Author Archives: Christina Li

The Grass Is Always Greener On the Other Side

Nationality: European, Lebanese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Brea, California
Performance Date: 20 April 2012
Primary Language: English

My friend said this to me one day when we were discussing hair styles because she said she had always wanted naturally straight hair and I then responded by saying that I wanted my straight hair to be naturally curly. Both of us had no idea where this proverb had come from or where we first heard it, but then she remembered it being in the theme song of a song called “As Told By Ginger” that we watched when we were younger.

To my informant, this proverb means that no matter what we have we will always look onto something else and think that it is better. However, most of the time the situation you yearn for may not be better for you. I believe that this proverb signifies human being’s lust for things they cannot get. It is our natural tendency to see something and look back at our own situation and place an air of perfection around that thing we cannot have. By doing so, we ourselves forget that the other situation holds just as many consequences and troubles as our current one. Supposedly, this proverb comes the idea that someone may look into their neighbor’s yard and feel that their own garden is inferior.

Source/URL: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20grass%20is%20always%20greener%20on%20the%20other%20side%20of%20the%20fence

Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 30
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 10 April 2012
Primary Language: English

When my informant was little, she had heard about the legend of Bloody Mary. At her elementary school, one of the girl’s bathrooms was supposedly haunted by the ghost of Bloody Mary and those who were brave enough could go in, turn the lights off and then spin around three times yelling out her name. If they did this correctly they would see Bloody Mary dressed in white in front of them in the mirror.

Bloody Mary is a classic folklore figure amongst youths. I know that I had heard about Bloody Mary when I was in grade school as well and my friends and I would all go into the bathroom together to try to see her. Although the true origins of Bloody Mary are unknown, the story my informant had heard was where a woman named Mary had committed suicide because one of her children was stolen from her. All of the stories involving Mary, however, seem to be associated with children and childbirth, which is possibly why she is “Bloody” Mary. Like we discussed in class, mostly girls knew about this myth, especially since Bloody Mary resided in the girls’ bathroom.

Cheese Casserole at Easter

Nationality: European, Lebanese
Age: 20
Occupation: Children's Book Writer
Residence: Brea, California
Performance Date: 8 April 2012
Primary Language: English

You start by buttering slices of bread and decrusting them and then cutting them into little cubes. Then you put them all in a big baking dish and mix 2/3 quart of milk (as this recipe got handed down it really got complicated), four eggs, a teaspoon of dry mustard, 2/3 a teaspoon of dry salt and you mix all of those ingredients together and whisk it and then you pour it over the bread. Also before all this, you would fry up eight pieces of bacon. So, after you have the bread in the pirate’s pan and the milk poured over the eggs you crumble the strips of bacon and sprinkle them on top and then put it in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight. Then, in the morning you bake it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Every Easter, my informant would have this Cheese Casserole/Souffle. Her mom used to make it every Easter and she had it given to her by a friend at a church and the church was the one she used to attend when she was little, so she would eat it there too. Her daughters say that they will make it for their families as well.

For me, it was interesting to here that a casserole dish was so popular amongst a family. For some reason, all my childhood, I had thought that brussel sprouts, casseroles, meatloaf, and fruit cake were the four no-no foods in American society. I had never eaten any of then because my mom would always make us traditional Chinese food and though I always ate more American food anyways, my mom knew nothing about casseroles.  So, to hear that this dish was passed down so many generations and actually liked was so mind-blowing. In this case, the informant always made this for Easter Day and I believe that it is made on that particular holiday because of the main ingredient of eggs and the yellow color of the dish. I remembered last year actually when I celebrated Easter with my friend’s family, there were an array of egg-based dishes and only egg-based dishes, but such an assortment it was. Since on easter we have the tradition of the Easter Egg Hunt and Spring chicks, that is a natural food we eat on that Holiday as well.

Don’t Feed the Cats!

Nationality: European
Age: 56
Occupation: Horticulturalist
Residence: Brea, California
Performance Date: 8 April 2012
Primary Language: English

My informant used to work at Disneyland as their landscape designer. So, there were always many urban legends about the Disneyland grounds when they worked at night. Since Disneyland is open every day, all the engineers and workers come in after Disney closes at night to work on rides and the plants. One of the funniest sayings they would have at Disneyland was, “Don’t feed the cats.” This saying actual caught on and now has become an urban legend associated with Disneyland.

Supposedly, when Disneyland first opened, a lot of feral cats would start roaming around the park. The cast members would feel bad for them and feed them cans of tuna. So then, more cats started coming to Disneyland and would just live there. However, when the cast members fed the cats tuna, the leftover tuna and smell would attract yellow jackets. So, at one point, there were just tons of yellow jackets at the Disneyland park and since people were always wearing bright colors and eating food that would attract the yellow jackets, there would be tons of people getting stun and complaining about the yellow jackets. However, for the longest time no one knew why there were so many yellow jackets around. Since then, they have tried to get rid of the feral cats and yellow jackets, but to this day, people will say, “Don’t feed the cats at Disneyland!”

Joke: Knock, Knock…

Nationality: Caucasian, Filipino
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 25 April 2012
Primary Language: English

Man 1: Knock, Knock…

Man 2: Who’s There?

Man 1: Britney Spears.

Man 2: Britney Spears who?

Man 1: Britney Spears…

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN.

My informant told me this knock-knock joke one day when there we were in an awkward situation. He later explained that his sister always told people this joke when there was an awkward silence or to break the ice when meeting new people.

Jokes, I feel, are often an overlooked division of folklore. Since jokes are so common nowadays in our society, they become almost part of our everyday speech. They also seem to come out of nowhere, but somehow everyone knows them. Jokes permeate our culture and often represent certain aspects of politics, society and popular culture. In this case, the reference to Britney Spears truly demonstrates that certain jokes are only understood by special groups of people. If you told this joke to someone who do not know who Britney Spears is, the joke would lose all meaning.