Author Archives: Samuel Keeney

“I’ve Had The Radish”

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 49
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Kansas City, MO
Performance Date: 4/18/20
Primary Language: English

Main piece:

“I’ve had the radish” as a saying of exasperation and general exhaustion with someone or something.

Background:

My informant is a 49 year old woman living in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up in Joplin but moved around during her 20s, living for some period in Philadelphia. There, she worked for a large non-profit and one of the women there, named Tamar, commonly used this phrase in an exasperated reaction to something. Eventually, the informant and her fellow coworkers and friends started using it out of habit without fully understanding its origin or meaning. Much later, they researched it and they believe it comes from the practice of eating a radish at the end of dinner to clean one’s pallet. Now, it is used in her family and amongst her friends as a statement of finality with something or someone.

Context:

I have heard this phrase throughout my life but this exchange happened in her living room following my asking if she knew of any folklore sayings.

Thoughts:

For me, part of the appeal of this phrase is the strangeness of it to someone outside of a culture that uses it. For other similar sayings bound to a specific saying, generally I feel as though one can roughly figure out at least part of what is being said with it. However, from an outsider’s perspective, the phrase “I’ve had the radish” seemingly has very little to do with one being at the end of their patience. This point was emphasized by my informant who also found interest in the phrase originated in utter confusion. In this regard, the phrase can serve as an indicator for who is within a specific culture. The other major component of this phrase is the ties to an agricultural life in an urban environment. The notion of eating a radish as a palette cleanser for a meal is mostly only applicable to those that have consistent radish crops. The assumption is therefore that this phrase has ties to a more agricultural culture. While a modern world might not have this tradition of eating a radish at the end of dinner, by using the phrase, the culture remains alive albeit in a new form. 

Momo, or the Missouri Monster

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Kansas City, MO
Performance Date: 4/13/20
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

“I think in the 70s it was, I know the name of the town because it’s called Louisanna, Missouri. It’s on the Mississippi river in the south of the state and in the 70s apparently a few people reported seeing a very tall, like 7 to 8 foot tall, ape-like swamp creature in the woods- they also called it a swamp ape. But the distinguishing feature of this thing was it had a very huge like bulbous onion shaped head, but like an upside down onion though, so like big and bulbous- and it had shag all over it and like big, big like freakishly huge red eyes because it’s a shitty B-Movie monster pretty much. So it’s like Bigfoot but with a big onion head and it reeks because it lives in a swamp near the river. For a brief period in the 70s and 80s, I think it was, people got really into the idea- it became called Momo, Missouri Monster, from the state abbreviation monster.”

Background:

The informant is a 21-year old male from Kansas City, Missouri who has lived there for the majority of his life. His family comes from southern Missouri, near Joplin and the Ozarks. The town in question for this piece, Louisiana, apparently tried to profit off this cryptid very shortly after its sightings similar to other towns who use Moth man or Bigfoot sightings to drive tourism, however Momo was not nearly as successful as those previous examples. The town remains a relatively quaint and small town.

Context:

I overheard this story when the informant was talking to a group about cryptozoology and I asked him to share it again with me for the sake of transcription. The exact exchange occurred in his room a few hours later.

Thoughts:

This piece appears to be another example of the common cryptid of Bigfoot. A large, ape-like creature that is elusive and on the fringes of society. Furthermore, these creatures are typically very smart and nearly human-like but not quite enough to warrant describing it as human. I feel there are a lot of these types of legends ranging from Bigfoot to Sasquatch and I feel this creature is another attempt to fit into that mold. What differentiates it and what makes this monster interesting, in my opinion, is how Momo is shaped to specify Southern Missouri. The Mississippi River is a huge part of the culture of Southern Missouri and so the monster being based out of a nearby swamp of the Mississippi River makes a lot of sense. What I like most about this legend is how it is clearly an attempt to cash in on the cryptid craze of Bigfoot and similar legends. While undoubtedly some people believe they saw the monster, the town quickly moved to monetize the creature and tourism surrounding it. However, compared to similar towns that attempt to make a tourism industry out of a local legend, this one did not work nearly as well, which makes it interesting to me. Finally, Momo is interesting as it fits the entire culture of Southern Missouri and the Ozarks as it is a creature on the fringe of society, which reflects the often isolated communities that exist in this area. Compared to a heavily urbanized city, a legendary monster like this is far more likely to appear in areas with lots of forest and mountains with small isolated communities, such as those in the Ozark Mountain range.