Monthly Archives: May 2015

Roll Calls

Nationality: Italian, english, dutch, irish
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/30/15
Primary Language: English

My informant is an 18-year-old College student who is from San Francisco. His ethnicity is Dutch, Irish, and English, and Italian.

My informant played many sports when he was growing up so I asked him if he had any sort of initiation or rites of passage within any of these sports. He remembered performing what he called, “roll calls”, on buses for football games and this act was in a way a rite of passage for some people.

Informant: “A roll call is just a four line song that you make up on the spot. It always starts the same way. So someone would start by yelling, “break em off break em off 1-2-3”, then the rest of the bus would yell the team’s name who we were on our way to play, so lets just say we were playing the dolphins, they would say, “dolphins dolphins 1-2-3”. Then the person who has the roll call would stand up. The structure of the little songs, I guess they are songs, are all the same also. Ill try to make one up right now, so, “My name is Cole”, and then everyone else on the bus yells, “yeah” in between, so let me start over. “My name is Cole” (yeah), “I’m such a bore” (yeah), “I make my friends” (yeah), “give me folklore”. They are usually really clever and target one single person. They are fun though they aren’t meant to be mean, but sometimes they get a little crazy. I think this in a way can be a rite of passage cuz like, if you are not the most popular guy, but you make a really good roll call, everyone is going to think you’re funny and you kind of earn respect in that way. It is kind of weird I know”

Analysis: I thought this was a really good example of a rite of passage. It is a little different from maybe other rites of passage that are taken more seriously and are recognized as a rite of passage. This rite of passage is not directly referred to as a rite of passage and even my informant made a comment about this and how he did not really see it as a rite of passage as it was happening, but he had realized it much later after the fact. I think there are a lot of small ways that rites of passages are conducted and many of them are not as direct as we might think. Sometimes these rites of passage take some reflecting on in order to realize their effects.

The Doorknob Game

Nationality: scottish
Age: 23
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/30/15
Primary Language: English

My informant is a close friend who I have known for many years. He is a 23-year-old college student and has lived his whole life in Orange County, California. He currently resides in Los Angeles where he attends the University of Southern California and comes from a prominently Scottish heritage.

I began by asking my informant if he could remember any games that he played as a kid. A game that he learned from his friends and that is perhaps a little less traditional. He smiled and asked me if I had every heard of the “Doorknob Game”?

Informant: “The doorknob game is really funny because of how stupid it is. Basically, someone farts, and if another person hears it, he can shout, “door knob” and the person who farted then has to run to find the nearest doorknob to touch. Anyone in the room at this time can punch him in the arm as many times as they like until the fart perpetrator reaches a doorknob. If a person farts around people who know the game, he can yell out “safety” immediately after he farts, before anyone can yell “doorknob” and then he is safe from having to run and find a doorknob.”

Analysis: This is a good example of a game that is passed down through friends in a group. It exemplifies the “in” versus the “out” people because if you know about this game then you are a part of the group. If you do not know about the game, then you are at risk of being punched several times. It is not until a person learns the rules of the game through watching it performed that he is included and thus becomes part of the inner circle of this group of friends.

Cup of Wine for Elijah

Nationality: Dutch, Lithuanian, English, Russian
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Performance Date: 4/30/15
Primary Language: English

My informant is a 19-year-old college student who grew up in Chicago, Illinois, then moved out to California where she now attends the University of Southern California. Both her parents are from a Jewish background and her ethnicity is Dutch, Russian, Lithuanian, and English.

My informant comes from a long lineage of Jewish ancestors, so I thought it was only appropriate to ask her about some of the Jewish traditions that are passed down to her from her family. The one she decided to share with me is a traditional or ritual that takes place during Passover.

Informant: “Passover represents a celebration of freedom from slavery for Israelis. I think there are a lot of different ways to celebrate Passover and it kind of depends on your family. I know there are a lot of families that have traditions that don’t even have anything to do with Judaism but they just continue to do them because they always have. One thing that my family does that isn’t written in the Torah, but we do it anyway, is leave a cup of wine on the table for Elijah. Supposedly you are supposed to leave the door open too, but we don’t do that. The cup is just an offering more or less so that Elijah, who is a prophet, will visit your house and bless it.”

Analysis: I thought it was interesting that, like many people, we have these rituals or traditions that we follow, although it is not explicitly written anywhere. Once a tradition seems to be followed by one person, they have the ability to hand this down through their lineage, and it continues on years and years later. I also thought it was interesting how my informant brought up that she knows of other families who have very odd traditions for Passover, even as odd as watching the same movie every year. These types of things also become tradition even though it does not state it any where in the religion, but the continuation of performing these rituals allow them to be carried on through generations.

Shotgunning a beer

Nationality: United States
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 17APR2015
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant Background:

The informant is a Junior at USC in the Naval ROTC program. he considers himself the typical college boy and often enjoys attending the numerous parties around campus.

Informants story:

“So, something that literally any body who’s been to a college party knows how to do is to shotgun a beer. Its pretty easy to set up when you get the hang of it, but the actual shotgunning its self can be hard for a new person. What you do is you first take a can of beer, hold it side ways and cut a whole in the side toward the bottom without letting it spill. I usually do this with keys, but do it however that will get you that hole. When you’re ready, you put your hand like you’re gonna open the can, put the hole to your mouth with the top straight up, pop the top and chug as fast as you can. You pop the top so the air goes in and helps push the beer out and into your mouth.”

Analyses:

The shotgun has been preformed since the college kids first got their hands on beer cans. This classic college act serves two functions. For one, It delivers a large quantity of alcohol to the body in a very short amount of time, thus allowing for the participant to get drunk faster. The other function is that its used as social reinforcement. Any college drinker will tell you that shotgunning is not something you do alone. Shotgunning is something that generally occurs at parties, and preformed among those whom you want to create a bond with. The act of shotgunning allows the participants to share the same experience and in turn creates a small bit of trust. Should the participant not be able to shotgun adequately, the provide a source of entertainment as they struggle to drink as it pours down their face. Should the shotgun be successful, the participant is seen as someone who can handle themselves in the college part atmosphere. Someone asking you to shotgun with them, should be seen as a high compliment as it is a sign that they wish to reinforce or create a friendship.

 

 

Dirty Drinking Trick for Dirty Pleasures

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 17APR2015
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Informant back Ground:

This informant is a  Junior at USC in the Naval ROTC program. he considers himself the typical college boy and often enjoys attending the numerous parties around campus.

 

Informants story :

“So I know this trick I heard from some enlisted guys [navy] while over summer cruise works. What you do is put a shot on your head and get a girl to put her hands behind her back and try to drink the shot from off of your head. What she might or might not know is that her cleavage will be directly in your face while she does it. It’s kind of wrong, but very right at the same time.”

 

Analyses:

I’ve actually heard of this trick before. This little “trick” is known fairly well throughout the military, primarily due to its masculine environment. This trick has even been featured in the HBO miniseries “The Pacific”. This “trick”, however, is beginning to fizzle out among members of the military as the military begins cracking down on any form of sexual harassment, especially when alcohol is involved. That being said, it is entirely within reason to assume that this action is performed by many other non-military as well. Though this trick may be well and fun should the participating female be aware of the reason for the act, it would definitely be considered sexual harassment by any court should the woman be unaware of what she was really doing.  Even so, the male need for sexual stimulation is unending, and chances are this trick will perpetuate far into the future.