Author Archives: Olivia Gardner

Grass Joke

Nationality: African-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Primary Language: English

Informant:

This joke was provided by Jessyka Linton, 19.  She considers herself African-American and is a student at the University of Southern California.  Jessyka learned this joke from her younger brother, and she shared it while waiting to take a group picture at a retreat with members from an on-campus Christian organization.  In her performance, she did not leave time between the question and the answer for people to answer.  It was met with laughter.

Text:

What’s green and has four wheels?  Grass, I lied about the wheels.

Analysis:

This joke, in many ways, qualifies as a nonsense riddle in children’s folklore.  It creates nonsense by violating the riddling conventions and canons of common sense altogether.  Interestingly, Jessyka left no time for the hearers to consider her “riddle.”  This probably made the solution more satisfying.  If serious thought had been put into it, the audience would have felt deceived and underwhelmed by the joke.

Talking Muffin Joke

Nationality: African-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Primary Language: English

Informant:

This joke was provided by Jessyka Linton, 19.  She considers herself African-American and is a student at the University of Southern California.  Jessyka learned this joke from her younger brother, and she shared it while waiting to take a group picture at a retreat with members from an on-campus Christian organization.  Her performance was loud and enthusiastic, and received with laughter.

Text:

Ok, so there was once this baker, and he had to bake so he could make money, you know?  So, one day he’s making these muffins and he mixes all the ingredients and he sticks them in the oven.  Well, it starts heating up in there, so the one muffin says to the other muffin, “It’s getting hot in here,” and the other muffin goes, “AHH!  A talking muffin!”

Analysis:

Jessyka likes this joke because it is random and nonsensical.  Especially through her passionate performance, the joke builds anticipation but then provides a completely unexpected conclusion.

Better One Crazy Not Two

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 42, 23, 18
Occupation: Taco Store
Residence: USA
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Informant:

I had a conversation about proverbs they had learned from their families with three female employees at a local taco shop during one of the less busy times of the day.  Mercedes Rodriguez, 42, Maria Lopez, 23, and Rosalba Valdez, 18 each consider themselves Mexican.  Rosalba was the only one born in the United States, though she is a second generation immigrant.  When she was young, Rosalba’s brothers picked on her.  She wanted to fight with them but her mother always told her this proverb so that she would calm down.

Text:

Meyor un loco y no dos.

Transliteration: Better to have one crazy person and not two.

Translation: It’s better to have one crazy than two.

Analysis:

This proverb suggests that someone who fights back is as crazy as the person who picks on them.

One for the Road

Nationality: British
Age: 53
Occupation: Corporate Intelligence
Residence: USA
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Janet Kinnen, 53, works in corporate intelligence and is self-identified British.  She learned the following story while a student in Liverpool.  I collected it from her during a dinner conversation with my family.

Text:

How about this.  Do you know where the phrase “One for the road” comes from?  It has to do with when people would get hanged in these public executions, they would put them into a cart and drive them through the city.  Then, as they went along, people along the way would hand the criminals beer, whisky, alcohol of some sort and tell them “One for the road.”  That way, by the time they finally got to the gallows, these fellows were too drunk to feel a thing.

Analysis:

This story does not really mean anything in particular to Janet.  She just found it interesting.  To me, it is intriguing that taking something to go or taking one for the road is associated with death at the end.

When it Rains it Thunders

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 42, 23, 18
Occupation: Taco Store
Residence: USA
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Informant:

I had a conversation about proverbs they had learned from their families with three female employees at a local taco shop during one of the less busy times of the day.  Mercedes Rodriguez, 42, Maria Lopez, 23, and Rosalba Valdez, 18 each consider themselves Mexican.  Rosalba was the only one born in the United States, though she is a second generation immigrant.  Rosalba’s mother would use this proverb whenever one bad thing happened and a lot of other things seemed to follow.

Text:

Cuando llueve truena.

Transliteration: When it rains it thunders.

Translation: When it rains it thunders.

Analysis:

This is much like the American proverb, when it rains it pours.  Interestingly, rain is connected with bad things in the context of this proverb, though rain may in many cases be a very good thing, especially for agriculture.