Monthly Archives: April 2019

Origin of the Cheers Clink

Nationality: South African, American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: Spring 2019
Primary Language: English

Piece:

“So my friend was telling me that the reason why you clink cups together is because back in like the olden times, when if you match really full cups of beer, people used to clink cups together so that a little bit of each person’s drink would slosh into the other persons drink and it was kind of like about a sharing of a drink and also like to make sure that people weren’t getting poisoned because the cups… the liquids would like mix together.”

Analysis:

While there is truth to the amicable aspect of sharing a drink, the mixing of liquids to prove that no poison is present is just a very well-known and well-shared lie. Firstly, sloshing that much liquid would surely produce more waste than desired in olden times when food was much more scarce, but more importantly, proving a lack of poison was at best unnecessary and at worst rude. Often people drank from shared vessels, where drinks were already in a sense mixed, so mixing them again would be redundant. At the other end of the spectrum, requiring proof of safety may be regarded as the same as using a food taster, which displays a lack of trust and hostility. For these reasons, it doesn’t really make sense that clinking would show trust in lack of poison, although the story is interesting and possible enough that it makes sense the story is still told.
Clinking and toasting, in general, are, at their core, a carryover from those more communal days. By clinking cups and drinking together, drinkers can maintain that sense of camaraderie that comes with drinking of the same container. The sound made by clinking is also rumored to complete the fulfillment of the five senses that comes when drinking something like wine. The remaining four are already satisfied, so by adding in the resonating sound of clinking glasses, the drinkers are pleased in all five senses, which is a rather rare sensation, culinarily or otherwise.

Context:


The interviewee is a 23-year-old male who attends the University of Southern California, pursuing a masters degree in computer science. When he was very young, he lived in India, until he moved to South Africa. He lived in South Africa from then until he moved to New York City to pursue his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is very into alcohol and the history and science behind it, which explains why he would know and tell this tidbit, accurate or not.
This interview was conducted in person at the interviewed party’s house. The audio was recorded in order to aid in accurate transcription of the dialogue that took place.

Buddha Reaches Enlightenment

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: Spring 2019
Primary Language: English

Piece:
C is the interviewed party.
J is the interviewer.

C: “So this is a story about the Buddha. So the Buddha was doing this stuff, and like he reached enlightenment, right? And then he gets up and he’s like, ‘whoa, I’m enlightened,’ right, and he runs into this farmer and the farmers like, ‘wow, you look so radiant, you look like amazing, what is going on?’ And Buddha is like, ‘im enlightened, my dude, I just reached enlightenment.’ [The farmer says] ‘no you didn’t, that ridiculous. How did you — why would you say such a thing?’ And the Buddha is like, ‘that’s weird, can’t he see how radiant I am? Can’t he see that I’m enlightened?’ so the Buddha keeps walking on, you know, in his enlightened state and he runs into a wealthy merchant on a horse, and the merchant is like, ‘ wow you look so radiant. You look amazing. What happened to you? You look so at peace.’ And the Buddha says, ‘I’ve reached enlightenment.’ And [the merchant] is like, ‘get out of here, man. Who are you? What are you talking about?’ So the Buddha keeps trucking along, thinking, ‘no one believes that I’m enlightened. What’s going on?’ Finally, he runs into this old man, and the man is like, ‘you look so radiant. You look at peace, what’s going on?’ Buddha doesn’t say anything. He just asks the man, ‘do you need some help?’ And the man says he could use some help carrying his food. And so the Buddha helps this man take care of his stuff and spends time with this old man. Finally, the old man says to the Buddha, ‘you are enlightened, you’ve reached enlightenment.’ And that man became one of the first people to spread Buddhism because the whole thing is about showing and not telling”

J: “So this was a thing you were told?”

C: “Uh yeah. I was told this.”
J: “Was this like a family story or-”
C: “No. I learned this when I was a monk.”

Analysis:

This story exemplifies a common trope of many stories in many cultures, called ‘the rule of threes’. This rule identified a common theme among stories, wherein change occurs on the third attempt or the number three is significant. In this example, the Buddha approaches three people; the first two are dismissive to his attempts to tell them of his enlightened state, so he changes his approach for the third, who accepts him fully as enlightened.

While those outside of the Buddhist faith may not believe this story at all, and those within may see it more as a way to teach a theme or idea instead of a direct account of history, the story still presents a common trope of religions and faiths. The third man Buddha encounters believes he is enlightened because he is not focused on proving it; the Buddha merely helps the man and acts in a humble, enlightened way, which causes the man to come to his own conclusion that the Buddha has reached enlightenment.

Context:

The interviewed party is a 21-year-old male student at the University of Southern California. Before moving to Los Angeles, he spent large portions of his life in both New York City and Thailand, where his family is from and some still reside.

This interview was conducted over a series of days in person inside the common area of the interviewer’s home. The responses were recorded in order to accurately dictate dialogue.

La LLorona – A Mexican Legend

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 27
Occupation: Factory Woker
Residence: California
Performance Date: 04/20/19
Primary Language: Spanish

Piece: 

The only thing I grew up with is probably the same thing you grew up with, The legend of La LLorona. The legend states that a woman once drowned her kids in a river and forever hated herself for it. So when she died her soul still mourned the loss of her kids so her ghost roams the streets of Mexico crying for her kids. People say that if you hear her, and she sounds like she’s far away, then it means she’s really close to you. The same goes for the opposite, if you hear her close-by it means she’s really far away.

Background information: The informant is my cousin who grew up in a small village in Mexico. He is about 7 years older than I am.

Context: As described, this is something the informant heard a lot as a kid. Parents would use the legend of La LLorona to frighten their kids so they wouldn’t stay out too late at night.

Personal analysis: I never thought the legend of La LLorona would become such a well known legend. Seeing Disney turn it into a movie really put into perspective how exploitative capitalism can be. I take great joy in hearing legends like this being passed down from family members. But seeing a corporation use it to make money greatly discredits it.

For another version of this legend, see Mexico.mx. (2019). Horror Stories: The Legend of La Llorona. [online] Available at: https://www.mexico.mx/en/articles/horror-stories-the-legend-of-la-llorona [Accessed 26 Apr. 2019].

The God Among Sandwiches

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Arcadia
Primary Language: English

Context:

The following informant is a 20-year-old American male student. The informant and I were in a discussion about “secret menu” items that can be found at various American fast food chains. The informant will be denoted as K and I will be C.

K: So when I was in middle school and sex talk was really proliferating I heard about a fabled sandwich, the god among sandwiches, called the McGangBang. The story goes that if you ask for a McGangBang you will either be thrown out of the store or they will give you a McChicken inside of a McDouble. So a McDouble is bun, patty, cheese, patty, cheese, bun and then you can peel right in between the patty-cheese so the patty, cheese peel and then patty cheese, bun. And right in the center you can plop a McChicken right in the middle.

C: With the bun?

K: With the bun! And you can eat it all in one go and that’s a McGangBang. I’ve never ordered it as a McGangBang but my friend said he had. He said that it had worked at the Hog Mountain Road McDonalds. But I don’t believe him.

C: And how many times have you had a McGangBang.

K: I think I have had it at least fifteen times in my life, maybe more.

Analysis: While I find the name of the sandwich very problematic, I can personally attest that it is very tasty albeit disgusting. Additionally I find the culture of “hidden menu” items at fast food places to be very interesting. It is almost as if the restaurant is some cult and by knowing the secret menu items you can become a member of said cult. A commercialized version a secret menu can be seen with In N’ Out which is famous for their secret menu.

The Old Man and His Horse

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2-17-19
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Background Info/Context:

My friend was reaching out to USC students to get them to fill out surveys for a company called Tik Tok. The company wanted to collect data and get feedback from first time users, and they went about this by setting up a competition– the people who are able to get the most, second most, and third most surveys filled out under their name win cash prizes. So after a week of nagging friends and classmates to download the new app, browse through it, and fill out a Google Form set up by the company, my friend later found out that she won third place, receiving $150 as her prize!

I was thrilled for her and insisted that we go out for dinner or a celebratory dessert, but she sternly said that she shouldn’t splurge her new found money, because of a story her dad told her years ago. The story made her feel more optimistic, because it helped her to see situations beyond the myopic level.

 

Piece:

“This old man lives in like, what do you call it… not suburbs… but like the outskirts of China. And then, he owned a horse, but then one day, it just ran away. So he lost it and it was like a big loss right? Cuz horses were so, um, important back then.

So then his neighbors came and said “Oh I’m so sorry to hear about that,” and “If you need any help” and blah blah blah, and then the old man was just like, “How do you know this is a bad thing? I just lost a horse, we don’t know if it’s good, we don’t know if its bad.”

And then, um, a few weeks later, the horse came back with a bunch of other wild horses that it made friends with. So basically, the old man gained like I don’t know, 15 other horses, after losing one. So then, the neighbor comes over again and then says like “Oh congratulations! You have like so many more horses! This whole thing got spun 180 degrees!” And then the old man again, was like “How do you know this is a good thing? Just cuz I got more horses.”

And then one day, he was riding one of the wild horses, and it sort of acted out, and he broke his leg. And so, the neighbor again said “Oh, um, so sorry to hear you broke your leg.” And the old man goes, “Oh! Why are you sorry? How do you know this is a bad thing?”

Time goes by, and the emperor is recruiting for more people in the military, and getting able bodied people to join the military. And guess what! The old man is not able bodied anymore, and he couldn’t go to war, and he just like stayed at home. And I guess that was seen as a good thing, since he doesn’t have to sacrifice himself for his country.”

The lesson my dad was trying to tell me through this story is that whatever happens, I shouldn’t be immediately affected or put down by something bad, and if something good happens, I should always be cautious about it. So I don’t want to get ahead of myself and spend the money I won.”

 

Thoughts:

The story structure is somewhat similar to those in America, in the fact that there is a 3-time repetition in the narrative, but then there is a plot twist that plays off of it. I think that the man’s skepticism to everything that happened in his life is somewhat pessimistic, because he isn’t able to live in the moment, or accept things the way they are.

Because the old man in this story has the same reluctant attitude throughout the story, it shows that this proverb can be used in multiple scenarios. It could be used as a way to console people who are going through a hard time, or be used to warn people to not get ahead of themselves. Either way, patience and prudence seem to be the overarching themes in this proverb.