Author Archives: Kenny Legan

Joke – American

Nationality: german
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hinsdale, Il
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Joke- American

Question: What does one lesbian vampire say to the other?

Answer: See you next month!

Chris grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois. He first learned this riddle from a senior member on his high school track team during his junior year. He said that the person told it in the locker room after practice one day for no reason other than he thought he was funny. This was not a track team joke, or one that had particular significance for any track team ritual. He just thinks the person told it because he thought the joke was funny.

This is Chris’ favorite dirty joke because it is funny and it makes someone think. After hearing the answer to the joke, he said he didn’t get it at first, but when he heard the explanation he thought it was a great joke. He explained that it’s funny because both vampires are girls and they have their periods once a month. They only see each other once a month because, without getting into too many details, vampires suck blood and a woman’s period, which occurs once a month, involves blood. He mainly uses it if people are sitting around telling jokes, but if someone were to ask if he had any good dirty jokes or good jokes in general, he would tell them this joke (provided the person asking was a friend, as it could be quite an offensive joke).

I find it interesting that Chris first heard this joke in a locker room after a track workout. I think this says a lot about the joke and the nature of the joke. It is probably funnier to guys than girls, as guys don’t have a period and it’s a lot easier to make fun of something that one doesn’t experience. The setting where this joke took place implies that it is a dirty joke and shouldn’t be said around family or in serious situations.

The joke is risqué, as the meaning of the punch line infers sexual organs of the female body, and in teenage boys, nothing is more interesting than that. That could be another reason why it was told in a locker room full of adolescent males. They are in the peak of puberty and their sex drive is very high, so this joke is much funnier (and interesting) to them than if it were a joke about two gay males.

As for why the lesbian animal has to be a vampire, this is a reference to a woman’s period. Once a person understands the meaning of the joke, many elements of the joke become much more clear, and with this knowledge, it is easy to see why the animal must be a vampire.

Superstition – Turkey

Nationality: Turkish
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Turkish

Superstition- Turkey

Never hand someone a bar of soap

Ahmet grew up in western Turkey and is 100% Turkish. He left Turkey in 8th grade to go to boarding school in the U.S., however, all of his family remains in Turkey and he goes back there every summer. He said he learned this superstition when he was young in Turkey, but he can’t remember the exact time he learned it. He figures he learned it from his maid. The rationale is that the soap is slippery, and if you try to hand someone slippery soap, it will fall. Then an argument will break out over who dropped the soap and whose fault it was (the person handing it or the person grabbing it) and it could break apart a friendship. Ahmet said that this superstition is used by/applies to everybody of all age groups and genders.

This is a very interesting superstition. It makes sense, as it is very hard to hand someone a slippery bar of soap and if it falls, an argument could ensue over whose fault it was that the soap fell. It is different from U.S. superstitions, or superstitions from the western culture, in that the results are immediate and tangible from this Turkish superstition. Many of the superstitions that exist in the western culture deal with bad luck and intangible outcomes. For example, if you see a black cat, it’s bad luck; or if you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck. Bad luck is a very broad and general term, and the superstitions also don’t state the amount of time you will have bad luck for. With this Turkish superstition, the result of the superstition is very tangible and definite; there are no gray areas.

This might have to do with western (American) culture vs. eastern European culture. In America especially, and the Western world as a whole, fate plays a very big role in the culture and life. As a Christian nation, America puts many things in God’s hands. Religion aside, fate plays a huge role in books and Hollywood, which has influenced American culture greatly. The ‘Happily Ever After’ stories are based mainly on the fate that even though something bad has happened to the protagonist, he will get some luck and something will be right for him that he will have a happy ending. This relates to superstitions in that all the ‘bad luck’ superstitions leave it to fate to decide what happens, if the person will really have bad luck or not.

I’m not very well education in eastern European culture, but it is possible that they have a different way of viewing life and the world. The main religion in Turkey and Eastern Europe is Islam. It is possible that the Islamic people rely much more on physical and tangible events to determine the future, rather than ‘fate’. This superstition could be grounded in the fact that Turkish people are very down-to-earth, and understand life and reality for what they are. Hence, this superstition has a definite ending and a tangible result.

Folk Metaphor – United States

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hinsdale, Il
Performance Date: April 28, 2008
Primary Language: English

Folk metaphor- United States

“Can of Corn”

This is a popular metaphor used in baseball. When a player makes an easy catch, it is known as a “can of corn.” Alex said has known this saying since he was very young, as he played and watched baseball in his youth and it is a popular saying. He grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois, a small western suburb of Chicago, but the metaphor is used throughout the country.

Alex thinks he knows the origins of the metaphor. He learned the origin of this metaphor while playing a computer video game. He doesn’t remember the name of the game but thinks it could have been Triple Play 2001. During the game, the commentators explained that “can of corn” originates from the very early days of baseball (baseball was invented in the mid 1800s). In the grocery stores back in those days, they used to keep the can of corns high on the shelves, and whenever they needed one, they would use broomsticks to knock it down and catch the can as it came falling down. It was easy catching the can of corn and thus, an easy catch in baseball was called a “can of corn.”

I’m not sure how the phrase “can of corn” became a baseball metaphor, but it is easy to see why people call an easy catch a “can of corn.” The process of catching an easy fly ball in baseball is very similar to catching a can of corn falling from the top shelves of a grocery store. Back in the mid to late 1800s, baseball was much more of an intimate sport between the community and the players (the community was part of the team, rather than the team being part of the community, which is what commercialization has done to the game today), and many players held side jobs because baseball players didn’t get paid a lot of money. It is possible that a baseball player worked at a grocery store and caught actual cans of corn, and then related this to catching easy fly balls.

Proverb – American/English

Nationality: German
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hinsdale, Il
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Proverb- American/English

“What so ever a man soeth”

Chris grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. However, he learned this proverb while attending Michigan State University. At MSU, there is a big tower in the middle of campus called Beaumont Tower. On this tower, there is a mural of a man in a crop field harvesting crops with a city in the background, and this saying appears on the mural. He always saw the proverb on the mural, but didn’t know what it meant until he pledged at the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon during Fall 2007. On the back of his SigEp pledge books he got during pledging semester (Fall 2007), there was a picture of this tower with this proverb underneath.

He says this tower and proverb is a symbol of SigEp, but only members of SigEp know that it is a symbol for the fraternity. If a passerby walked by the tower, he would not know that SigEp adopted the tower and proverb as a symbol. He said the proverb means effort is reflected in results, or what you put in is what you get out. SigEp mainly uses this proverb during their diligence ceremony for pledges at MSU, one of the most important ceremonies. Chris was told by older members of the house that the proverb is on the mural on Beaumont Tower because it shows the man in the mural can balance hard work and play. This proverb has become significant to Chris because it lets him know that he has to work hard to accomplish his goals in life and he can’t slack off and party all the time. He only uses it in serious conversation and the proverb motivates him every time he sees it when he walks past the tower.

This seems to be a very old proverb, coming from the days when agriculture was still a big part of the U.S. industry. I interpret the verb “soeth” to mean an action that a farmer takes when tending to him crops. The action of sowing his crops is one where he rakes the soil to stimulate quicker and more efficient growth. Literally, the proverb to me means, “the effort a man puts into his crops will directly influence the quality and quantity of the crops that will be produced.”

It is interesting that SigEp adopted this proverb to symbolize what they stand for. Chris said that this proverb is a very big part of their diligence ceremony and it isn’t hard to see why. As the mural indicated, a farmer must be diligent, meaning work with care, patience and efficiency, in order to produce the best crops. This translates into non-agricultural life in that everyone must work diligently in order to get the most out of their experiences.

Folk Cure – United States

Nationality: Polish, Italian
Age: 49
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: Hinsdale, Il
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English

Folk Cures: Hiccups- United States

In order to cure the hiccups, I think about them and try to make the length in between hiccups longer each time.

Leslie spent her middle school and high school years in Wayne, N.J. in the late 60s/early 70s. She said she made this cure up herself when she was a teenager because no other cures (drinking water upside, holding her breath, etc.) worked. She realized that the cures that didn’t work for her focused on forgetting about the hiccups, so she tried to think about them. Ironically, she found that thinking about them made them go away. She figures that she is concentrating so hard on them that she gains control and that’s what cures them, rather than an outside influence (such as water or peanut butter) trying to suppress the hiccups with strength

Leslie says that she figured out this cure herself, and did not hear it from any other friends or family. It is an interesting tactic. The fact that it focuses on the hiccups, rather than trying to draw the victim’s focus off them or suppressing them with outside force, makes it stand out amongst the hundreds of cures around today. Curing the hiccups is a challenge; everybody finds one cure that works for them, but there is no single cure that works for everybody. For example, I find that drinking water upside-down works for me, and this method does not work.

An interesting note is that this always works for Leslie, 100% of the time and never fails. She said that she has never tried this method, only to find the hiccups remained after she was finished. This is a telling sign that something is right and the cure works, yet I have not heard of this method from anyone other than Leslie. Sometimes it could take hours for me to try and get rid of my hiccups, but for Leslie, it takes less than five minutes. The fact I have not heard of many people trying this method, despite the success it evidently has, shows that there are many cures for the hiccups, and people choose a cure based on what works for them.