Author Archives: Jeff Newman

Holiday Tradition

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 45
Occupation: Administrator
Residence: Bonsall, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Patricia Newman – Mother’s Day Tradition

In Tijuana, Mexico, my Mother and her friends had a tradition that they kept every Mother’s day. Every night before Mother’s day, my mother and a group of her girlfriends would sneak out the house, bring their acoustic guitars, saxophones, tambourines, or whatever musical instrument they played and gather at a central place in the neighborhood. After all her friends convened in one location they would then go to every one of the people’s homes. Once they arrived, they would climb fences, hop walls, and find their way to their respective mother’s bedroom window. Here they would all begin playing and singing “Las Mananitas,” but modified for Mother’s Day. Las Mananitas is a common song that is sung at most Mexican birthday parties. So anyone growing up in Mexico would immediately recognize the tune and understand what the occasion was. Where my Mom grew up, it was also a commonality for the other children throughout the city to perform this tradition for their Mothers. She also said that this same tradition is performed all over Mexico as well.

As far as my Mother knew, this tradition is only two generations old in her local neighborhood. She did not know where her parents learned this tradition. She was unable to contact her parents to find out. But what she does remember is that her Mother told her that she did not start doing this tradition until her teenage years. So by a terminus post quem analysis, I can deduce that if my great-grand-parents had begun this tradition then my grandmother would have started when she was a young child rather than a teenager because she would have known about it earlier in her life. Apart from this uncertainty, my Mother performed this tradition with her friends from the moment they were capable of playing instruments together. It was around the age of eight or nine. She was adept at playing the guitar and piano at a very young age. On top of that, she enjoyed performing for her Mother and celebrating Mother’s day with her friends and family.

Mexican’s are well-known for their dedication and respect to their families. Sadly, some Mexican’s are even violent to protect their family’s name. The importance that Mexican’s and other Hispanics allocate to their families cannot be surpassed by much. Perhaps the only thing of greater importance would be religion. However, I think this is why a tradition such as this Mother’s day event is so prominent in Mexican society and culture and not that relevant here in America. Statistically, we do not place as much importance or efforts into maintaining our family relationships as Hispanics do. From cultural research on Latino nations, it is easy to understand how Hispanic families maintain close connections and relationships with their families over the generations. Close family ties and frequent performed traditions will holistically improve family’s relationships over a longer period of time than if nothing is done to promote relations amongst family members.

Competition Ritual

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Gabriel, CA
Performance Date: April 15, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese, Mandarin

Pierre Liu – Speech Tournament Ritual

Pierre Liu attended high school at San Marino. While he attended San Marino High, he was on the speech team. The team would travel to different high schools and compete in speech, vocal, and debate competitions and would then be rated by a panel of judges to determine who the best speaker was. The school with the most points would win the match. (I never realized there was such a thing as a “speech team,” let alone a national competition for one.) Where other people might have sports rituals before a football or baseball game, such as not washing ones jersey or wearing the same underwear, Pierre had his own set of rituals he performed before every single speech match.

On Pierre’s third match during his sophomore year, he was in a big hurry to get to his meet. Since the meet was close, he had his mom drive him to the match so he would arrive in time. Because he was in such a hurry, he promptly forgot to tie his shoelaces and caught himself minutes before he arrived at the match location. He proceeded to tie his shoes, and then walked inside. He did not think much of it then, but for every proceeding speech match that came up, Pierre refused to tie his shoes until he arrived. I asked him if he ever broke this ritual. And he replied with a firm “No, not once.”(Liu) He said that he would make this “shoe-tying” event very important. Every time he would stand back up after tying his shoes he would do a robotic dance and say “Nothing can stop me. I am Iron Man.” This was Pierre’s way of preparing for the match ahead.  After his ritual, he knew he was ready for the match.

During the match, he also had a couple different rituals. Whenever there was a humorous round, he said he would shake his whole body to get the jitters out. “Shake it out,” he called it. He would then proceed to say the following words to himself, “It’s better to go all-out and act like a complete dumbass on stage, then to half-ass the performance.” These words pumped him up each and every time he would go out and perform. By his senior year his rituals became second nature and he did them without even thinking twice. He also felt like the rituals subconsciously helped his performance during his matches. By the end of his senior year, the hard work he put into his speech training finally paid off. He attributes a modest portion of his successes to his rituals as well. He believes they helped with his overall confidence level and allowed him to relax. He had made it to the national speech competition on the east coast where his master skills in speech along with his own personal rituals would help him to an 8th place overall finish in the nation; quite impressive.

Food Ritual – Japan

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Tokyo, Japan
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

(Original Kanji)

(Japanese in English)

(English Translation)

Seiko Takeshita – Thanks before and after meals

Before every meal Seiko always expresses thanks by saying these words right before she will eat. This ritual has been in Japanese culture since ancient times. It was normally only uttered by the peasantry because they did not have much food. They were self-sufficient and normally only cultivated rice farms. So generally all they ever got to eat was rice and vegetables. Seiko told me that meat was considered a delicacy and only the upper class and royal family got to indulge in such food. Because of this monarchical system, Japanese peasants would sometimes get their crops taken from them by the local government. This is the reason why they would say thanks before and after every meal, because they didn’t know when their next one would be.

The circumstances are not nearly as bad anymore, so now Japanese people just say it as a tradition honoring the past and their ancestors. This act is generally performed as a family together, but it can also be performed alone. The family mutters these words in unison and then begins their meal. They all remain at the table until everyone has completed their meal and then they say the second phrase. Which is basically the same thing, but with an extra phrase at the end that means, “I am full.” Seiko told me that when she performs this tradition at home with her family it gives off a homely feeling. It unites them as one particularly for that small time while they are all at the dinner table. She really liked the sensation that she experiences after saying the phrase. This act is also a common courtesy that one uses when they are thanking the host or hostess for the meal they are about to eat. In Japanese culture, it is polite to let the cook know that their effort is appreciated.

As far as Seiko knows, this tradition is common throughout all Japanese families. They all perform this with their family and friends. One peculiarity is that Japanese people only do this with other Japanese people. If they are with friends who are not Japanese then they do not perform the ritual. They do not want to be viewed as impolite for leaving someone out of something. Seiko also told me that this is not a religious tradition. It is purely a cultural tradition that has been passed down through the ages and the Japanese continue to honor it.

Folk Language/Internet Culture

Nationality: Mexican, Jewish
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bonsall, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2008
Primary Language: English

Ross Chris Newman – Nerd speak

Recently, because of the internet boom, more and more people are becoming versed in technology language.  Just a few months ago, there have been cell phone commercials that have made acronyms once only known by teenagers who used instant messaging programs a nation-wide phenomenon. Phrases such as “Idk,” “brb,” or “roflmao,” are now common speech in society. (They stand for I don’t know, be right back, and rolling on the floor laughing my ass off.) If you do not know these terms, then you can be immediately known as not “tech-savvy.” However, there is a whole other hierarchy of language known as “Leet speak,” or “Nerd talk,” that allows those who truly are computer geeks to unite under the same banner to create and perform new technology folklore.

In the previous paragraph, Leet is not actually spelled like that. My brother told me it is actually spelled, “L33T.” At first glance, most people would get confused as to its meaning because of the numbers, but anyone who knows what this phrase means can be considered a part of a special group of underground or gaming computer users. L33T speak is generally used in various computer games to shorten the amount of text characters used so that players do not spend too much time typing and spend more time playing. Mostly, because in the time that it takes to type a sentence, you could get fragged. Confused? To frag someone is to kill them in a game. Fragging is another commonly used word in the nerd realm. If someone does not know something as simple as what the word frag means, or the actual definition of L33T, then they do not deserve to be called a gamer. Ross Chris was very passionate about letting me know how proud he is to understand these various words and that it makes it even more special knowing that not everyone else understands them.

L33T is a shortened way of saying “elite.” So if you are a good gamer, you might type a phrase such as this. “I just fragged your ass, I am L33T. You got pwned.” While it didn’t save that much time, it did show that the person who said this sentence is truly a gamer because of the special wording that he chose. While “I just killed you, I am elite, you suck,” means generally the same thing, it doesn’t exude the same meaning to a true gamer. It actually comes off as awkward and unusual.

To tell you the truth, the previous statement merely grazed the surface of L33T speak. Gamers tend to change the wording to most things they see around the web. Why do they do this? RC said that it’s merely a way of defining themselves as a part of a group. While typical people may see them as strange, true nerds laugh and enjoy the numerous concoctions of new words among their own internet community. For example, instead of saying hacker, they would call them a “Haxxor.” Instead of saying, “I stole your food and ate it,” they would say, “I’m in your kitchen, stealinz your foodz,” with a funny picture of a cat in a refrigerator. This specific LOLcats example has become a world-wide phenomenon with thousands of other pictures popping up around the web and is just another example of the new internet culture that world web wide users are producing daily.

A simple search on Yahoo and anyone can find thousands upon thousands of funny pictures or videos that make fun of things in daily life. I understand why they do it. It is a nice way to remove yourself from reality and create your own humor and then post it online and receive feedback from the thousands of people who appreciate your work. The personal gratification that these internet artists get from their work is more than enough for them to continue this new revolution. Eventually, I believe that in just the same way, “lol” and “brb” have progressed into general society, new technology terms will eventually become mainstream media. I can only imagine what the nerds will come up with next.

Annotation:

Time Magazine:

Anonymous. “Dashboard.” Time 17 Sept. 2007: 16.

Network World:

Carooso, Jeff. “Are You 133t?” Network World 21 (2004): 1-2.

Customer Relationship Management Journal

Lager, Marshall. “Let the Games Begin!” Customer Relationship Management 11 (2007): 50.

Internet Popular Culture

Nationality: Mexican, Jewish
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bonsall, CA
Performance Date: April 21, 2008
Primary Language: English

Ross Chris Newman – O RLY?

O RLY is another way of saying the phrase, “oh really.” It was first seen used on the Something Awful Forums in 2003 (www.somethingawful.com). The original picture is of a snowy owl with a caption at the bottom that reads, “O RLY?” (See above) This act of putting captions on pictures has become common internet culture over the past 5 or 6 years. O RLY is similar to the LOLCats phenomenon in the sense that it takes pictures of awkward animals, people, or events and then places a caption on it that pokes fun at it. Sometimes they can be quite crude, at other times they can be hilariously funny, and sometimes they can make no sense whatsoever. For example, the picture of the person in a taekwondo gi with a photo shopped owl head on top is just plain retarded. This is a prime example of the limitless content that can be transformed into something with O RLY in it.

After the O RLY franchise took off in the latter half of the decade, companies started taking advantage of its marketability and famous name. It started being used away from the internet quite frequently, mainly in video games. Young people are dominantly the ones who are playing video games. So publishers and developers insert small O RLY goose eggs into their games to give them an extra laugh. For example, in a Game Boy Advance game, Mega Man Network Battle 6, there is a scene where Mega Man is talking to another character in the game. And he responds with the phrase “O RLY.” While some might not understand its importance to popular internet culture, others would get a real kick out of seeing something so blatant in one of their video games.

Whenever Ross Chris would see things like this, he told me it would immediately put a smile on his face for two reasons. The first is that it is just funny. And the second is that when he sees O RLY in a game he realizes that he is part of a special internet community who appreciate humor such as this. Not everyone understands or gives internet humor a chance. They think it is too nerdy. I have many friends such as this who believe it to be “uncool.” However, as time goes by, and more and more people begin to laugh these non-believers will eventually laugh and enjoy the digital revolution that is concurrently taking place and join the ride with us.