Informant:
Matt is from Staten Island, New York and currently attends USC.
Original Script:
“It’s so freaking brick right now.”
Context:
When someone from New York wants to say that it is cold outside.
My Thoughts:
I always find it fascinating when I hear people from other areas use slang words that I have never heard. Finding out why a word takes place of another one does not always make sense at first, but after Matt explained that “in New York, the cold can hit you like a brick.”
Informant:
Ricardo is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and currently lives there “for 75 percent of the year.”
Cuisine:
Ricardo: “The story behind abacate is that there was this woman a long time ago who had a bunch of extra avocado after, like, a dinner that she served, so she decided to not let it go to waste and make something out of it. She decided to make a dessert, like, dish, and it became abate. It’s like my favorite food ever (laughs). You basically combine it with cream of milk and sweeten it with sugar and make it cold…super easy. My mom makes the best abacate.”
Context:
Brazilians have it after dinner as a dessert.
My Thoughts:
Personally, I am not sure if I would like this dessert. I love avocado and guacamole, but I do not think it sounds very appetizing to turn them into a dessert with cream. It reminds me of pistachio ice cream, which I strongly dislike. I am always surprised at the different ways different cultures prepare food, because a lot of the time it seems like they taste things completely differently than people in the United States do.
Informant:
Ricardo is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and currently lives there “for 75 percent of the year.”
His description:
Ricardo: “Saci Pereré is, like, an African American guy who only has one foot. He smokes on a pipe a lot and makes a lot of jokes that, as a kid, thought were so funny. And he has a red hat that allows him to go invisible whenever he wants so that he can cause mischief, but if you catch him he can grant you a wish, but it’s really hard to catch him because he can go invisible.”
Context:
This story is often told to children as entertainment.
My Thoughts:
To me, this character is similar to what Americans perceive as leprechauns. Growing up, I loved St. Patrick’s Day because I loved the idea of sneaky little leprechauns, and I always made traps to try to catch them. I think that kids find these types of fictional characters intriguing because they themselves are often mischievous little people that try to get away with tricks and pranks too.
Informant:
Ricardo is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and currently lives there “for 75 percent of the year.”
Original Script:
A vaca amarela fez cocô na Ranela,
quem balar primeiro come bodo o cocô dela.
Summary:
Ricardo: “It’s about a yellow cow that, like, took a shit in a pan (laughs), and whoever speaks first or next has to eat all her shit.”
Context:
Ricardo: “It’s a song you sing whenever you want everyone else to be quiet.”
My Thoughts:
To me, the way Ricardo describes the song is extremely funny. It’s a song, so I thought it would be something that kids would sing when they want everyone around them to be quiet, but the fact that there are curse words in it makes me think otherwise. I am sort of confused about who would be the people singing this song.
My informant is Slim, a homeless man from downtown Los Angeles who often hangs out outside Spudnuts Donuts on Figueroa Street. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, never straying too far from the South Central area.
Hey Slim, do you have a joke for me?
Slim: “Um… yeah. Yeah, I know a joke. Uh… what do ya call a police helicopter in LA?”
I don’t know. What do you call a police helicopter in LA?
Slim: “Ya call it a hood vulture! They just… uh… flyin’ over lookin’ for some brothas to eat!”
Slim here illustrates what I would think many people growing up and living in South Central feel not only whenever they see a police helicopter in the sky but also whenever they see policemen on the ground in the city. Obviously, there are countless police brutality scandals that happen every year, and Slim’s joke represents what many of the subculture of inner-cities are worried about. When asked if South Central has its own culture, Slim replied, “Um… yeah. I would say definitely yeah. We have our own way to do things, I think.” So as a result, this joke comes to display the inner-city and, especially, the South Central mindset towards police.