Author Archives: Kate-Malorie McCall

Haunted House

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/24/2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish, French, German

The informant was told this story by a friend who had heard it from a friend as well. The informant was told this story as a warning since she was about to go to the amusement park in question with her parents. This particular amusement park had a haunted house on the premises. The story scared the informant greatly and she remembers trying to convince her parents to visit another amusement park to avoid the risk of the haunted house.

Informant: If you go into this house, it’s really haunted. There are people with missing arms laying around, ghosts and mirrors that would mess with you and if you walked into them, you’d be absorbed into them and never leave. People would go in there and never come back. One time this girl visited and was too curious and got stuck in the house. She opened a door and got absorbed in and became a ghost. But she released an evil spirit that took the form of a human and now walks the grounds. And if you go to this amusement park, this figure will go around and hunt on little girls that are with their parents.

Collector: Was this story associated with one particular amusement park or did you hear this story in relation to going to amusement parks in general?

Informant: It was an amusement park in Orlando, Florida that has a haunted house. I can’t remember which.

Collector: Did you feel safer because your parents were with you?

Informant: No, I did not feel safer with my parents. I did not allow my father to take me to the amusement park.

The story shows the very common fear/threat element that many horror folk stories contain. However, in many stories, the monster attacks when the child is alone or vulnerable. The threat element is heightened in this story by clarifying that little girls with their parents are the ones attacked as it takes away the comfort many kids hold on to of being safe when with adults.

Children’s desire to share these horror stories doesn’t seem to stem from a place of concern or warning, but rather purposeful spreading of fear. This horror story, like many others, does not contain a solution or a way of protecting oneself. Its entire purpose is scaring other children who are likely to be victims of the monster in question.

Clapping Game

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/23/2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The informant learned this game from peers at her school.

Kids stand around in a circle and chant “Gigolo, Gig-Gigolo, G-I-G-O-L-O .“ It would begin with one kid doing a complex, original clap that the next kid would have to repeat and add to, etc.

It was performed on the playground.

The informant remembers that the claps could get extremely complicated but that the game was never heavily competitive and was always performed with an intention for fun.

Many clapping games were popular with children but this one is very interesting as it doesn’t rely on a known and consistent clapping formula. Instead, this game relies on creativity and skill of the children. This could be because the children who participated enhjoyed showing off or used it as a means of impressing other children.

Collector: Did Gigolo mean anything different to you in the clapping game? Did you know it meant a male escort?

Informant: Nope, I didn’t. But I don’t think it had a meaning.

The use of the word gigolo, which typically refers to a male escort, seems strange for kids to use. It could be an attempt by children to take what they don’t fully understand or are told is inappropriate and lay claim to it. It could also be ignorance of its true meaning. Another reason for the word choice could be a purely that it was easy and worked well in the song form.

Slang Word ‘Mafioso’

Nationality: American
Age: 63
Occupation: Small Business Owner
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: 4/20/2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish, French, Spanish, Italian

Informant: Mafioso

Collector: Who said this word?

Informant: My father.

Collector: What does it mean?

Informant: Literally a mafioso is a member of an organized crime society, originally from Sicily but now from anywhere.

Collector: When would he use the word?

Informant: My dad used this word to describe someone who was a little bit suspect, or just kind of a weird character, or a bit of a bully, or was doing something out of character. That restaurant owner is a mafioso, he might say, because the restaurant owner was wearing a garish tie or whispering in someone’s ear.

In my personal experience, I’ve found that many words can be taken out of their original context and transferred to mean something vaguely similar but with less rigidity or offensiveness. In the case of ‘mafioso,’ the informant’s father meant no harsh criticism of the person’s character. Rather, he was commenting on a strange aspect of something out of the ordinary. Two possible reasons for this use of the word could be a mistranslation or something that happened in brining the word from Italian to English or it’s possible that this was common in its original tongue and used as slang.

French Proverb

Nationality: American
Age: 63
Occupation: Small Business Owner
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: 4/20/2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish, French, Spanish, Italian

Informant: Il faut souffrir pour être belle

(french, « one must suffer to be beautiful »)

Collector: Who told you this?

Informant: My mother told me this often, like several times in a month all during my childhood. This proverb exists in many languages, but she always told me in French.

Collector: Why do you think she told you this proverb? In what context?

Informant: She was trying to tell me that things don’t come easily, and that you have to work hard to get results. I think that her own background of exile and having to begin a new life in America taught her that nothing comes easy. I think that in particular she wanted me to care for my outward appearance as this was very important to her. And I think that she told me in french instead of in English because women in France are known to place a high value on grooming.

Collector : And what did the proverb mean to you ?

Informant : For me, it represented superficiality, because I felt that what is inside a person is more important. I grew up in the 60s, and we were really rebelling against the idea that you have to ‘work hard for the man’.

In the few times I’ve heard this proverb, it was in a more wholesome manner. It was in the context akin to working for the place you wanted to be. Essentially, you should act as if you are where you want to be and your hard work will get you there. In the case of this informant, it’s in a more self-conscious and conforming mentality that could potentially have reprecussions on the informant. By being told one should do whatever it takes to be accepted, individuality and originality is undermined. Rather than accepting oneself and working to be happy on one’s own terms, it is suggested that they work to be accepted by others and make others happy.

German Proverb

Nationality: American
Age: 63
Occupation: Small Business Owner
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: 4/20/2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish, French, Spanish, Italian

Informant: Kleider machen Leute

(Clothes make the man)

Collector: Who told you this?

Informant: My mother told me this constantly, like several times in a month all during my childhood. This proverb exists in many languages, and I don’t know why she chose to tell it in German. I would guess that this was passed down from her parents.

Collector: Why do you think she told you this proverb? In what context?

Informant: Having grown up in difficult circumstances-both as the neglected daughter of the family and as a member of a persecuted community in Europe-she felt that assuming the persona that you wanted by ‘wearing the clothes ‘ and doing whatever it takes to be beautiful or accepted were important survival skills that she wanted to pass on to me. Also, grooming was very important to women in France.

Collector : And what did the proverb mean to you ?

Informant : For me, growing up in far less precarious circumstances, it represented superficiality, because I felt that what is inside a person is more important.

In the few times I’ve heard this proverb personally, it was always more in a wholesome manner. It was in the context akin to working for the place you wanted to be. Essentially, you should act as if you are where you want to be and your hard work will get you there. In the case of this informant, it’s in a more self-conscious and conforming mentality that could potentially have repercussions on the informant. By being told one should do whatever it takes to be accepted, individuality and originality is undermined. Rather than accepting oneself and working to be happy on one’s own terms, it is suggested that they work to be accepted by others and make others happy.