Author Archives: Adrian Hernandez

Joke – Mexican

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 52
Occupation: Busboy
Residence: Inglewood, CA
Performance Date: April 03, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish

Joke – BiggerLiar

Es que jugaban dos aver quien era mas mentiroso porque los dos eran bien mentirosos. Y no pos para estar seguros agarraron un juez. Que el juez iba decir quien gana. Y después uno dice “Tu primero”. “Okay, yo tengo un pajarito que de estar parado en el suelo las alas le llegan asta el cielo.” El juez dice “mentira grandísima. No hay quien te la supere.” El otro dice “Okay ahora yo sigo. Hace mil quinientos anos yo tenia un burro en Jerez y cada vez que rebuznaba le metía la reata al juez.” “¡Mentira! ¡Mentira! ¡Las mentiras! ¡Suyo es mas grande! ¡No es cierto! ¡No es cierto!”

Two played to see who the bigger liar was because the two were big liars. And to be sure they got a judge. The judge was going to say who wins. And later one says “Your first.”  “Okay, I have a little bird that while standing on the ground the wings span to the sky.”  The judge says “What a big lie. There is not any who can surpass it.”  The other he says “Okay now it’s my turn.  Its been a thousand five hundred years that I had a donkey in Jerez and each time that it brayed it would put stick its penis into the judge.”  “Lie!  Lie! That’s a lie! Yours is bigger! Its not true! Its not true!”

Alfredo told me that this joke was just for entertainment purposes while sharing laughs with his friends. However, he said that this joke signifies the homophobia that goes on in the towns of Mexico. The judge had to automatically declare the second “lie” as the bigger lie because then he would have been seen as homosexual.

I definitely agree with him when he says the judge is afraid of being labeled as a homosexual. You can see it when he reacts hysterically after the second lie is stated. In Mexico, homosexuality is definitely down upon in the town that my father is from. He mentioned to me that that was where he heard the joke way back in the late-60s. Also another thing that can be seen is the competitive that they have. Everything must be a competition over there to see who can claim to be better. That reminds me of the new Nike commercial that has recently been televised, which shows their notion of ‘my better is better than your better’. Competition is widespread in the world and here it is both in the US and Mexico.

As a note, the experience of hearing the joke is definitely affected when it is translated. Both lies when told in Spanish have a rhyme scheme. It is not present in the English translation, so it takes away from the ‘punch’of the punch line in the end.

Joke

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 13
Occupation: Student
Residence: Inglewood, CA
Performance Date: March 25, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Joke – Beyonce

Why does Beyonce sing to the left to the left?

Because niggers have no rights.

Alex says he heard this joke at lunch at his middle school earlier in the year. He says he thinks the joke says that since black people don’t have rights, they must concern themselves with the left.

This joke definitely depicts the racism that goes on in Inglewood as well as other places. Many of these jokes arise due to the racial tensions that exist within their communities. From my experience, a lot of these jokes are shared among multiple races while joking about another’s race. Usually there isn’t much offense to the jokes, however people who are not sharing these jokes may overhear and take offense.

However, jokes like these can be meant to be offensive. I think that this joke is meant to be offensive. The key to that is the use of the word ‘nigger’. When joking around as described earlier, the term ‘black people’ would be used instead of ‘nigger’ since it has less hate associated to it. Even the use of the word ‘nigga’ would have been nicer since it is a very common word in those neighborhoods and isn’t really as offensive since its so common. I’ve heard from some of my black friends that they just take a lot of offense to the term ‘nigger’ because of its connotations and ‘nigga’ has become another word for ‘homie’ for example.

Counting Rhyme

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 13
Occupation: Student
Residence: Inglewood, CA
Performance Date: March 25, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Counting Rhyme – Donald Duck

Donald Duck,

Poke his butt,

All the way to Pizza Hut.

Alex said that he first heard this counting rhyme about a year ago from his neighbor, a little girl. He said it was used while determining who would be ‘it’ in a game of tag.

Growing up I never heard this rhyme so it is fairly new, unless it is just now really starting to spread from other parts of the area. In either case, this rhyme is similar to many other counting rhymes in that it is short and to the point. However it shows signs of perversion in that the person who is ‘it’ pokes Donald Duck’s butt all the way to Pizza Hut.

Little kids are the only ones who say the rhyme. It is easy to see that it is not cool to poke another’s butt. I remember a couple of other rhyme back in the day where the ‘it’ person was made to be some sort of a fool, thus no one ever wanted to be it. Although it may not be true what the person is labeled as, children do not like to bear such labels regardless.

This rhyme also contains a consistent rhyme scheme. Maybe that is why Donald Duck was chosen to have his butt poked rather than Mickey Mouse or Cinderella. Another possibility could but that it would bother him the most to have his butt poked since he isn’t always a happy camper.

Legend – Mexican

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 43
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: Inglewood, CA
Performance Date: April 03, 2008
Primary Language: Samoan

Legend – La Llorona

“Es que dicen que andaba una llorona que llebaba a sus ninos y luego los perdio. Entonces ella aparecia cada vez que pasaba por un rio y que ella diario pasaba y pasaba llorando pos andaba buscando sus hijos y dicia ‘Hay mis hijos ando buscando mis hijos’ y pos no nunca los encontraba cada rato pasaba llorando y nunca los encontro.”

“Its because they say that there was a Llorona that had her kids and then lost them. Next she appeared every time that would by a river and that she always would pass and would pass crying well was looking for her kids and would say “Oh my kids I’m searching my kids” and well no never found them every while would pass crying and never found them.”

“Well, they say that there was a Llorona that was with her kids and then lost them. She would appear every time that she passed by a river and would be crying since she was looking for her kids. She would proclaim ‘Oh my kids I’m searching for my kids’ and she never found them. Occasionally she would pass by the river crying to no avail.”

Agueda says that she first heard the story in Mexico. He grandmother would tell her the tale in order to try to keep her and her siblings from playing near the river while dark. She says she never really believed in the Llorona but the thought that it could be true would scare her and in fact keep her away from the river. Not only would the story be used to keep them from the river, but also to keep the kids close to their parents whenever they went out somewhere or when the kids were playing around the house without supervision. She says that supposedly if they left the side of the parents, that the Llorona would take them in the place of her own kids.

There’s definitely a difference between this version of the Llorona and other versions. In other versions of the tale, she kills or drowns her children in the river, not lose them. Maybe what’s going on here is that her grandmother altered the story in order to impose some fear into the mind of the kids. She wanted be able to keep the kids close to the house because they lived in a house with a huge farm. In order to keep the kids from wandering off anywhere, this would be able keep the kids in line.

See:

Sylvia Ross (2006, January). The Zen of La Llorona.  News from Native California, 20(2), 9-10.  Retrieved May 1, 2008, from Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW) database. (Document ID: 1213348701).

Joke – Mexican

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 48
Occupation: Machinist
Residence: Inglewood, CA
Performance Date: April 03, 2008
Primary Language: Samoan

Joke – Macho Death

Bueno este era un vato que segun era muy macho macho macho esos que mataban y enterraban. Y una vez entro a una cantina y llego abriendo puerta de par en par haci y el primer vato que miro alli, tenia su cerveza en la mano se la agarro y se la pistio y le dice “¿Que? ¿No le gustó?” y el otro le dijo “Pos no” y lo agarro y le dío fregasos, lo madrio. Y luego sigue pa delante sigue a la otra mesa y ta otro y luego tambien a el le agarra la cerveza y se la pistea “¿Que? ¿No le gustó?” “Pos no compa.” Pos lo agarra y lo agarra a madrasos. Y haci se fue hasta llegar a el frente de la barra. Alli en la barra estaba un senor ayi sentado hechando tambien su cerveza. El luego le agarra su cerveza y se lo pistio. “¿Que? ¿No le gustó?” “No” dice “compa, no cabe duda que alcabo no es mi dia.” Dice “¿Por que?” “Porque mire, a hoy se me quemo mi casa, mis hijos y mi mujer estaban adentro, y pa cabar de fregar, el vaso que se esta pisteando le puse veneno pa matarme yo solo.” Y el vato se murio solo.

Well, this was a guy that was supposed to be macho, the type that killed and buried. And once he entered a tavern and he came in opening the doors evenly and the first dude that he saw there had his beer in his hand and he took it from him and powered it and says “What! You didn’t like that?” and the other says “Well no” and so he grabs him and beats him down, he messed him up. And then continues forward to the other table and there’s another and he also grabs his beer and powers it “What! You didn’t like that?” “Well no homie” so he gets him and gives him some heavy blows.  And he continued so until arriving at the front of the bar.  There at the bar was a man  seated also taking in his beer. Then he grabs his beer and powers it.  “What! You didn’t like that?”  “No” he says says “homie, there is no doubt snce it has not been my day.” He says “Why?”  “Because look, today my house burned down, my children and my woman were inside, and to top it all off, I put poison in glass that you are drinking to kill myself.”  And the guy died himself.

Adan says that this is just a joke he heard while sharing jokes with some friends while drinking. He says that if there is a moral to this story, it is that you should not go around drinking other people’s drinks because they might not be what you think. Also if you go around doing that, you might run into someone who is bigger and stronger than you are or those people might call people to retaliate, so watch out.

I think this story deals with the machismo that goes on in Mexico. There are always those tough guys that like to try and impose their will on others due to their own strength or the people they know. This piece is a great example of someone getting what they deserve.

Also the notion of the number ‘3’ appears in the story. It wasn’t until the third case where the macho man drinks the poison. Furthermore, this joke is an example of where the major twist comes during the punch line.