Author Archives: avouac

Spit Handshake Promise

Nationality: French American
Age: 54
Occupation: Relocation Consultant
Residence: 394 South Bonnie Ave Pasadnea, CA
Performance Date: April 14, 2020
Primary Language: English

Context: 

This piece is collected in a casual interview setting around a cup of coffee. My informant (BA) was born in Lille, France, and moved to California in 2002 with her husband for their jobs at Caltech. She has a Master in Human Resources and Detection of High Potentials, is a mother of two teenage girls, loves to garden and go on hikes, and is overall a very energetic and happy woman. 

Main Piece:

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant (BA) and interviewer.

Interviewer: How do you keep an important promise?

BA: Ah, so, when you want to keep your promise, the best way to do it is to spit on the ground or to spit in your hand before a handshake. And if you spit, its already so gutsy that its sure that you’ll keep it [the promise].

Interviewer: And you do this with what kind of people, your friends or with anyone?

BA: Ah, no, I only do it with my friends. I can’t do it with people from my work or people for who I have high respect. It’s only with people from my family or my friends.

Interviewer: And where did you learn this from?

BA: Everyone around me did it growing up, so I just picked it up. I still do it to this day. It’s how I keep my promises.

Thoughts: 

In many cultures, spitting on your hands represents cleaning them, therefore spitting before a handshake is like making a “clean deal” or a “clean promise” that you will not soil. With our hygiene standards rising, I am not certain this practice will continue. The thought of spit being “clean” is not common today, therefore the meaning behind spitting on a handshake might be lost with time. Personally, I would politely refuse if someone offered to do this with me. I would rather a clean Pinky Swear.

Bubbles in Puddles

Context: 

This piece is collected in a casual interview setting around a cup of coffee. My informant (BA) was born in Lille, France, and moved to California in 2002 with her husband for their jobs at Caltech. She has a Master in Human Resources and Detection of High Potentials, is a mother of two teenage girls, loves to garden and go on hikes, and is overall a very energetic and happy woman. This specific conversation is about predicting rain.

Main Piece:

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant (BA) and interviewer.

Interviewer: Can you tell me again how you can tell if it will rain again tomorrow if it rains today?

BA: Yes, yes, yes, so it works like this, ok? When its raining, there are puddles that form on the ground right? And after a while, when it rains a lot, the puddles become a little bigger. So when it rains and you see bubbles forming in the puddles, that means it will rain again tomorrow. You understand? **pauses**

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah.

BA: And so when you don’t see bubbles, it won’t rain tomorrow! 

Interviewer: Ah ok, yeah, yeah, I understand. Oh and also where did you learn this trick from?

BA: My grandparents and dad use to tell me this when I was little. We would look at the puddles outside the window to see if there were bubbles when it rained. There was something really cute and magical about it.

Interviewer: And do you still believe it will really rain again the next day if you see bubbles? 

BA: Hmm… well. When I was little I believed it. I kinda forgot about it when I grew older. I guess when I moved to California with how little it rains here I stopped believing it. 

Thoughts: 

I have heard a version of this old wive’s tale before, but it was not for predicting rain the next day, per say. The version I had heard of before was that when women worked and it was raining outside, if there were no bubbles forming in puddles, or if the bubbles burst immediately, that meant they would go home for the day because the rain would subside. However, if the bubbles formed and stayed, the rain would last and so the women would continue working. 

Annotation:

For another version of this old wive’s tale, please visit this website and find the comment written by “daveq” comment: https://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index.php?topic=7551.0