Author Archives: Sophie Leaf

Rhyme – Girl Scouts of the USA

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Calabasas, CA
Performance Date: February 20, 2008
Primary Language: English

Girl Scout Rhyme

My momma

She gave me a dollar

She told me to buy a collar

But I didn’t buy no collar

Instead I bought some bubblegum

BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)

My momma

She gave me a quarter

She told me to tip the porter

But I didn’t tip no porter

Instead I bought some bubblegum

BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)

My momma

She gave me a dime

She told me to buy a lime

But I didn’t buy no lime

Instead I bought some bubblegum

BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)

My momma

She gave me a nickel

She tole me to buy a pickle

But I didn’t buy no pickle

Instead i bought some bubblegum

BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)

My momma

She gave me a penny

She told me to buy some bubblegum

But I didn’t buy no bubblegum

Because I’m sick of bubblegum

BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)

Kyrsti learned this rhyme when she was in the girl scouts, around when she was eight years old, however, she doesn’t remember which retreat with her girl scouts that she learned this particular rhyme on. The basic idea was that every girl in the group sat in a circle with both feet in the middle. Then they started singing this song and whenever one chorus finished, whomever the last word landed on had to take her foot out of the circle. This was continued until there was only one girl left and then she was declared the winner and given a prize of some sort, sometimes-specific badges were given out to the scouts if the game was particularly exciting. She described that this chant was a lot like “eenie, meenie, mini, mo” and was based off of it but that they changed the words as a part of a bonding experience with all the girls.

Kyrsti believes that the chant itself is not what is important. She believes the process of creating the rhyme and then getting to play it with her friends is what made this so important. She described that all the games in the girl scouts were meant to build friendships, build leadership skills and learn. She also described, when prompted, how girl scouts was all about folklore. This chant was just one example. She pointed out how, every night they would sit around a campfire and tell stories, stories that had been passed down by former girl scouts. She believes that one of the core values of girl scouts is carrying on a tradition, which fits very well into the idea of folklore.

Not having been in the girl scouts myself, hearing all this information made me realize that there is a lot more to girl scouts than I had previously thought. It is clear to me from Kyrsti that the stories passed down through girl scouts include a lot of ancient folklore stories and that the girl scouts are constantly reinventing things in order to create their own new folklore to be passed on to the next generation of girl scouts.

Annotation: This Girl Scout rhyme is also found on Scout Web, a wbesite that provides girl scouts with many Girl Scout songs.

Scouting Web. 2 May 2008 <http://www.scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/Traditions/

Songs.htm>.

Children’s Game/Rhyme

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Calabasas, CA
Performance Date: February 20, 2008
Primary Language: English

Children’s game/rhyme

Crack an egg on your head and the yolk runs down (x2)

Spiders crawling up your back, they bite you, they bite you, the blood runs down (x2)

Stab a knife in your back and the blood rolls down (x2)

Cool breeze

Tight squeeze

Now you’ve got the chillies

Her older sister taught this rhyme to her when she was eleven. Her sister would start to give her a back rub and then occasionally would start speaking this rhyme. Her sister meant to make it scare her in the end but her sister had learned it as a fun game to play with friends. One person would put their hands on another person’s back and then slowly recite this rhyme, imitating each word with an action. So you would imitate cracking an egg on that person’s head or blow a cold breeze on the person’s neck. The end result was to give someone Goosebumps and the chills. Kyrsti believed that this game was meant to just be a silly way of scaring a younger child or just having some fun with friends.

Kyrsti described how each of the imitated motions are meant to create visuals in the person’s mind. Because each of the phrases are frightening, the rhyme is meant to evoke fear. Kyrsti described that she experienced this fear when she was younger as a recipient of the rhyme. As she got older, however, she did this game on younger kids, passing along the tradition. She believes that the game itself is not meant to be overtly violent, but considering the words and phrases, she does believe it was meant to introduce her to a little bit more graphic things in life. She also thinks that this is a rhyme that is passed down by family members, who in a sense, by saying this rhyme and performing it on their younger siblings, is trying to maintain or show some sort of dominance over their younger sibling.

While I agree that the rhyme is meant to open up new ideas towards “violence” for kids around Kyrsti’s age back then, I do not agree that this was meant to be used to show dominance. I think it was simply just used in order to slightly scare a child and yet at the same time entertain them. I have heard this rhyme many times, and in my middle school is was very prevalent. However, we never found it to be frightening and everyone I knew who did this found it completely amusing. I believe it is here the distinction is made. Depending on the person who is the recipient, it is up to that person to determine whether they think the rhyme is harmless or actually causes some sort of distress.

Proverb

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Orange County, CA
Performance Date: April 12, 2008
Primary Language: English

Proverb

Original

“See a pin, pick it up and al day long you’ll have good luck”

Claire’s version/ Modern day version

“See a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck”

Her mother told this proverb to Claire when she was very young, probably around the time she was six or so. One day when Claire was with her mom on a shopping trip, her mom spotted a penny on the ground and Claire ignored it, passing it by. Her mom stopped her and asked why she didn’t want to pick up the penny. Claire answered that it was dirty and she did not want a dirty penny. Her mother replied that passing by a penny and not picking it up was bad luck. Picking it up however, would ensure good luck for the whole day Claire said that since she was young she believed her mother and since that day has always picked up a penny that she has seen laying on the floor. She believes that this proverb was meant to teach her to be more observant of her surroundings.

This proverb is interesting to me because it is one of the many proverbs that teach us about things that cause bad luck or cause good luck. This one incident is what taught Claire about the idea of good luck and bad luck and yet this saying has been said for hundreds of years. Claire mentioned that her mom later explained to her where the saying came from. Claire described that her mother said that they used the saying because on American pennies the words “in god we trust” are printed on each one. Thus the idea is that God sees you are having a bad day or things aren’t just going right and drops a message in front of you telling you to trust him. Thus it is from that we can see that this is a proverb that has been passed down for many centuries and most likely originated out of the concept of religion

I agree with what Claire says in that it was the way she learned about things that can cause good luck or bad luck. For me, I learned about good luck items from having a horseshoe. I believe that everyone learns about things that may bring about good luck from a small thing that their parents taught them. This saying is extremely popular and is heard in movies such as Grease. It’s presence in Grease shows just how popular the saying is, since Grease was a very influential movie at the time and targeted a new type of generation and so to have this saying in the movie said by one of the main characters, this proverb was most likely very widespread.

Proverb

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Beverly Hills, CA
Performance Date: March 20, 2008
Primary Language: English

Proverb

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”

I have heard this proverb over and over in my life and continue to hear it today. The first time I heard this was on a day when I came home from school and I was upset because someone had said something mean to me. I was about six years old and my closest friend had called me a “meenie” while I was playing at her house because I didn’t want to play the game she wanted to play. At the time, this was the meanest thing I had ever heard and immediately demanded to go home. When I got home, my parents of course questioned why I had left so early and so abruptly and I explained what had happened. My parents sat me down and explained that most likely my friend didn’t mean it but even if she did what did calling me a “meenie” really do to me. It was then I realized that while I was upset she called me a name I was more upset that my friend and me were fighting. From then on, I was able to really just let harsh words pass by me because I learned this proverb at a very young age.

I feel this proverb is very useful and is used a lot. I believe it used mostly in the context of parents teaching their child a lesson and to reassure them that no one can really hurt them with just words. While a lot of people do believe this proverb is mean to just create a false sense of security in knowing that words will never actually cause harm, I believe that this proverb installs a good idea in children’s heads. While it is true that many people can say extremely hurtful things that may bash your ego or make you feel down on yourself for a bit, there is no real damage caused by hurtful words.

This proverb is extremely important because it teaches us to be strong against verbal attacks. While we do learn on our own to defend ourselves and not to be offended by harsh words, proverbs such as this really reassure us that no matter how harsh the words being spoken to us may be, they can never cause any real harm to us.  But this proverb also allows kids to see the reality of the world. It brings to light the idea that there are hurtful things in the world. It points out that life is not always full of goodness, it is often bitter and harsh and there is no real way to shelter yourself from that. And if people don’t learn to deal with the criticism, they’re in for a world in pain and hurt. This proverb, overall, is meant to show that no one can destroy your self-esteem, especially not with just words.

Proverb

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Orange County, CA
Performance Date: April 10, 2008
Primary Language: English

Proverb

“Treat others how you would want to be treated”

Claire learned this proverb when she was very young, around five years old, when she ended up hurting friend’s feelings and then was very upset when that friend no longer wanted to hang out with her. Her mother told her that she needed to follow the “Golden Rule,” that being, “Treat others how you would want to be treated.” Claire took this to mean that you should always treat others with respect that way you will also always be treated with respect. This rule along with many others helped guide Claire into making moral decisions and become a kinder person. Claire heard this proverb over and over when growing up and believes that her mother repeated it so much in order to really engrain it in her so that she would always be a courteous person. She recalls that she heard it most when she was about to meet new people, especially older guests.

This proverb is an extremely prevalent one especially when in respect to your friends and family. However, Claire pointed out that this rule is meant to apply to everyone, not just your friends in your circle. She said you are meant to treat every single person this way in order to live a moral life. Claire’s mother stressed that you should love those you hate even if there is extreme malice because in the end if you retaliate towards an enemy and cause them pain, you are no better then them. Also Claire pointed out that by treating others with decency and treating others exactly as you would want to be treated, later in life, if you end up working for that person or become close with them, you will mostly likely reap the benefits from being kind in the first place.

I agree with everyone Claire has pointed out. By treating others how you would want to be treated, you are creating an idea of equality. You are creating an atmosphere where no one is treated better than anyone else and thus everyone can get along cordially. Thus this proverb teaches an extremely important lesson that even in our past, such as when segregation was prominent, didn’t break through completely. But today, I believe proverbs like this teach important lessons and need to be taught to our youth in order to promote kindness.