Monthly Archives: May 2011

Aging Joke

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student at USC
Residence: Three Rivers, CA
Performance Date: April 20th, 2011
Primary Language: English

“There are three old golfers um just finishing their round for the day.  And uh one of them said to the other two um oh aren’t you guys um cold it’s a little windy today?  The second one said Wednesday? Today’s not Wednesday its Thursday and the third said thirsty? I am thirsty too. Why don’t we all go in and have a drink.”

The informant sees this joke as a humorous jab at aging and the effects of hearing loss and a way of coping with aging.  The informant heard this from a family friend who is sort of like another grandpa.  Hearing it come from an older person validated the notion that an older person is coping with the struggles of aging.

I agree with the informant, this joke about hearing loss adds some humor to an otherwise depressing process.  It makes sense that the informant heard this joke from an elderly person since the joke is going to be relevant to him or someone he knows.  It find it less likely to circulate in younger populations or in populations that do not working with elderly people.  The need to have a drink at the end of the punch line is probably also due to the frustrations of aging.

Preventative Chinese Childhood Folkbelief “Genitals on Head”

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Room 3303C, 920 W. 37th PL. Los Angelos, California 90007
Performance Date: 4/23/2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

My informant is second generation Chinese American female student. She grew up in Chongqing, China but moved to America when she was six and a half. After coming to America, she has moved around from Texas to California to Iowa and finally to Missouri. She mentioned the following childhood belief during a group study session when we were discussing our childhoods:

“Informant: Ok, so, this was in kindergarten. Like…we had bathrooms where the boys and the girls went to the same bathroom and so like the thing was if you like looked at the other person’s genital area, you’re supposed to grow the thing on your forehead [laughter] and so if girls looked at a guy’s penis [giggles] they’ll have a penis grow on their head [laughter].

Collector (me): So did you believe in this? Where did you learn this?

Informant: No, I was in the bathroom when someone was talking about it and I overheard.

Collector: Why do you think this belief spread?

Informant: Um…I guess…probably parents told their kids not to do it and that’s how they were going to scare them.”

I consider this folklore homeopathic childhood magic in the sense that it carries the quality where “like attracts like”. In this case, looking at genitals of the other sex, causes one to grow said genitals on one’s head. And children, especially little girls (in my informant’s case), believing in this magic and unwilling to grow genitals on their heads, will try not to look at the genitals of the other sex. As my informant believes that Chinese parents told their children this folklore to scare them, this folklore is obvious in its preventive nature–stopping childhood sexual curiosity. In that nature, this folklore reaffirms the perhaps university and global belief that children are meant to be kept innocent, naive and sexless. Moreover, this folklore implies the gender/sex division of children as early as kindergarten, which seems to be an aspect of preventing sexual curiosity.

However, considering how the “scare effect” is achieved, the belief “don’t look or you’ll grow one on your forehead” doesn’t scare one unless that person is relatively familiar with what genitalia looks like. That is to say, the only reason a little girl wouldn’t want the male genitalia growing on her head would be because she knows what it looks like. So, this folklore also implicitly shows us that children might be familiar with or already exposed to the other sex’s characteristics in an period as early as kindergarten (or at least in China where this folklore originated from).

It also begs one to consider, if there was such a focus on sex/gender division and naivety, why were boys and girls made to go to the same bathroom at my informant’s school.

The Cup Game

Nationality: Polish
Age: 21
Performance Date: 1/4/2011
Primary Language: English

interview:

Alex: “The game itself is easy; two or more people sit around eachother, each with a plastic solo cup in front of them (DON’T use glass cups). The players then proceed to simultaneously perform a series of claps and cup flips, (I have no idea how to describe exactly what you do in words) with this motion ending in passing your cup to the player on the right. After each pass, the tempo of the game increases, until the player eventually messes up the cup flipping pattern, gets angry and throws their cup in frustration. The winner of the game is the person that can go the longest without messing the pattern up.”

Me: “So what does it mean to you?”

Alex: “I played this game for the first time on Search 1 (11/22/2008). I was taught it by Stephanie, during our first long break, in that little cafeteria room. I from there proceeded to pretend I knew what I was doing and challenge everybody in sight. This gives the game added significance to me because whenever I think of it I associate it with that time and place. Playing it makes me remember Search and everyone that was on it with us. When playing with non-search people, it’s not the same because I feel they do not appreciate it as much as I do. As with the Search in general, it’s just one of those things that outsiders can’t really understand without being there.”

The Cup Game is a tradition on religious retreats, like SEARCH, which are aimed at religious youth. Part of the experience of a Search retreat is the lack of traditional entertainment, like TV, cell phones, and computers, meant to encourage the candidates (those teens experiencing the retreat for the first time) to socialize with each other. The plastic Cup Game has evolved and been passed around groups of high school students, because those cups were some of the only materials available. The game is a bonding experience that a lot of candidates enjoy, because it’s competitive and fun.

Big Foot

Nationality: Russian
Age: 25
Occupation: Engineer at Northrop Grumman
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: February 5th, 2011
Primary Language: English

“Big Foot lives in the wilderness and preys on lost children and hikers to sustain his life. He also preys on animals, but he doesn’t really enjoy the taste. Some also believe he is an extra-terrestrial awaiting the rescue mission at the end of the Mayan calendar, in the year 2012.”
Jordan heard this story from his Uncle while he was on a camping trip.  He said that his uncle is very superstitious and that not just Big Foot, but many other creatures will be rescued in the year 2012.  When I asked Jordan if he believed in the prophecy of the Mayan calendar he said no, but his uncle does.  The Mayan Calendar predicts that the Earth will end at the completion of a long countdown cycle in the year 2012.

Like other big foot stories described this story seems to indicate that Big Foot will eat naughty children who wander away from their parents.  This story places big foot in the wilderness and since Jordan and his uncle are from Russia which is full of forests; Big Foot’s habitat may reflect their original nation.

Big Foot

Nationality: Costa Rican
Age: 25
Occupation: Teach For America Volunteer
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: February 5th, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“Big Foot is a creature of camouflage and um lives in the mountains.  He is a big, white, furry creature that lives in the snow. He comes out and eats people when he gets angry.  I first um heard about Big Foot when I was going skiing with my family.  They told me to watch out for Big Foot, because if I wandered off he would eat me.  He also has big feet.”
She heard this legend from her family when she was about 6 or 7 years old.  She thinks it’s significance is not to wander off when you are in the snow.  The mountains can be a dangerous place when you are skiing and if no one warns you to stay close you can fall into the lightly packed snow or get lost in the forest.

Under the context that my informant heard this folklore I understand that the story is meant to scare children from wandering off on their own.  Since her and her family are originally from Costa Rica and to my knowledge there is no skiing in the country, perhaps her parents picked up the story from earlier ski trips where other families told the tale.  There does not seem to be anything significant from her heritage in this story, so this is probably an example of folklore that has spread but has not yet been made into an oicotype in her native land.