Author Archives: Codie Sander

Make something round

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA
Primary Language: English

Informant places 5 sticks on the counter, all parallel to each other.

“Make something round from these sticks, only moving two of them.”

The informant takes the two outside sticks, and places them perpendicular to and above the 2nd and 5th sticks. This forms three letters, which together spell “TIT”.

“So when I was about 10 or so, I went out to visit my uncle. I always used to visit him during the summer. By this time, I was getting older and I had always had older brothers, so, ya know, I was starting to figure some things out. I guess my uncle picked up on this and wanted to initiate me into becoming a man or something. So I go to his house, and he asks if I want to hear a riddle. I say yes, so he lays out 5 sticks and asks him to make something round while only moving two. I consider myself smart, but I couldn’t figure it out. So he shows me, and he got so excited about it.”

This particular riddle seems to be something of a coming-of-age ritual, a way to initiate a young boy into becoming a teenager. This transition is often accompanied by increased interest in sex. This riddle seems to be a way to gradually push the subject over the liminal, and onto the path toward adulthood.

Verbal Gratuity

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Primary Language: English

“My dad always told me that when a customer at work says “Oh you’re a great waiter!”, they call it a ‘verbal gratuity’. Sometimes they actually do give a good tip, but my Dad says a lot of the time that compliment is the only tip they get. That’s why they also call it the ‘kiss of death’.”

An example of occupational folk speech, this piece illustrates the experience of working as a waiter in a restaurant. As they depend heavily on tips, the amount that a customer tips them can have a huge effect on the happiness and wellbeing of a waiter. I imagine an instance such as this, in which a customer seems satisfied with the service but still does not leave a tip, can be even more frustrating than it would be otherwise.

 

Wishcraft

Nationality: American
Age: 76
Occupation: Teacher
Performance Date: 4/29
Primary Language: English

“If there were witchcraft, I’d make two wishes,

a winding road that beckons me to roam,

and then I’d wish for a blazing campfire,

to welcome me when I’m returning home.

But, in this real world there is no witchcraft and golden wishes do no grow on trees.

Our fondest day dreams must be the magic that brings us back our happy memories.

Memories that linger, constant and true,

memories we’ll cherish, Camp Lo-Kai of you.

“I would sing this song at camp, always around a fire. We usually closed each night at camp with a big bon-fire. This would be the last song we’d sing before we headed to our cabins for the night! My friends and I just found out recently that the lyrics actually say “If there were wish craft”, so we’d been singing it wrong all this time! We do think the actual lyrics do make a little bit more sense than what we had been singing.”

Songs are an integral part of many camping experiences. In my mind, these songs help form a sense of community among the campers. This song in particular seems to evoke a certain nostalgia, a fondness for memories and a hope that the memories made during camp will last a lifetime. Indeed, this does seem to be the case for the informant, as she still meets with some of her camp friends, often singing this song when they do.

I found the shift in the lyrics interesting, especially given the fact that the informant and her friends came to like what was supposedly the original script of the song. This illustrates the change that is characteristic of folklore, but also brings up an important nuance: that this change is not always unidirectional, and can change back and forth depending on the sensibilities of the performer.

Camp Prank

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA
Primary Language: English

“When I used to be a counselor at a boys camp, we would always do this prank near the end of the week. I would get all the boys in my troop together and say ‘I’m not supposed to tell you guys this, but I think you’re old and mature enough to know. There used to be an old insane asylum in this area. Some say the ghosts of the people who died there still haunt these campgrounds.’ A lot of them would get spooked, and for the next hour or so some of the other counselors would make creepy wailing noises, or stand out near the edge of our campground in a hood. Eventually we would tell them the truth, but not after we had scared the hell out of them.”

Like most pranks, this seems to have some liminal-shifting purpose behind it. Even the statement within the prank itself, where the informant tells the kids that they are “old enough to know” seems to hint at the coming transition to adulthood. My own memories of camp are filled with similar pranks, and a multitude of other varieties which all, in their own way, smooth out that transition into adulthood. With this particular kind of prank, it seems that the point may be to force young campers to learn about confronting fear.

An old bull and a young bull

Nationality: American
Age: 68
Occupation: Waiter
Primary Language: English

“An old bull and a young bull are standing on a mountain. They look down below and see 20 cows in a nearby field. The young bull says to the old bull: ‘Hey, we should run down this mountain and do a couple of those cows down there.’ The old bull replies: ‘Or, we can walk down the mountain and do all of them’.

A subtle play on age difference, the punch line of this joke went right over my head the first time I heard it. I caught it the second time around. The joke seems to be highlighting the difference between an old person’s and a young person’s perspective. The young bull is eager to reach the cows, and suggests running to do “a couple”. The old bull seems to exemplify patience, and claims it would be better to walk if it meant doing “all of them”.