Monthly Archives: May 2011

Folk Belief

Nationality: Hispanic; Mexican; American
Age: 70
Occupation: Cosmetologist
Residence: Three Rivers, CA, USA
Performance Date: March 24, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

It is common in the Catholic Church to make the sign of the cross when praying and other important, specific instances during mass. Nowhere in doctrine does it specify that one has to make the sign of the cross when passing a Catholic church or emergency, though my grandmother does. She replied when I asked her about her doing this with, “It is what Catholics do – we…or I guess my family at least…have always done this…we show that we are Catholic as a reminder not to other people, but to ourselves.”

I can agree with this, but will also point out the variation and deviation from doctrine involved in religious practice that is present. It may be another example of seeking agency against the structure of a dominant religious denomination. Either way, as with belief in ghosts and aliens, we see people choosing to act as they wish and believing what they want, even if it is in contrast to or modified from the norm. Again, I will suggest it is an attempt of individuality and identity creation.

Prank- “Tabletopping”

Nationality: American
Age: 14
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mount Kisco, NY
Performance Date: April 16, 2011
Primary Language: English

The prank of “tabletopping” involves “one person secretly getting down on their hands and knees, and flattening their back like a table behind another person who is standing up. Then, another person in front of the person who is standing pushes them and they trip over the person who is behind them.” The informant learned this item about two years ago in the 7th grade by seeing his friends or kids in general at school playing the prank on others. The item is usually performed during recess on a “grassy, soft area so the person doesn’t get hurt too badly” but it can also be performed inside. The informant would perform the item on anybody he knows. His opinion of the item is that “it hurts when it’s done to you, but it’s funny when it’s done to other people.”

The above prank described by the informant has both an inside group—the ones planning the prank and working together in order to execute it—and an outsider, or the person who is being “tabletopped.” There is, however, much flexibility in this dynamic since the insider can quite easily become an outsider—the person upon whom the prank is played—and vice versa. Accordingly, the informant expressed that he had both performed the prank on others as well as having the prank played on him. The prank can also be played on a relatively large number of people, which the informant describes as “anybody he knows,” as opposed to just one’s best friend or member of one’s clique.

Though I agree with the informant that watching somebody fall over can be “funny,” I believe there is another, perhaps more significant reason why the prank might be played besides merely for the sake of humor: it could also be a way of demonstrating one’s ability to control others (namely, their own ability to control their bodies or movements) and thus assert one’s agency. In this sense, the prank could be especially useful to a bully or any kid (or group of kids) wishing to pick on another, in which case, unlike I stated previously, there could be a very definite distinction between the identities of those who perpetrate the prank and those who are its targets.

Folk Remedy- “Hot Toddy”

Nationality: Italian (Sicilian)-American
Age: 74
Occupation: Medical Doctor
Residence: Mount Kisco, NY
Performance Date: April 26, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian; Sicilian dialect

Remedy: a “hot toddy,” or warm drink consisting of tea, lemon, and “one shot to half of a shot” of whiskey.

The informant states that the above drink is supposed to be a remedy for the “cold, flu, or if you are feeling under the weather.” He learned this in childhood from many of the “elders” of his family or friends—“particularly the older generation of men”—who would suggest this as a remedy. The informant states that whether or not the remedy is used may “depend on how badly you feel” but is “kind of arbitrary”: you may use it “one time and not another.” The informant claims to have only used the remedy himself “two to three times” and didn’t really remember how well it worked, stating “maybe once it made me feel better, but I’m mostly guessing.”

As can be seen from the statements of the informant, a medical doctor, he possessed no strong opinion either way as to the efficacy of  the “hot toddy” remedy. One thing that was interesting, however, was that he remarked that “there’s more of a tendency for those who have used it [in the past] to use it every time they feel under the weather,” which, though the informant didn’t explicitly make this accusation, may attest to the propensity of this drink to be used more for its whiskey content than for its specific salutary use for ailments. Similarly, the informant’s statement that it was the “older generation of men” who proposed this drink as a remedy makes one wonder whether the concept of a “hot toddy” might not have been used merely as a good way to make light of (as in a euphemism; cf. “grandpa’s old cough syrup”) or conceal one’s propensity for liquor consumption.

Folk Speech- Indonesia

Nationality: Indonesian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bali, Indonesia
Performance Date: April 25, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Indonesian, Chinese

“Kenyang Bali atau kenyang Jawa”

Bali full or Java full?

In the above piece of Indonesian folk speech, according to the informant, the phrase “Bali full” connotes sexual satisfaction while “Java full” connotes that “your stomach is full” or your appetite is satisfied. The item was learned from friends, around 14 or 15 years of age. This folk speech is used to “tease people” when they say that they are full, almost always in the context of just having eaten a meal. The informant likes this folk speech because it  is funny and “perfectly describes the different lifestyles of the different parts of Indonesia”: Java is mainly Muslim and a sexually restrictive environment, but has good food, while Bali is mainly Hindu, liberal about sexuality (the informant noted that “kama,” or sexual pleasure, is one of the three goals of Hindu life), and doesn’t have very good food.

I agree with the informant that this piece of folk speech is an interesting way of asking a question in a humorous way. Particularly for inhabitants of Bali such as the informant, it may also constitute a way of expressing and reinforcing one’s own identity, which in one respect (less sexual restriction) one might be proud of and in the other (bad food) not so much. The item also seems to represent a sort of blason populaire since its meaning and significance rely upon the stereotypes of two specific islands in Indonesia which are considered (at least according to this piece of folk speech and the informant) to be diametrically opposed with respect to the quality of food and sexual behavior, or norms. This latter respect in which they differ is, moreover, correlated by the informant with the religious identities of those islands—Bali being predominantly Hindu and Java predominantly Muslim—which she seemed to view as strongly predictive of the general sentiment of each island concerning sexual behavior. This small piece of folklore thus remarks on three significant aspects of the culture of these two Indonesian islands, and perhaps more generally on Indonesian culture as a whole.

Polish flight joke

Nationality: Danish
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 20 April 2011
Primary Language: English

Danish

English

18, student

20 April 2011

“Did you hear about the Polish helicopter crash?

-He got sooooo coooold that he turned off the fan”

Her father taught Christina this joke, they share a liking for Polish jokes. Growing up in Denmark, Polish jokes were common for Christina. She learned from her friends, on TV, and at school. They are passed down, and even though they are mean, Christina says, “ya but we have jokes about everyone, my dad always says you gotta keep a thick skin, a firm handshake and a drink in the left hand.

This joke represents blaison populaire because it draws on popular stereotypes and belittles the Polish people. These jokes are learned and passed down making them perfect folklore specimens. Christina isn’t really a racist but she, like many other, enjoy laughing at other country’s foibles and making light-hearted jokes

Tim Perille

18

1027 W. 34th St. Los Angele CA