Monthly Archives: May 2016

Washing a child’s mouth out with soap

Nationality: American
Age: 60
Occupation: Director of Communications
Residence: New York City
Performance Date: 4/24/2016
Primary Language: English

When a child uses a swear word or misbehaves in some other way, a parent may wash his or her mouth out with a bar of soap. My mother used this punishment on me when I was three years old. We were playing around in her bed when all of a sudden, I spat in her face. She rushed me to the bathroom and washed my mouth out with a big bar of soap. She had never used that punishment on me before and never did again. I asked her to recall why she used it at that moment:

“I was just so shocked, and I was hurt. I was hurt. It just came to mind, like, there’s only one thing to do here. Now the washing the mouth out was something about saying bad words. It was…so for some reason, I went for that punishment because it felt equivalent. I think I just wanted to, like, shock you.”

My informant is my mother, a 60-year old director of communications for a non-profit in New York City. She cannot recall where she learned this folk punishment from, and does not ever remember her parents using it on her. My mother rarely if ever used corporal punishment, but as she said:

“Well, you know, we were not the strictest of parents, you know, but there was, like, certain things that, you know, we just couldn’t let you guys get away with.”

I think my mother likes this folk punishment only because it evokes this memory we can now laugh at. But I find it really interesting that she only used this folk punishment once it her life. This speaks to the way in which folklore can lie dormant in our heads and then emerge at completely unpredictable moments. There are probably hundreds of pieces of folklore that we don’t even know we know, but something will occur, and all of a sudden we’ll find ourselves performing it.

This folk punishment also has a Pavlovian effect to it. It’s completely visceral and instinctual. It doesn’t teach children anything about the disrespect of their words and actions. Rather, it forces an association into their minds between misbehaving and bodily discomfort. I imagine every time I thought of spitting in someone’s face after that moment (which I hope was not often) I remembered the taste of soap in my mouth and chose against it.

Never pass a knife

Nationality: Greek-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/2016
Primary Language: English

It is a common belief among Greek-Americans that passing a knife or other sharp object will lead to a physical altercation between the person passing and person being passed to. Instead of passing the knife or other sharp object, an observer of the superstition will place it on a table and allow the other person to pick it up.

The informant believes this superstition speaks to the passionate and temperamental nature of Greek-Americans. According to him, “Greek people are always fighting.” But while he observes the tradition, he doesn’t believe it does anything to prevent conflict, as, according to him, Greek people will fight regardless of whether or not a knife was passed between hands.

My informant is a Greek-American student at the University of Southern California. He grew up in a entirely Greek-American family in Long Island, NY. The informant and his whole family have observed this superstition for as long as he can remember. It is always observed at meals and in kitchens, where one most often finds knives. My informant often lovingly mocks Greek-Americans’ tendencies. I think it speaks to his love for the uniqueness of individual cultures, which, as a filmmaker, he is especially attuned to.

This superstition has an interesting self-knowledge verging on self-deprecation to it. It warns that a kind action (sharing an object) between people can easily turn into a cruel one (fighting) and that it’s best to avoid the kind action altogether. In this way, it is not just an arbitrary fear but also a painfully true proverb that speaks to all of our fickle and temperamental natures, not just Greek-Americans’.

Davey Case

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: Non-profit Community Partnerships
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/18/2016
Primary Language: English

My informant recounted this legend from his summer camp.

“A guy counselor got obsessed with a female counselor while they were setting up camp, and his name was like, Da…Davey…Davey Case or something. There were pictures of him in like old…um…books. And basically he like chased her and she was, like, terrified, and he escaped and nobody knew where he was before camp started. And camp started and everything was normal, and then, this is the part that is unconfirmed, he then came…came back to camp, found her bunk and was like, in the process of strangling her, you know, like in the middle of the night while she was on watch or something so not outside…so she’s like outside of her bunk. And then he, like, escaped again, and was caught like a day later, like, in the Adirondack woods, like, out of his mind.”

This is a legend passed between campers ages 8 to 15 at Brant Lake Camp in the Adirondacks, NY. It was the backstory for a camp monster, what my informant describes as “a rogue counselor who like stalked the camp.” My informant assures me that the first part of the story, in which one counselor became obsessed with another and then ran away, is probably true, while the second part in which he comes back to strangle her and is afterwards found in the woods, is unconfirmed andy likel not true.

My informant is a 25-year old male who attended Brant Lake Camp for 5 years between 2000 and 2004. He remembers hearing the story his first year. It was frequently told to campers by counselors in their bunks at night. Then campers would add things, and compare stories with each other. They’d also look for Davey Case’s picture in old camp photos. My informant particularly enjoys telling this story because it’s a good spooky story and he remembers the thrilling feeling of fear that it instilled in him.

I imagine this legend served to unite the campers, as they had something to communally be afraid of. Furthermore, it probably served as a warning from counselors to campers, a way of convincing them to do something or not to do something with an attack by Davey Case being the dire alternative. Lastly, I think it speaks to sexual angst experienced by boys at sleepaway camp age. They feel strong sexual urges for women beginning to develop, and this is a story of those feelings brought to a violent and horrifying extreme. It’s a way for them to discuss their feelings of sexual frustration without acting on them, or embarrassing themselves by making it too personal. Telling a legend about someone else is a safer, more distanced way to discuss personal issues you yourself might be experiencing.

Rick Perry’s Hotel Meetup

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: Non-profit Community Partnerships
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/18/2016
Primary Language: English

My informant recounted to me this legend about Rick Perry, former governor of Texas.

“A guy was called for gay sex in an arrangement where he’d go to a hotel room that would be open. He’d get on the bed. He’d get prone. And the guy who called him would come into the hotel room into the complete darkness in the room, have sex with him, and leave. And, um, so this happened. But he turned around and he caught some light from the hallway and saw the guy as he was leaving and it was Rick Perry in like this sweaty jogging suit in some Austin hotel.”

My informant is a 25-year old man who studied government at the University of Texas at Austin. He worked for several democratic campaigns and blogged about Texas politics. He learned this piece of folklore from other Texas Democrats between the years 2009 and 2012. It was passed around over beers at Democratic events. It became more widespread after it was publicized in a book called Head Figure Head: The Search for the Hidden Life of Rick Perry which sought to expose Perry’s private homosexual activities.

My informant particularly enjoys telling this story because of “the grossness of the jogging sweater suit thing.” From a storyteller’s point of view, he enjoys “just how seedy it all is, this seedy dark arrangement that Perry is like, lasciviously participating in on the sly.” He also marvels at “all the people that are making these arrangements for him, his aids who have seen him do these things, and live out in the world not telling anyone.” It also frustrates my opponent that “no one close to him will confirm it.”

My informant is staunchly against Perry, and resents how much media attention he has gotten in recent years, especially regarding his homophobic views. I think my informant enjoys telling this story because it portrays the politician is such a creepy, hypocritical light. Regardless of whether or not it’s true, I think this urban legend speaks to how suspicious the American public is of its politicians. We have seen so many political sex scandals over just the last ten years, that there’s almost an assumption that a given politician is having an affair. Furthermore, it speaks to the common belief that behind every homophobe is a homosexual.

For more information on this legend, see:

Maxey, Glen. Head Figure Head: The Search for the Hidden Life of Rick Perry. Austin: Glen Maxey, 2011.

Warm milk with honey

Nationality: American
Age: 62
Occupation: Professor
Residence: New York City
Performance Date: 4/20/2016
Primary Language: English

As a child, my father was frequently given warm milk with honey mixed in as a sleeping aid when he was feeling ill. I asked him to describe his experience of this folk medicine:

“That was a sleeping aid and of course my—I mean, again, it’s a combination of the personal and the impersonal. When, when my Mom gave it to me, it was unbelievably precious, even then it was unbelievably precious. You would be awake, you would be taken downstairs sometimes, you know, in other words, it would feel very special and private. And the memory brings back the light. In other words, the 50’s—the 1950’s lightbulb—they were just different from what we have. And it brings back the softer light and all that kind of thing.”

My informant is my father, a 62-year old English professor in New York City. He was given this remedy during his childhood, but rarely gave it to my brother and I. Recalling warm milk with honey brought this thought to his mind:

“But there was a double sense. There was a sense that this is the way things are done in your house but that they’re going on all over the place too. And that you’re part of a larger world that does this. And it always surprises me that milk and honey is not in everyone’s lives.”

I think my father enjoys this folk medicine because it brings up memories of his mother, who died 25 years ago. But I find it really interesting that he did not pass it down to me. I imagine some folklore is so tied to specific people that it feels more like a treasure shared with him or her rather than something to be passed on. In this case, warm milk with honey may have been something my father wanted to preserve as a special thing between him and his mother. It may not have even occurred to him to pass onto his children, because it was so connected to the child within him. After all, it is milk and honey, two of the sweetest, most nurturing substances fed to baby. They tap into the baby within us all. So, this may be a piece of folk medicine that taps into only the baby within my father, and not the parent.