Author Archives: Claire Preising

Humor–joke

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student, University of Southern California
Residence: Mission Viejo, CA
Performance Date: 27 April 2011
Primary Language: English

This particular joke came from a friend of mine; her aunt is an doctor, and apparently likes to keep her job lighthearted by supplying a surplus of medical jokes to friends and family. This specific joke is, according to my informant, one of the better ones. “It gets a little old, all the jokes,” she says. “I like this one, though, because it’s different than all the others, and  you wouldn’t expect the punchline. I think I was around sixteen when I first heard this joke, and she’s told it a lot since then.”

Doctor: Well, I have good news and bad news.

Patient: Can I hear the good news first?

Doctor: You have 24 hours to live.

Patient: What?! Then what could be the bad news?

Doctor: I forgot to call you yesterday.

Coming from a doctor, this joke seems rather flippant; however, it is undoubtedly a funny joke. I think that occupational jokes such as this one provide a relief from the stress of being involved in a field like medicine. The joke is entertaining but definitely makes light of what would be a very difficult situation; it plays on the fears of both the patient and the doctor.

Family folk recipe

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Administrator, Stanford University
Residence: Los Gatos, CA
Performance Date: 20 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

My informant told me about an unwritten recipe that her mother taught her when she was younger, and also mentioned that her mother learned the recipe from their African-American house servant, Maddie Lee, when she was growing up in Savannah, Georgia. The recipe itself is simple and easy to remember. It has since become a family recipe, and the majority of her sisters know how to make Maddie Lee’s fried chicken from memory.

“Place the chicken in ice water in the fridge for an hour or so. Place a couple of cups of flour in a brown paper bag, add some salt (a few teaspoons) and pepper (a teaspoon or so). Shake to mix. Take chicken out of ice water and pat dry. Place chicken a few pieces at a time in the bag and shake to coat. Fry the chicken in hot but not smoking oil in a skillet–a #9 iron skillet that has already been cured is best. Only turn once! Drain on paper bags you have split open for the purpose.”

This type of folk recipe has always been really interesting to me. The recipe itself is very simple, easy to remember, and easy to pass on, meaning that many people can learn the recipe with little trouble. In addition, there are few materials needed for the successful completion of the recipe. Southern food is a type of culture in itself, and fried chicken is one of the staples; basically, this means that members of my informant’s family can continue passing on their culture to their children, regardless of whether or not they remain in Savannah.

Tradition–Telugu

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student, University of Southern California
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 26 April 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Telugu

This particular tradition is one that my informant did not know much about, though she has been participating in it since she was very small. It is specific to women and girls, and she says that getting together with the other Indian women in her town was always fun.

“This holiday is called Sankranti, and as far as I can tell the purpose is to spread good cheer. It happens like every spring during the Indian harvest season, and the girls and women put up a big doll display and then everyone goes from house to house, and they chill and appreciate the doll display at each house. At our house we always make sure there’s tons of food and that each person leaves with a goody bag. Like I said, I’m pretty sure the purpose is to make everyone happy and bond together.”

This kind of social bonding festival seems to be the kind of thing that would have deep roots in ancient culture where men and women were more separated in society. Because my informant didn’t really know the purpose of the holiday, I’m guessing that the meaning has gotten a little lost in translation to our current generation, as most of the other things she told me about have very specific purposes and meanings that every celebrant knows by heart. I thought it was a sweet community-building activity, but then again without knowing the complete reason for a holiday like this it is hard to make a judgment. As a harvest holiday, I thought it was interesting that only the women celebrated this particular festival because the harvest involves every member of a community.

Humor–“Yo mamma” jokes

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student, University of Southern California
Residence: Mission Viejo, CA
Performance Date: 27 April 2011
Primary Language: English

My informant is a good friend of mine who happens to have a witty sense of humor and a quick tongue. As a result, she has an arsenal of jokes at her disposal, all of which are hilarious and often borderline offensive; however, my favorites are her “yo momma” or “your mom” jokes. She uses these  in a lot of nonsensical situations, often when she doesn’t know what else to say, but they provide the perfect filler. She says that she learned a lot of them from her brother who is two years older than she is. She remembers the ones that she thinks are the funniest, mostly “yo mamma so fat” and “yo momma so ugly” jokes, because she says that “they’re the most versatile.”

Yo momma’s so fat, she has her own zip code.

Yo momma’s so fat, she’s on both sides of the family.

Yo momma’s so ugly, your dad took her to work with him so he wouldn’t have to kiss her goodbye.

Yo momma’s so stupid, she brought a spoon to the Superbowl. (told at a Superbowl party)

I love “yo momma” jokes, and my friend is an excellent joke-teller. It is these one-liners that make you realize that delivery is one of the most important parts of humor; in addition, these jokes are not particularly specific so therefore not really offensive unless a person is very sensitive about something. A lot of these are considered “redneck” jokes, which also can be thought of as blason populaire; however, they appear frequently in modern context and are in no way confined to a specific group of people.

Remedy-homeopathic

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student, University of Southern California
Residence: Arlington, VA
Performance Date: 14 April 2011
Primary Language: English

As a child, my informant used to get sick a lot, and every time she got a cold her mother would tell her to drink orange juice. After coming to college, my informant heard this same remedy from her Czechoslovakian roommate. She is not sure if her roommate heard this after coming to America for school or at home from her “hypochondriac physician mother.” However, she doesn’t really think it works beyond the vitamin C benefits, because the patient already has the cold virus, but thinks that maybe it works as a placebo.

I’ve also heard this method of curing the common cold (or at least speeding up recovery) from my mother, who would also prepare a glass of orange juice  for me at every meal when I was sick. Personally, I have the same view as my informant: I feel that the remedy is the kind of thing that would not hurt, but does not definitively help symptoms of the cold. It seems to be a very common remedy, as my informant heard it from two different sources, and most other people have heard it as well. It probably stems from the belief that high-vitamin foods can help boost the immune system, which has been scientifically proven (presumably, the experiment was held to determine the validity of the folk remedy).

Annotation: The official medical trial of this folk remedy was released in 2005. Douglas, Robert M. and Harri Hemila. “Vitamin C for Preventing and Treating the Common Cold.” Public Library of Science Medicine 2.6 (2005): n. pag. Web. 25 April 2011.