Author Archives: Nicole Bonnell

Game

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Nationality: Chinese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: April 5, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Spanish

Pop Culture Word Game

Stacey taught me this game when we were driving with some other friends from USC to a concert in Irvine.  Stacey said to play the game you have to come up with a phrase or noun that has least two words or more and one of the words has to have part of a word from the previous phrase or noun that was said.  For example, if someone says House of Blues, the next person could say Blue Man Group, and the next person could say Mann’s Chinese Theater, and so on and so forth.  Notice how each word somehow incorporates a word form what the previous person said.  We played the game to pass the time and keep ourselves entertained during the long car ride.

Stacey said she learned the game when she went to Honduras with an organization on the USC campus called the Global Medical Brigades.  The Global Medical Brigades is a group of medical professionals and volunteers that travel to under developed cities and villages and lead a holistic model for sustainable health care.  They also conducts preliminary needs assessment, treats patients, provide medical materials and work to improve the water, sanitation, and economic infrastructures.  USC students can sign up to participate in the Global Medical Brigades as volunteers which is exactly what Stacey did during her spring break.  Stacey said during the trip that they would have to take long bus rides every where and sometimes the bus rides were as long as 4 hours.  So to pass the time and keep entertained her and the other students on the trip would play the games on the bus and this pop culture word game was one of the games she was introduced to.  The game is ideal because in theory it never really ends and is interesting because every time it is played it’s never the same since people are always coming up with different words and/or phrases.

I really enjoyed the game myself because it was fun to try to come up with some creative or really popular phrase and it was fun to hear others do the same.  Also, when I played the game, one of the people I was playing with was from Guam.  Normally I forget he is not from California or the United States for that matter, but it is brought to attention when he doesn’t know all the pop culture references that are being made.  For example, someone said Chick-Fil-A and he did not know that that was a chain fast food restaurant.  Therefore the people playing the game obviously bring up a lot of folklore that is shared between its participants (i.e. pop culture references) but it was also fun to play the game with someone I guess that was sort of out of the folklore group because then you learn other folklore from other people.

Myth – Korean

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 9, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

The Disobedient Frog

My friend Brian told me a Korean myth that he says his grandmother used to tell him and his sister when they were younger.  The myth is called The Disobedient Frog and he said it is a pretty popular Korean folktale.  He said that once there was a young frog who lived in a pond with his widowed mother.  The young frog was mischievous and always disobeyed his mother.  Brian said that the frog always did exactly the opposite of what his mother asked him to and so the mother frog was always scolding and worrying about her disobedient son that eventually it made her sick, but her son continued to be disobedient.  Then one day the mother frog called her son to her bedside and said she did not think she would live very long.  Knowing that her son always did the opposite of what she said she asked him to bury her by the river and not in the mountains when she died.  A few days later when the mother frog died her son cried and knew it was his fault for always misbehaving and worrying her so much.  So the son decided to for once, do exactly as his mother had asked.  He buried her by the river like she asked even though he did not think it was a good idea.  Then one day when it rained so much that the river banks became overflowed and the young frog was so worried about his mother grave being washed away he went to go watch over it.  As he watched her grave he cried and croaked asking that his mother’s grave would not be washed away.  So now every time it rains the young frog goes to the river banks and croaks as he watches over his mother’s grave and this is why the frogs always croak so loudly when it rains.

Brian said that his grandmother used to tell him many Korean folktales when he would visit her when he was younger.  He said he remembers hearing this story the most and he thinks it is because his grandmother wanted to teach him that he needed to behave himself and listen to his mother and father.

In folklore myths are often times set before, after, or outside the real world.  Obviously, the talking frogs would set this myth outside the real world.  Myths also often explain creation or origin of something in the universe.  The end of the myth claims that the whole story explains why frogs croak when it rains.  However the underlying message of the myth is to teach young children to listen to their mother or parents otherwise they will cause them much grief that could potentially harm them.  I agree with Brian when he says he thinks his grandmother told him and his sister the story when they were younger to try and teach them or tell them indirectly to obey and listen to their parents.  I also think that his grandmother helped create cultural identity in her grandchildren by telling them Korean myths.  It is also possible that his grandmother was told the myth when she was younger and so she is just passing this piece of Korean folklore down to her grandchildren.

Annotation: Crowder-Han, Suzanne. Korean Folk & Fairy Tales. Hollym Intl: 1991.

Superstition/Ritual

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Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English

Knock on Wood

If ever a situation arises where I feel like I myself or someone else had jinxed something I say “knock on wood” then I knock on the side of my head (near my temple) then I knock on something wood if there is something wooden close by.  If there’s nthing wooden nearby it’s okay, I just say knock on wood and then knock on my head.  The superstition is really a conversion superstition with the idea behind it being that this ritual will negate any jinx or superstition that was caused by something someone said.  For example you could jinx something by joking that something you don’t want to happen will happen.

I learned this superstition from a teammate on my high school basketball team.  I don’t remember exactly what happened but she everyone sitting on the court stretching and talking before the game and I guess someone said something that she though might jinx us so she said knock on wood and then knocked on her head then on the wooden floor.  I never really thought of myself as a superstitious person, but I suppose performing this makes me superstitious.  Superstitions often have a psychological element to them meaning they are performed not because they necessarily effect any sort of change in the universe or cause something to happen or not occur.  Superstitions are performed by people because it make them feel better.  For me personally I believe this to be true.  I think knocking on wood gives me some peace of mind when I think something is going to be jinxed but I’m not so extreme where it would freak me out if I was unable to knock on wood.

Game/Prank

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Nationality: Filipino
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English

The Birdman Game

I was in my biology lab when I saw my friend Bruce “birdman” another student in the lab.  The birdman can be done by forming a circle with your index finger and thumb and having your other three fingers extended or sort of fan out.  It is similar to making an “okay” sign or gesture with your hand.  To do the birdman you make an okay sign with both hands, then flip our hands backward and bring them to your face so that your eyes look through the circles made by your index finger and thumb and your other fingers are covering your cheeks.  If you are participating in the birdman game, when you make eye contact with someone who is doing the birdman you have to stop where you are and what you’re doing lay down on the ground.  Bruce “birdmanned” another student in the lab by calling his name and thus causing the other student to turn around and make eye contact with him while he was doing the birdman.  This student then had to lie down on the floor.  All the students were laughing including the boy who got “birdmanned” but our lab TA did not seem to know what was going on.

Bruce is from Arizona and said that he learned the game from his friends from home.  He says he plays the game because he thinks it is hilarious.  He said he worst he ever got birdmanned by his friend while Bruce was driving in his car.  So he had to stop the car and then get out and lie down  in the middle of the street.  In that sense I think the game can also be viewed somewhat as a prank played among friends because of the great joy and amusement that the participants seem to receive when “birdmanning” someone else and causing them to have to lie down if they are standing or stand up if they are sitting down.

Speaking form personal experience the birdman game is actually pretty fun to play with friends.  I remember playing the game with friends from high school although we never called it the birdman game.  In fact I don’t think we had a name for the game, we just played it.  I think what also adds to the games appeal is the fact that not everyone knows about the game so others, “outsiders” may find your behavior confusing or absurd and they won’t understand it.  So I think part of the appeal is similar to the reasoning behind why young children love telling nonsensical jokes to adults; because the adults don’t understand or find it funny, only the children understand and find the joke to be wildly hilarious.  It’s the whole idea of knowledge and power.  I also think it is just fun for most people to feel like they are in on a secret that not everyone knows about or they like sharing something with a smaller more intimate group of friends.

I also witnessed this exact game being played by another USC student and it is documented in this folklore collection.  It perfectly exemplifies the idea of multiplicity of folklore.  It also shows variation because my friend Ravi said that you only have to lie down on the ground if you get birdmanned while standing up, but if it happens when you’re sitting down you have to stand up.  In Bruce’s version you have to lie down on the ground any time you get birdmanned regardless of whether or not you were standing up or sitting down.

Game/Prank

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Nationality: Indian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 3, 2008
Primary Language: English

The Birdman Game

I was leaving my chemistry lab when I witnessed the birdman game.  Ravi, another student in my lab was leaving the laboratory when his friend called his name.  Ravi looked at his friend who was doing the “birdman”.  The birdman can be done by forming a circle with your index finger and thumb and having your other three fingers extended or sort of fan out.  It is similar to making an “okay” sign or gesture with your hand.  To do the birdman you make an okay sign with both hands, then flip our hands backward and bring them to your face so that your eyes look through the circles made by your index finger and thumb and your other fingers are covering your cheeks.  If you are participating in the birdman game, when you make eye contact with someone who is doing the birdman you have to stop where you are and what you’re doing and stand up if you were sitting down when you made the eye contact or lay down on the ground if you were standing up when you made eye contact.  Ravi was standing up when his friend did the birdman to him, so he stopped and laid down on the floor or the chem lab. When he stood up he made circle with both hands and looked through them as if they were binoculars.  He told me that he did that because he didn’t want to get birdman’ed again and that was the only way to block the birdman.

Ravi is from Cupertino, CA but said he learned the game from a friend here at USC, who is also a freshmen.  Ravi also said he plays the game simply because it is something to do when he is bored and he had fun playing the game.  But he says it is more fun to birdman someone else than to have them birdman you.  In that sense I think the game can also be viewed somewhat as a prank played among friends because of the great joy and amusement that the participants seem to receive when “birdmanning” someone else and causing them to have to lie down if they are standing or stand up if they are sitting down.

Speaking form personal experience the birdman game is actually pretty fun to play with friends.  I remember playing the game with friends from high school although we never called it the birdman game.  In fact I don’t think we had a name for the game, we just played it.  I think what also adds to the games appeal is the fact that not everyone knows about the game so others, “outsiders” may find your behavior confusing or absurd and they won’t understand it.  So I think part of the appeal is similar to the reasoning behind why young children love telling nonsensical jokes to adults; because the adults don’t understand or find it funny, only the children understand and find the joke to be wildly hilarious.  It’s the whole idea of knowledge and power.  I also think it is just fun for most people to feel like they are in on a secret that not everyone knows about or they like sharing something with a smaller more intimate group of friends.

I also witnessed this exact game being played by another USC student and it is documented in this folklore collection.  It perfectly exemplifies the idea of multiplicity of folklore.