Author Archives: Andrew Bae

Children’s Phrase – United States

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 7
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Children’s Phrase- United States

“Liar, Liar, pants on fire. Hang them up on telephone wire.”

Kai told me another phrase that they say a lot on the playground. He said he learned this from his friend from school. He said that whenever someone is lying or whenever he doesn’t believe in them, he would say this to them. I asked him why he says this and not something else when someone else is lying. He said that he didn’t really know what else to say when someone is lying. And also it is fun for him to say it. When asked what was meaning behind this phrase, he told me that he didn’t know. He just knew from his classmates that this was the thing you were supposed to say.

Speaking to Kai, brought old memories of my childhood in elementary school. Not that I remember most of it but I do remember these popular playground phrases and songs. Even nowadays, whenever someone is lying; the phrase “liar, liar, pants on fire” comes across my mind. I don’t remember if it is just memory or we just didn’t say it but I do not recall the second verse of this phrase. I don’t ever remember saying, “Hang them up on telephone wire” when I was younger. I just remember always saying “liar, liar, pants on fire” and nothing else. I’m not sure about the meaning behind the phrase. I think I once heard that when children are caught smoking; they try to lie about it and hid the cigarette in their pants. Hence the phrase “liar, liar, pants on fire”.

Fable – China

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Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Fable- China

“One sunny day, there was a clam lying on the beach. She opened her shell sunbathing on

the sand.

Snipe, gliding in the sky, was looking for food. He saw the sparkling white flesh of the clam.

He thought that it would be a delicious meal. He swooped down to peck her flesh. The clam

immediately closed up her shell, gripping the long snipe’s beak in between.

“If it doesn’t rain today, and it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” the snipe grunted, “I shall see a

dead clam on the beach.”

“If I don’t open today and I don’t open tomorrow,” said the clam, “I, too, shall see a dead

snipe on the beach.”

Then the snipe pecked at the flesh of the clam. The clam held the beak of the snipe tightly.

Neither the clam nor the snipe released each other.

A fisherman passed by and found the snipe and the clam grappling with each other. He

spread out his net and caught both the snipe and the clam with ease.”

Yvonne told me that she originally learned this story in Chinese at her Chinese school when she was about 5 years old. However, she said she didn’t know how to write it in Chinese so she emailed me the translated version she knows. She said in Chinese school, the teachers would make the students read classic Chinese children fables. She thinks that they did this so they can “kill two birds with one stone”. By making them read the Chinese fables; the students learned how to read and learn a lesson. Yvonne told me that the lesson of the story is that by fighting, no one wins. She said that it refers to mostly to neighbors. Since the bird and clam were neighbors and were fighting; they both got caught by the fisherman.

I have never heard this story before until Yvonne sent it to me. After reading the story, the moral of the story is pretty clear. Since the neighbors (the clam and the bird) were fighting, the fisherman easily caught them both. It shows that by fighting, no one benefits. If the neighbors lived in peace and harmony, both of them would be free and not caught by the fisherman.

After looking up this story on online, I found the exact same story online with Chinese characters (see below for image) and another story that is a little different. On Wikipedia, the story goes, “A clam was sitting out in the sun when suddenly a snipe flew down to peck at the clam. Suddenly the clam slammed the shell shut, gripping the snipe’s beak in between. The snipe said, “If it doesn’t rain today, and it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I shall see a dead clam on the beach.” The clam said, “If I don’t open today, and I don’t open up tomorrow, I shall see a dead snipe on the beach.” While they were still grappling with each other, a fisherman passed by and netted them both.”[1] The story is titled differently and worded differently than the one sent to me by Yvonne but the moral of the story is the same; no one wins when they fight.

[2]

Source

1) “The Fight between the Snipe and the Clam”. Wikipedia. 16 December 2007. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fight_Between_the_Snipe_and_the_Clam> 29 April 2008.

2) “The Snipe and the Clam”. EMAS Portsmouth.  <http://www.blss.portsmouth.sch.uk/resources/dlstories/snipe/snipe.shtml> 29 April 2008.

Fable – United States

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Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Fable- United States

“A hare was making fun of a tortoise one day for being so slow.  “Do you ever get anywhere?” the hare asked with a mocking laugh.

“Yes,” replied the tortoise, “and I get there sooner than you think.  Run a race against me and I’ll prove it.”

The hare was very amused at the thought of running a race with the tortoise, and just for fun he decided to do it. So the fox, who agreed to act as judge marked the distance for the race on a path through the woods, and started the runners off.  The hare was soon far out of sight. To let the tortoise know how silly it was for him to challenge a speedy hare, the hare decided to lie down beside the road to take a nap until the tortoise could catch up.

The tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily. After a time, the tortoise passed the place where the hare was sleeping. The hare slept on very peacefully.  When at last he did wake up, the tortoise was already very near the finish line. The hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the tortoise in time.”

Yvonne told me that her mother told her this story when she was about 5 to 6 years old. She said that she was really lazy when she was a child and never wanted to clean her room. Whenever her mother told her to do something or clean her room, she always postponed it until the last minute. She said she would always wait till her mother was mad and it would be too late. She said one day, her mother sat her down and told her this story. Her mother told her this story to teach her a lesson in life. Yvonne said the moral she learned was that lazy people don’t succeed in life and hardworking, perseverant people succeed in life.

I think everyone has heard of at least one variation of “the Hare and the Tortoise”. I remember my father telling me this story in Korean when I was young. I think every child at one point in their life was lazy and had their parent tell them the story of “the Hare and the Tortoise”. In my story, I think the Hare went to get a meal first and then decided to take a nap after the meal. There are slight differences in the story but the overall moral of the story was the same. You have to be hard working and not lazy to succeed in life.

I know many books and stories have been published with “the moral of the Hare and the Tortoise” as the backbone of the story. I searched online for different variations of the story. The search came up with a never ending list of stories. Most of the stories that came up were very similar. One of the websites had a slightly different story than the one Yvonne sent me. In this story, the hare not only teases the tortoise but he also brags about his quickness to all the other animals. This story brings in the community surrounding the hare and tortoise; making the story more detailed and entertaining [1]. There are many other different variations of the story; some of the stories are more detailed than the others.

Sources

1)      “The Hare and the Tortoise”. Children’s Story. <http://www.childrenstory.com/tales/indexhare.html> 29 April 2008

Playground Song – United States

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Playground Song- United States

“Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot, Now I got my cootie shot”

John told me that he learned this when he was way young. He learned this in elementary school from his classmates. He said that they used to do this to protect themselves from the cooties that girls had. He said that while he was saying the song, he would get a pen and draw the action of the word. He would draw two circles and two dots. The dots represented the needle mark that shots left behind. He said that this give them immunity from the cooties.

I remember doing this in elementary school too. However, instead of drawing the circles and the dots, we would just use our finger to draw on ourselves. I remember thinking that this would protect us from the girls. I also remember another variation of the cootie shot. Instead of “dot, dot”; we would pinch ourselves. The pinch represented a stronger dosage of the cootie shot. So therefore we were immune and protect from the cooties for a much longer period of times. Other variations of the cooties shots were found online on the Wikipedia site.

“Circle circle, knife knife, Now I’ve got my shot for life.

Circle circle, Square, square. Now I have it everywhere. (Or “Now it will stay there.”)

Circle, circle, Line, line,  Now I have it all the time. (Or “Now I’m protected all the time.”)” [1]

Source

1) “Circle circle dot dot”. Wikipedia. 18 April 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_Circle_Dot_Dot> 30 April 2008.

Proverb – Korea

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 47
Occupation: Father
Residence: Temple City, CA
Performance Date: April 6, 2008
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Proverb- Korea

??? ? ???

Morunun ke yakida.

Ignorance is a medicine

Ignorance is bliss

My father told me he learned this proverb a long time ago when he was child. His father (my grandfather) told him this proverb. My father used to be and still is a very curious person. He said that whenever he got a new toy or a gadget; he would wonder how it works. In order to figure that out, he would try to take it apart his toys and usually end up breaking his toys. So his father, in joking manner told him that proverb. My father said that at first when he learned the proverb, he paid no attention to it. However, now he said that the proverb has deeper meaning than when it was used on him. He said it means that not knowing some things in life is a good thing. As a child, you don’t know about how hard it is to pay the bills and keep food on the table. The child does not have to worry about payments or taking care of a family. Not knowing those things, are a good thing for a child. Eventually the child will grow up and learn those things but until then it is bliss to not know those things.

I remember a time when I was younger and I really wanted to grow up and do adult things. I wanted to drive a car and have money. At that time, my dad actually said this proverb to me. He told me not to rush growing up, and enjoy my childhood. I didn’t understand what my dad was trying to say with the proverb. But now as grow closer and closer to the end of my college life, I realized what the proverb meant. By learning more things about life and the “outside world”, I realize life does get harder as I grow up. I know now that once I graduate college, I will have to find work in order to support myself.