Author Archives: Janice Kitchen

Proverb

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 28
Occupation: Chemical Engineering Student
Residence: Nigeria
Performance Date: March 30, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Pidgin English, French, Conversational Arabic

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.”

I had not seen my informant for a couple of weeks when he told me this proverb. We were catching up, and it quickly became apparent that we had not seen each other because my informant had been working so hard for the past couple of weeks. Between his job and his schoolwork, he had not had time to socialize. I advised him that to be productive, he should also schedule some time to have fun and relax. He responded with the proverb, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.”

My informant cannot remember the first time he heard this proverb, because his parents used to say it to him and his siblings often when he was a child. He says that his parents use it rhetorically, as a way to advise him to lead a balanced life. They do not say it to him frequently anymore, but he does say it often to his younger brother.

My informant appears correct in his analysis that the proverb is simply meant to teach children to live a balanced lifestyle. Whereas I, at first, thought the proverb might be used as reprimand, given the context it acts more as a gentle reminder that too much of anything is not good.

A version of this proverb was made popular by the 1980 movie The Shining. In Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Shining, the main character, Jack, repeatedly types the phrase “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” filling many pages with the phrase. Jack types this as he descends into his psychosis and gives into his murderous urges. The seemingly benign phrase takes on an aura of horror, as in the context of the story “plays” seems to mean Jack’s murderous and violent urges whereas “work” appears to mean acting as a normal member of society. Even with this horrific implication, the proverb retains the meaning described by my informant; one should try to live a balanced life. In the context of the film, Jack goes crazy because he has been a normal person, i.e. “worked,” for too long and his extreme murderous desires, or a desire to “play,” are the consequences of that. Likewise, my informant’s parents do not want him to live on either end of the extreme, but balance his time between work and play. The proverb provides a warning of balance in both situations.

Annotation:

Kubrick, Stanley, dir. 1980 The Shining. 142 min. Warner Brother’s Pictures. Hollywood.

Folk Saying

Nationality: Black
Age: 18
Occupation: Political Science Student
Residence: Rancho Cucamonga, California
Performance Date: March 2, 2011
Primary Language: English

“Oh, I see, I see says the blind man.”

“As he picked up his hammer and saw.”

Jessyka told me that she learned this saying from her father at her home in Rancho Cucamonga, California. She could not remember any exact time when she first heard it, because her father, from Louisiana, has been saying it to her all of her life. When Jessyka was first learning the saying, her father would say both lines together, but as Jesskya heard it more and more, her father would say the first sentence and she would respond with “as he picked up his hammer and saw.” When Jesskya uses it now, she just says the first sentence, and hopes that whomever she is talking with responds with the second sentence.

I have heard Jessyka use this saying many times in informal settings when surrounded by peers. She will generally say it after the group has been laughing about some minor miscommunication or after something potentially confusing is explained. She claims that it is a “term of understanding” that she uses to let other speakers know that she understood what had been said, especially in situations where it seemed like there was confusion. Jessyka, like her father, will usually only say the first line of the saying, and hope that someone else will respond. When I asked her if she ever uses it with professors, employers, or anyone else with authority, she responded, “I hope not!” She had similar sentiments about using the saying in a formal setting.

Jessyka gave two explanations for using the saying: one, it builds ties and two, it connects her with an older time. When another person does not respond with the second half of the saying, the saying doesn’t lose its meaning as a “term of understanding,” but Jessyka is momentarily disappointed. She sees using the phrase as way of connecting to people through realizing that she and the respondent “know someone, you know, from the same part of the country.” Using the saying allows for recognition of similarity and builds a sense of familiarity between the original speaker and the respondent.

Since Jessyka’s father is from Louisiana, Jesskya assumes that the saying originated in the South. This point of origin combined with the word play of “see,” meaning both to understand and to see something physically, makes Jessyka believe that the saying was born in “the Jazz Era.” When she performs the saying, she feels connected to “old souls.” She also suggested that this saying is usually passed from parents to their children. Thus, she feels connected with an older time by using the saying.

While I agree with Jessyka that using this saying can create a sense of familiarity and connection between the performer and the respondent, I hesitate to agree that others would use this saying to connect themselves with the past. Although Jessyka’s hypothesis that the saying originated in the South during the “Jazz era” is logical, it is merely a conjecture. Jessyka learnt this folk saying from her father and believes that most people learn the saying from their parents. She uses these circumstantial pieces of evidence to draw her conclusion that, in general, people associate the saying with old times in the past.

Instead, the saying seems to me to be more about exploring the English language. Jessyka learnt the phrase at a young age, right when she was starting to get used to the idea that one word can have multiple meanings. Additionally, her father introduced the saying to her slowly, saying both parts of the phrase until Jessyka clearly understood the linguistic implications of the verb “to see.” Jesskya assumes that children learn this phrase from their parents, and while this may often be the case because parents often teach their children about language, it is not always the case. Personally, I learnt this saying from my peers at a young age. Once my peers and I understood the word play, we found the saying humorous and felt a sense of camaraderie around our mutual understanding and knowledge.  Additionally, a similar phrase can be found in the poem One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, recorded by the British Columbia Folklore Society. This collection places the poem under the classification of “Ballads of Impossibilities” and explains the saying as an example of word play. In this collection, they provide a few different variations of “I see, I see said the blind man,” but the one included as part of the complete poem is “ask the blind man, he saw it too!” The other lines in the poem include other impossibilities, such as “a deaf policeman heard the noise.” This poem, generally told to children, tests listeners’ understanding of English through contradictions, just like “I see, I see said the blind man” does. Lastly, it debunks Jessyka’s hypothesis that the saying originated in the American South. Jessyka’s saying then, viewed in relation to the variation recorded by the British Columbia Folklore Society, appears to reflect a linguistic exploration of word play and the double meaning of words. The context she learned in it and repeats it in suggests that the saying creates a camaraderie based on shared knowledge.

Annotation:

The British Columbia Folklore Society

Mike Ballantye 2004. One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night. http://www.folklore.bc.ca/Onefineday.htm, accessed April 28, 2011.

Jewish Joke

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: Freelance Editor
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2, 2011
Primary Language: English

“A Jewish family were sitting down to a family dinner, and the son asks his father if he can borrow $50. The father responds, ‘$40? Why do you need $30?’”

My informant first heard this joke a few months ago at a bar with his friends. He now shares the joke in similar friendly, jovial atmospheres. He told it to a group of our friends one night when we went out to dinner and after someone made a comment about him being Jewish. His joke, in response to the comment, sparked an exchange of jokes among the group.

My informant tells the joke because he feels that it strikes a balance between exaggerating a stereotype, that Jewish people are stingy, and being overtly offensive. Since he identifies as Jewish, he never feels uncomfortable saying the joke, but only says it when surrounded by people whom he thinks will not be offended.

Another reason that the joke may not be seen as offensive is that the joke is somewhat complimentary of the Jewish father. The joke implies that the Jewish father is intelligent enough to trick his son into believing that he originally asked for $30. This joke plays on two Jewish stereotypes: stinginess and craftiness. The joke retains its humor despite generalizing about a group of people because neither of these stereotypes is exceptionally insulting, but Jewish and non-Jewish people alike acknowledge the stereotypes.

Nigerian Proverb

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 28
Occupation: Chemical Engineering Student
Residence: Nigeria
Performance Date: April 23, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Pidgin English, French, Conversational Arabic

“Na condition make crayfish bend.”

“It’s condition makes the shrimp bent.”

“It is because of condition that a shrimp is bent.”

My informant and I were discussing the social structure in Nigeria when he told me this proverb. According to my informant, two classifications order the social hierarchies in Nigeria: age and wealth. My informant says that elders are treated with the utmost respect; he would never dream of talking back to his parents, or even using physical gestures, such a shrug, that would imply disrespect while speaking with them. He learnt quickly as a young child that if he acted disrespectfully he would be punished harshly, often with beatings. This applied to anyone older than him, unless they were in a lower economic class. My informant and his siblings could speak disrespectfully and be “bratty” to any of the maids or nannies that worked for their family without fear of consequence. The maids would often respond to my informant’s disrespectful behavior by saying, “Na condition make crayfish bend.”

The metaphor in the proverb comes from the belief that a shrimp’s body should be straight, not curved. The shrimp’s curved body is believed to be a lesser version of the shrimp’s “original” straight body. My informant did not know why people believe this about shrimp, but he assured me that the idea is commonly accepted. The proverb implies that the shrimp’s body is bent because it was born with that way, not because the shrimp did anything to deserve the deformity. Similarly, my informant and his siblings were rude to the woman working at their home because of the woman’s economic position in life, not because of anything the women had done to deserve the rude behavior.

My informant believes this proverb means that some misfortunes are out of our control, and depend on our situation in life. Based on the context in which he learnt the proverb and Nigerian beliefs about shrimp, this seems like an accurate interpretation. Furthermore, the proverb allows members of less respected social situations, such as my informant’s nannies, to respond to their disrespectful treatment. These people may not be able to change their situation in life, but this proverb acknowledges that that isn’t their fault, and with it they can point out that fact to their superiors, perhaps in hopes of receiving recognition.

Nigerian Myth: How The Tortoise’s Shell Got Its Cracks

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 28
Occupation: Chemical Engineering Student
Residence: Nigeria
Performance Date: April 23, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Pidgin English, French, Conversational Arabic

“The story goes (pause). So you know how a turtle’s shell isn’t perfectly symmetrical? Like it isn’t totally round and you know it has cracks everywhere on it. So you know how when a plate is broken you glue it back together but you can still see all of the cracks and stuff but it’s still whole? Well that’s like a turtle’s shell. And this story sort of explains how the shell got this way. Well all of the animals were having a big party in the sky or heaven or whatever and um the turtle, or the tortoise, couldn’t go because he couldn’t fly. So all of the birds gave him some feathers so he could fly up to the party. When he got to the party, the tortoise said that all of the animals should have names and they all agreed to have names. So every animal chose it’s name and whatever and the tortoise said his name was ‘All of You.’ So you know they all had their names and the tortoise was Mr. All of You. So when they started bringing all of the food out for the party and they would say you know who is this for and they would respond ‘All of you’ the tortoise would say ‘Oh, that’s me’ and get all of the food. And when the drinks came out, because you know this was a huge party with drinks and food and all sorts of the things, he would just kind of take it all for himself. And all the other animals started getting really pissed off and angry at him and you know the birds got really angry at him. So when it was time to go home the birds took back all of their feathers and then the tortoise was like ‘well how will I get home?’ and they just didn’t care they were so pissed off. So the tortoise asked one of the birds to tell his wife to get all of the mattresses and blankets and all of the soft things and lay them out. So the bird goes down and finds the tortoise’s wife and tells her that he’s [the tortoise’s] up to something and that she should get all of the hard things out, all of the dishes and plates and pots. So she goes out and lays out all of her dishes and pots and plates and silverware and just all of the hard stuff she could find. And so when the tortoise jumped down he landed on all of that and that’s sort of why his shell is the way it is. And you know the moral is don’t be selfish.”

My informant first heard this myth from his parents in Nigeria when he was a child. His parents would tell him and his siblings stories like this one when they would do things as a family, or, as my informant said, during “long, boring parent-child time.” His parents would repeat this particular myth during my informant’s “selfish stage,” both when he was a young kid and did not want to share with his siblings and as he got older and did not want to spend time with his parents. My informant believes that the myth is told to children to teach them not to be selfish. The story shows, according to him, that if you are selfish and greedy, that in your time of need no one will help you, just like the birds “didn’t give a shit” that the tortoise could not get home from the party in the sky.

I agree with my informant’s interpretation of this myth. This myth seems to be a great way to satisfy a child’s curiosity about the world, by answering a legitimate question about the tortoise’s shell, while teaching two important lessons: one, that actions have consequences and two, that it is better to share than be selfish. My informant has also mentioned to me that he has four siblings, and that where he is from in Nigeria his family is considered small. At my informant’s home, I would imagine, learning to share with others from a young age would have been vital for ensuring a peaceful household. By telling this story, my informant’s parents were trying to teach their children to share and not be selfish, and therefore create a more harmonious home.