered what she did know, and was intrigued by the similarities between the two games, but said she preferred her version, simply because of nostalgia. We were seated with the Informant’s friend, who was from the United States (possibly Northern California) and knew the version called “Down by the Banks” though she did not offer the rest of the rhyme she knew, as she got distracted by another conversation.

Informant: Pausing, thinking. Like playground games?

Author: Can I give you an example? Yeah, like playground games!

Informant: Yeah, an example would help.

Author: Okay, I know when I was a kid would would play this game called “Down By The Banks of the Hanky Panky” and like, every time I talk to people about it they give me a different rhyme for it, but when I was a kid, it would go, and you would all sit in a circle, like this [crossed leg with hands out facing the sky and wrists rested on knees] and you would slap the other person’s hand, in a circle, the next person’s hand, until you were down to two people, and you’d like [demonstrates pushing hands back and forth]

Informant: Oh, we called that “Stella Stella Olla”

Author: Tell me about “Stella Stella Olla” that’s awesome.

Informant: It… [singing] “Stella Stella Olla clap clap clap” I don’t even know the words, just like sounds, like [rocking head back and forth] “Asha Cheeka Cheeka Asha Cheeka Cheeka, Below, Below, Below, Below, Below, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5” and on the five it was the person who

Author: Who got slapped and they were out?

Informant: Yeah

Author: Oh okay, cool. And then how would you… So you would sit in a circle and everything or. Or how would you play it?

Informant: Yeah and you would [holding hands out] Can. Can I get like. Two people’s hands here?

Author: Yeah. [Other party and Author place hands in Informant’s hands.]

Other Party: [Big Laugh, then singing] Down by the Banks of the…

Informant: And like. No like this. [Places downward facing hand of Other Party upward] And then you would [slaps Other Party’s hand] “Stella Stella Olla” [Clapping to each word, lazily.] And you would like pass it around, and go.

Author: No, no yeah, I gotcha, I gotcha. Okay, cool.

Informant: And then the last one would be like this. [Performs a clapping gesture as though it were a pair of hands, slapping one hand to the center (a fist), and then the other hand, and continuing this pattern up and down.] 1,2, 3, 4, 5.

Author: Okay. Cool. And if it was just two people, this…

Informant: Yeah.

Author: Okay, gotcha. That’s really cool.

Informant: Mmhmm.

Author: For us it was like [performs separate version] so that’s like, very, very similar.

Informant: The rhythms are the same, but the words and melodies are like.

Author: Right, right.

It’s interesting to me how this clapping game is translated from group to group, as the general clapping motions stay relatively the same, while depending on the group, the melody or rhythm will change. I am not sure what this says about each group, but it is interesting that the motions stay consistent, while the song almost always changes fairly significantly.