Monthly Archives: May 2015

Paper toss

Nationality: american
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: los angeles
Performance Date: 4/18/15
Primary Language: English
Language: mandarin

RD attended high school in Palo Alto, California and graduated in 2013.

RD: “The paper toss was a tradition on the last day of school. Every senior would bring in like 3 lbs. of paper, like homework assignments, tests, any work you had from high school. So then everyone would toss all their papers into the air at brunch on the last day of school, it was a paper cut waiting to happen”

Was it all at the same time?

RD:”Yeah everyone would go “1…2…3!” and then throw the papers in the air. My year some assholes decided to throw text books which was a terrible idea. So we’d throw all the papers into the air after the countdown and take a big picture while it was happening.”

How long have they been doing it?

RD: “They’ve been doing it forever. Probably like 30 years, they always do it”

Pico, Pico, Beso

Nationality: Bogota, Colombia
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 22, 2015
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

My Informant was a 21 year old female who moved to the United States from Bogota, Colombia in 2004. She lives five houses down on my street.

Story: Where I used to live in Bogota, there was this game that us kids used to play called “Pico, Pico, Beso” and it was, basically, this kissing game. It was like Tag, except girls would run away from the boys and if they were caught the boys got to give them a kiss on the cheek. If they were got caught again, then the boy got to kiss their other cheek. And if they were caught the third time, it was on the mouth. But only if the same boy caught them three times…not three different boys. Does that make sense? And, you know, usually girls played with the boys the liked and they’d “get caught” so it was a lot of fun. Just kid games.

Collector: How old were you when you played this game?

Informant: Around eleven or twelve.

Collector: What does “Pico, Pico, Beso” translate to? In English?

Informant: Like, what is it called? A peck on the cheek? Yeah? Yea. Like Peck, Peck, Kiss.

Collector: Do you know where this game originated from? Who taught it to you?

Informant: Some older kids at school were playing, I think, and my friend taught me how to play.

This is a great example of children learning about the world by imitating the world. They look to older people for guidance and, in this case, my informant and her friends learned from peers at school. There’s this whole concept that adults tend to shy away from mentioning anything of sexual nature around children, so it makes sense that they learned this game from other children instead of adults.

La Chancla

Nationality: Bogota, Colombia
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 22, 2015
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

My Informant was a 21 year old female who moved to the United States from Bogota, Colombia in 2004. She lives five houses down on my street.

Collector: Okay, what’s the story of La Chancla?

Informant: Well, it was this sandal that my mom used to hide in the pantry in the kitchen, and whenever we misbehaved, she’d threaten to get La Chancla and spank us with it. We were terrified of it as kids and didn’t want it anywhere near us, because who wants to get spanked right? And she’d use it too – and it hurt. I remember that as we got older, though, we stopped being scared of it (laughs). There was actually this one time when my brother and I opened the forbidden pantry and stole La Chancla from the kitchen. When we did something bad, we teased my mom saying “Well what are you going to do? Get the Chancla?” and she realized it was gone. Her face was priceless. I’m not really sure when she stopped using though, it just sort of… faded out of our lives.

Collector: Do you think your mom was the only one who used La Chancla?

Informant: No way, it’s kind of a cultural thing. Hispanics know what’s up when it comes to La Chancla.

Collector: Only Hispanics?

Informant: I don’t think anyone else uses it, to be honest. They have…what do you call them? The rulers on the wrist? Or something like that. Time outs? I don’t know, people discipline their kids differently in different places.

Parents tend to resort to scare tactics in order to keep their children in check. In a way, they instill fear in them in order to control them, which sounds kind of sick in a way, but it does work. I’m sure it’s all in the best interest of the children anyway, since I do remember having to respect something similar to the Chancla when I was growing up and I turned out just fine. Apparently, this is a tradition because my informant’s parents grew up with La Chancla as well and their parents before them too. I guess it is a Hispanic thing, like a right of passage of sorts.

For more information on the Chancla: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/11/04/361205792/la-chancla-flip-flops-as-a-tool-of-discipline

 

Los Pollitos

Nationality: Bogota, Colombia
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 22, 2015
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Song: It’s in Spanish

Los pollitos dicen
Pio, pio, pio
Cuando tienen hambre
Cuando tienen frio
La gallina busca
El maiz y el trigo
Les da la comida
Y les presta abrigo
Bajo sus dos alas
Acurrucaditos
Hasta el otro dia
Duerman los pollitos

Translation:

The little chicks say
Pio, pio, pio
When they’re hungry
And when they’re cold
The chicken looks for
Corn and wheat
She feeds them and
Covers them with warmth
Under her two wings
She cuddles them
The chicks sleep
Until the next day

My Informant was a 21 year old female who moved to the United States from Bogota, Colombia in 2004. She lives five houses down on my street.

Collector: Who used to sing this to you? And when?

Informant: My mom used to sing it to me when I was really young, but I still remember it. I’m not sure why, I think it’s just one of those things from your childhood that you never forget.

Collector: Was it to help you fall asleep?

Informant: No, not really. She’d sing it whenever my dad was almost home from work. I don’t really remember why, I think it was her way of comforting us because we missed him… which now that I think about it, is a little ridiculous, considering he was only gone for eight hours or so.

I distinctly remember this song from my childhood as well, but my mom did actually use it to get us to sleep. I believe that’s what most songs are for, to get children to do things without ordering them to do so. They hear the song about the chicks falling asleep and they want to follow suit and go to bed too, just like in the song. I found online, however, that there is more to the actual song than what either my informant’s mom or my mom ever sang to us.

For the full version, refer to :  https://youtu.be/fXTicXsPfuo

The Turn Up Burger

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 20, 2015
Primary Language: English

Story: A few weeks ago I was on the phone with my mom and she was visiting my older sister in san diego. so they were both on the line. and this is a story my sister told me while i was on the phone.

one night my sister took my mom to the gaslamp quarter which is like this area in downtown san diego with a big nightlife scene and they went to some restaurant for dinner.

now before i tell you what happened let me just preface this by saying that my mom doesn’t ever drink and never really did. she drank a little bit when she was younger but she’s never actually been drunk.

so anyway, at the restaurant I guess she ordered this burger and it came with this special aioli sauce. and a little while after eating the burger my mom started to feel a little dizzy

so they checked what was in that aioli and i guess there was a little bit of tequila in the aioli.

so basically my mom got drunk off of a mayonnaise type sauce on her burger

she could barely walk home

there was probably a teaspoon of that sauce on the burger and my mom got legitimately drunk after eating it.

my sister asked her if it felt like she was drunk and my mom was like, “i have no clue what being drunk feels like”

also my mom is 52

so i just thought that was the cutest and funniest thing

 

My informant was a 19 year old female student who used to have the same writing class as me the previous semester. I was heading to the dining hall at Parkside when I spotted her outside, studying at one of the tables. We chatted and she told me this story.

I think it’s pretty funny because I never knew that anyone could get drunk off of a burger. Since her sister told this to her, I figured it could be considered folklore since it was passed to her orally and I’m pretty sure there’s some exaggeration to the whole thing so there’s some variation to it. In conclusion, I need to find this burger and try it.