Monthly Archives: March 2011

Joke – Connecticut

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: Carpenter
Residence: Mystic, CT
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English

“So this duck walks into a drug store and wants to buy a box of condoms.  So he asks the clerk, ‘Do you guys sell condoms?’ and the clerk says, ‘Sorry we’re out, come back and try tomorrow.’  So the duck walks out and goes home.  The next day the duck comes in to the pharmacy again and asks the clerk, ‘Do you guys have condoms today?’ and the clerk goes, ‘Sorry come back again tomorrow.”  So finally the duck comes back to the pharmacy the third day in a row and asks the clerk, ‘Do you guys have condoms yet?’  and the clerk goes, ‘Yes would you like me to put them on your bill?’ and the duck says, ‘Hell no!  What kind of duck do you think I am?!’”

I’ve heard my dad tell me this story about ten or so times to me ever since I was probably around the age of 14.  I asked him where he heard the story and he told me that a few guys from work told it to him about ten years ago.  My dad is a carpenter and quite often he gets the chance to swap stories and jokes with his fellow workers throughout the day.  He likes to tell the joke most often at dinner parties, family gatherings, or when I have friends over.  Usually he starts it off with, “You know the one about the duck in the drugstore?” or something along those lines.  I would probably give this joke a terminus post quem of the year the condom was sold in stores, due to the fact that it could only be after that point in time.  The reason my father most likely tells the story is to either make people feel comfortable around him and understand that he has a sense of humor.

I would consider this type of joke to be a narrative joke due to the fact that it tells the entire joke in story form and relies on a punch line to get the humor across.  Also, it is important to note that the duck comes into the store three times.  In American culture most things happen in threes as opposed to some other cultures such as the Native Americans in which everything comes in fours.  This holds true for most jokes, narratives, legends, and other forms of folklore as well.

This joke in particular plays off of the pun that the duck thinks that the clerk is trying to put the condoms on his actual nose and mouth or his bill.  It may take people time to understand the connection, but once the connection is made that’s when the joke becomes humorous.  The greatest part about narrative jokes is it really lets the inner storyteller in a person come out.  Using gestures and facial expressions truly gets the idea across to the listener and makes it more exciting to be hearing the joke.  Not just the words get passed on either.  If the active bearer is good enough at paying attention, some of these actions and gestures get passed on as well as the story, therefore giving the joke a whole new depth to those who will listen to it in the future.

Proverb

Nationality: Latina
Age: 23
Occupation: High School Tutor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

El burro hablando de oreja.

The donkey talking of ear.

He speaks of others without recognizing the traits and flaws he speaks of within himself.

Silvia told me this was a common proverb that her close and extended family often said to one another or as a comment in regards to someone else. She took it as meaning that you must learn from your mistakes, although she admitted to having difficulty remembering the wording at first and struggling even more to recall its meaning. However, after thinking about it a little bit more, she added that it may have also referred to talking about others when you had a lot to answer for yourself. It seems to be a reminder to check yourself first before commenting or gossiping about other people. She also said that even though her family constantly reminded her to do this with this saying, she did not think they were the best examples of the proverb.

Admittedly, this was a completely new proverb for me that was especially difficult to decipher because it can be quite confusing and bizarre if translated and understood literally.  However, after asking a few of my family members and other Spanish speaking adults I know, they all seemed to agree that this challenging proverb was not only meant to challenge you intellectually as you struggle to understand its meaning, but also challenge you to be aware of your own behavior before you criticize others or speak critically of them. It also seems to challenge you not to judge others, gossip about them, or be critical of others more generally because you need to focus on yourself instead. This proverb makes a pointed observation that applies generally to so many; we are only too happy to focus on or emphasize others’ shortcomings or character flaws as we neglect our own and fail to see those very faults within ourselves. The proverb uses the image of a donkey, a traditionally dumb animal, speaking of or to an ear to highlight the folly of speaking about others and perhaps even listening to others blindly when the smartest thing to do is to turn towards you. This proverb prompts self examination.

Proverb

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

El que se junta con lobos a aullar se ensena.

He that he comes together with wolves howl he shows himself.

He that joins wolves ends up learning to howl.

Sergio said that your friends basically influence you a lot. He said with a smile and just the slightest annoyance that his mom constantly tells him this proverb as a reminder to never be influenced by his friends, something that he says he never is. However, he added that his mother who is Mexican (but whose girl friends are Salvadorian) recently picked up a slang Salvadorian saying from her friends. Apparently, she now says “pasmado” frequently without even noticing- something that Sergio can hardly believe and joked about in light of her favorite proverb. He said that he was unsure about the word’s meaning, but he thought it might mean clumsy. Mostly though, he said it was funny how the proverb he had just shared with me and this brief anecdote about his mom was connected because of her constant reminders not to let him be influenced by others.

This proverb is comparable to another Spanish proverb that similarly seems to warn you to be careful and smart about choosing the company that you keep. Like the proverb says, if you choose to become close to “wolves” or similarly unsavory characters, you will also eventually learn to howl, or pick up their habits both good and bad. This is a very telling proverb that warns you against losing yourself and becoming like your friends and those you associate with most closely. However, this proverb emphasizes the consequences of hanging around with the wrong crowd, especially one that can negatively influence you as you become increasingly like them and begin acting differently. It also seems to underscore an emphasis on retaining your individuality and also morally sound character. There is definitely a subtle underlying message that “wolves” and “howling” are negative; or know morally questionable people and their equally questionable behavior should be avoided and guarded against for your own well being as the consequences of their influence could only be negative.

Joke

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

If the world was covered with a sweater, where would the gangsters hang out?

In the hood.

Norby’s joke was followed by very little, okay, no comments or discussion, except for a smile and a bit of laughter at his own wit. He mentioned that he was unsure where he had first heard this joke or from whom, although he thought it could have been his brother who is also pretty knowledgeable when it comes to racist jokes.

I have known Norby for a few years now, and though I cannot pretend to know how he feels about the joke and any larger significance it may have, I can definitely comment on the larger discussion that this joke invites. The youth center where I first met Norby (and where I actually interviewed him for this piece) is located near the infamous Mac Arthur Park in Los Angeles, California. It is a predominantly low-income Hispanic immigrant community with unfortunately high crime rates and other unfavorable statistics. It could essentially be seen as “the hood” by some. Norby’s joke seems to speak to this kind of neighborhood, or ‘hood, and some of its experiences or more specifically, some of its local citizens; “the gangsters.” It is interesting that the joke asks where “the gangsters” would go if the world was otherwise completely covered in a sweater. This image of the earth being covered in a fuzzy sweater could reflect a sense of there being no where else for gangsters to go that was not covered or protected in some way from them by everyone else everywhere else. As a result, they only have one place to “hang out”; the hood of the sweater or the more obvious ghetto or hood that is the only place left for them to go to. This joke carries the weight of larger social implications regarding the economic and social disparities as well as certain populations that are seemingly outcast in the joke.

Myth – Hispanic

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

La Cigüeña

The Stork

When I was little my parents would always tell me that the cigüeña had brought me and if I was bad the cigüeña had the ability to come and take me back. They would say that the cigüeña brought good kids to the earth, but if they misbehaved they would take them back.

As Kevin recalled the tale of the stork that he so often heard when he was younger, he could not help but say a few times that his parents had been mean to tell him this. He did also say, however, that his grandmother had been the first one to tell him this story. Yet, as he said emphatically, it was his parents who would keep telling him over and over again as a warning to him of what the consequences of misbehaving could be.

This is a fairly common story similar to the myth that describes storks delivering babies to their prospective parents. Kevin’s story does more than provide an explanation of where babies come from though, and seems to have a twist because of its different emphasis. Kevin’s parents would emphasize the stork’s ability to return misbehaving children to whence they came, an entirely different emphasis and tone. This twist in the stork baby tale reveals and serves a more cautionary purpose for the young children who hear this tale. It is a reminder for very young children that they must behave well and listen to their parents if they still want to be with them, because otherwise, the consequences could be pretty drastic. In this way, the tale of la cigüeña, or the stork, told most often by parents or other caregivers, is meant to curb young children’s bad behavior and encourage them to be obedient “good” children that the stork will let stay at home.