Contextual Information
Time of Interview: April 24th, 11:56 a.m.
Location of Interview: Interior of EVK Dining Hall
Informant’s First Encounter w/ Folklore: Childhood (8 or 9 years old)
When Folklore is Performed: During recess, amongst fellow students.
Transcript:
Child A: A
Child B: B
A: “What’cha doing?”
B: “Eating chocolate.”
A: “Where’d you get it?”
B: “Doggie dropped it.”
A: “Where’d he drop it?”
B: “In the sewer.”
A: “What’s it taste like?”
B: “Cow Manure.”
This is a variant of a back-and-forth story that my informant remembers from his gradeschool (roughly around the 1st or 2nd grade). He told me this story with an emberassed yet gleeful expression, often chuckling in between verses. He apologized, explaining that the story brought back a lot of memories from “the playground.” He recalls reciting this with several of his friends, always reacting with the same “grossed out” expression after the final line was spoken. This sort of back and forth was part of the children’s dialect, almost like a code or a password into their society. If you could master it, you could match their wits. The piece also helped the children come to terms with the natural functions and materials of the body.