Author Archives: Amanda Suarez

Do it for the Vine!

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA/Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: English

Collector: Where did the phrase “Do it for the Vine” start? Because people use it, like, not for Vines…

Informant: Okay, so like, I think it specifically started with this little girl and she was being filmed and someone was like “Do it for the Vine” and she was like “I ain’t gonna do it!” And they were like “Do it for the Vine,” and she’s like, “I ain’t gonna do it!” Then finally they’re like “Do it for the Vine!” and she just started dancing.

Collector: Oh! I feel like I’ve seen that one!

Informant: It’s just this girl and she’s like (acts out dance). And she’s like three! And so I think that’s where it started.

Collector: So now I feel like it’s used whenever you want someone to do something like…

Informant: Crazy! Yeah. Like, the image just came to mind: rolling down in shopping carts or something through a parking lot. Someone would be like, “Do it for the Vine!” Cuz it’s like crazy things that you would see on Vine.

Collector’s Notes: I’ve just started hearing this this year, and I’ve heard it used in many context yet similar contexts.  I think my Informant got it right on the nose when they said it’s for doing something “crazy.”  I think I also saw that original Vine once before and it had many, many “revines” or repostings.   Vine in general is a fairly new phenomenon.  Pretty much you get about 6 seconds to do something that people will want to watch or share.  You can film consistently, or you can stop and go with the recording.  I’ve seen a lot of different types of Vines, which is most interesting to me.  I’ve seen stunts, magic tricks, time lapses of recipes being acted out, jokes, and singing.  People have even become “Vine stars” or celebrities now.  Meaning, if their Vine account has a lot of followers, they become verified as a significant person.  This sets up a completely different culture.  Generally only people who spend a lot of time on Vine know who these people are, or what they’re famous for.  I learned from my Informant that a couple “Vine stars” have even been featured in movies like actors.  These people have millions of fans just for posting six second videos that catch people’s attention.  For the “Do it for the Vine” scenario, I think people saw the little girl, thought it was funny, then decided to put their own spin on a trendy video to get views and be a part of the trend itself.  Then, that permeated the division between the digital forum and real life.  It reminds me of the transition from texting terms like “lol” and “rofl” being written, and now being spoken like real words.

REFERENCE: https://vine.co/search/do+it+for+the+vine

 

 

 

Tumblr Culture

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA/Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: I saw it on Tumblr. Cause you know they have text boxes and stuff.

Collector: I still can’t use Tumblr the right way. I try so hard. I think I just reinstalled it on my phone ‘cuz I’m gonna give it another go!

Informant: I like looking at it just for…You know, that’s how I got the inspiration for my room and stuff.

Collector: I just wanna learn how to use it correctly!

Informant: I can teach you!

Collector: Okay!

Informant: It’s like Pinterest, but there are no organized boards. You just read.

Collector: I just have a hard time finding people to follow.

Informant: What I usually do is, like if I’m going through my feed, the person that I reblog the picture from, whoever they got it from I’ll follow them, too. And then it kind of just becomes this whole thing.

Collector: It’s like Tumblr culture.

Informant: Yeah.

Collector’s Notes: Tumblr is a new craze that has really grown in the past couple of years.  I don’t know much about it, as made clear by the interview, but it seems like second nature to a lot of teenagers and young adults of today.  What it is, essentially, is a combination of all social media, but in a more raw form.  If someone likes a picture, recipe, or quote, they share it as a blog post on Tumblr, and then it gets passed around and commented on by all the other users in a person’s circle of followers.  While I think it’s great for passing around culture and bonding through a digital medium, I worry that it prolongs this idea of no longer using words as communication.  Why say what you’re thinking when you can just reblog someone else saying it for you?  Or a picture?  We’ve come a long way from unlimited prose in statuses on Facebook.

 

!!111!!

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA/Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: English

Collector: I consider you as really on top of the trends. (laughs)

Informant: Let’s see, the things that are trending right now…

Collector: What’s that thing you always say?

Informant: Oh. “Am I right, ladies?”

Collector: Yeah that one! And the other was “Fries before guys,” right? I actually saw a phone case that said that.

Informant: Oh really? Yeah it’s just little things like that. Like, things that are trending on Twitter are like “!!1111!!”

Collector: What is that? Like, what does that mean?

Informant: It’s like, if you’re saying something sarcastically, but like with a lot of emphasis. So it’d be like, “wow, I had a really good night of sleep last night !111!” if you’re like, completely kidding.

Collector: Oh! I’ve never even heard of that.

Informant: Oh, really? Yeah it’s something I always do.

Collector: I’ll have to look on your Twitter.

Informant: It just like indicates that you’re being really sarcastic but also very passionate at the same time.

 

Collector’s Notes: It’s really weird and yet interesting to see our culture’s interest switch from the written word to symbols or pictures.  In a society in which we exchange picture via Snapchat all the time and limit our thoughts online to 140 characters or less (Twitter) it makes sense that people would try and find ways around actually writing things out.  From using emojis to convey emotions and thoughts, to simply replying with a selfie, some people find it difficult to articulate how they’re feeling with words like we used to.  This specific one, the !!111!! is a mystery to me.  The fact that the exclamation point and number one are on the same key makes me think that maybe this started off as some kind of typo-turned-joke.  Also, the number 111 can be dialed for a medical emergency “when it’s less urgent than 999” in the UK.  Any correlation? Maybe!

 

REFERENCE: http://www.sparsholtandwestcot.org/content/call-111-healthcare-when-its-less-urgent-999

 

 

Getting “Pinned”

Informant: Oh my God, she got pinned?

Collector: What is that?

Informant: So, when someone gets pinned in a sorority basically what happens is— well, first of all, nobody knows who’s being pinned except for probably the girl’s close friends. So, all we get told, as like the laymen if you will, is that there’s a pinning. “Please wear red if you’re in a relationship and if you’re not in a relationship, wear black.” It’ll be different for every sorority, I’m sure, but the general principle I’m sure stands true. For my specific sorority we sing one of our sorority songs and all of us girls grab hands.

Collector: In a circle?

Informant: Yeah so the pinning ceremony is just the girls in the sorority and everyone’s standing in a circle…Or, as close to a circle as we can get. (laughs) Everyone is holding hands like do in, like, church you know? And there’s a candle being passed around as everyone’s holding hands. So, as it comes to you, you let go, and pass it right. And as we’re singing this song, we’re passing this candle and if the candle stops on you, you’re the one being pinned.

Collector: Oh, so someone next to her would have to know.

Informant: Yeah. So that’s why I’m assuming the close friends know because the guy plans it with the close friends.

Collector: And then the guy’s just there?

Informant: So, then when it lands on you, you’re like, “Ah!” and everyone freaks out. And then those friends have coordinated something with the guy so then they’ll take the girl outside, and like we’ll go to the doorway. Depending on what the guy has planned for his end, like the second part of the ceremony, he could come in and get her. Typically though, for all the ones I’ve been to, is the girl freaks out and the friends walk her to the doorway and we all like get to stand and watch like, in the doorway as the guy comes up. It depends. The ceremony really does change. But the other thing that does hold true is that every guy in the fraternity of the guy who’s pinning the girl gives one red rose.

Collector: To that girl?

Informant: To that girl. They’ll walk up in a line and by the end of it she’s holding like sixty or seventy red roses.

Collector: Oh my God.

Informant: And then the main guy walks up the line too, and his best friend does a speech for him. It’s kind of a pre-engagement.

Collector: Yeah it seems very matrimonial.

Informant: Yeah they do this and it’s great. And then the girl’s best friend will come up and do a speech and it’s very, like…

Collector: Does he actually pin anything on her?

Informant: Oh, forgive me. There’s the actual pinning part of the ceremony. So, basically after the guy gives a speech and he’s like, “I wanna be with you” and the girl’s like “Oh my God!” And then the guy takes off his fraternity pin from his shirt—all the guys are dressed up in, like, sports coats—and typically a guy in the house will come out with a guitar. After the guy’s best friend does a speech and the guy does a speech, he takes off his pin and puts it on the girl’s red dress and he says that she means more to him than his fraternity.

Collector: Awh! So, it’s something that everyone, like, wants?

Informant: It’s something that every girl in a sorority who has a boyfriend in a fraternity would want.

Collector: So they have to be, like, “dating dating” beforehand, right?

Informant: It’s typically people who have been dating for like two years, three years. So, like, college sweethearts, you know? It’s like seniors usually.

Collector: So, I guess it’s kind of acceptable to have her be more important than the fraternity at that point.

Informant: That’s the whole point of it, is that like, at the end of the day he’s had his time with the boys and now he’s saying, like “Here, babe. It’s your turn.” Like the few that I’ve been to, the girl seemed genuinely surprised.

Collector: Oh, really? I would think you would at least have a clue.

Informant: Yeah! But I think that’s the important part, the concealment. They do a really good job of that. Like, the surprise of being pinned is the most important part. And as I’m growing older I’m realizing that it’s cool because it’s the fact that your boyfriend pretty much wants to marry you.

Collector’s Notes: Every time I interviewed someone who was involved in Greek Life, something that represented a marriage ceremony came up.  I think it’s because that is the next big liminal point in these adults’ lives.  In a way they’re preparing themselves for it.  I also think that the color scheme of dresses is interesting.  In class, we talked about how red symbolized the post-romantic woman and black was like the crone, or older, no longer sexualized woman.  I think that, at first, this seems out of place, but then I remember that these girls had already donned their white dresses when they were initiated into the sorority.  So, those “married” and sexualized (with a relationship) wear red and those who are “married” and not sexual (not in a relationship) wear black.  It makes more sense that way.  Also, history lends itself to a lot of examples of guys giving some sort of romantic symbol to their girlfriends, whether it be a class ring, a letterman jacket, a promise ring or even an engagement ring.  These symbols represent “ownership” to a certain degree, and a longer commitment in mind.  It represents the future.  Something else that can represent the future is the circle the girls get into beforehand.  The circle symbolizes the never-ending cycle of life and time, and it makes sense that as one girl moves from one stage of life (maidenhood) to another (married life) that the girls would symbolize this with a circle.  The singing is another unifying thing that I’ve noticed from every Greek interview.  Song seems to be an ancient and timeless way for people to bond in an easy way.  The candle I’m taking to symbolize love, like I’ve seen in past interviews.  The burning flame represents “triumph over the darkness” or in this case, the blackness that is representing single life.  Because we’re a reproductive centered culture, this makes a lot of sense.  All in all, with the love-representative roses and songs, this seems like a really beautiful ceremony.

Dead Baby Jokes

Nationality: Dutch
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/23/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Dutch

Informant: I know a lot of dead baby jokes, unfortunately.

Collector: Do you remember any of them offhand?

Informant: I do, actually. They’re all coming back to me. Um, what’s red and silver and keeps running into circles? Or, sorry, circling into walls?

Collector: What?

Informant: A baby with forks in its eyes.

Collector: (gasps). Oh no!

Informant: What gets redder and redder and shorter and shorter?

Collector: What? (muffled by hand over mouth in fear)

Informant: A baby combing its hair with a potato peeler.

Collector: (screams).

Informant: (chuckles at Collector’s reaction).

Collector: These are horrible! I have not heard these before. Like, I’ve heard dead baby jokes before but much more tame!

Informant: Oh yeah. These got terrible.

Collector: …Do you have any more?

Informant: Yeah. Why’d the baby fall out of the tree?

Collector: Why?

Informant: Because it was dead. Why’d the koala fall out of the tree?

Collector: Why?

Informant: Because it was stapled to the baby. Why’d the giraffe die?

Collector: Why?

Informant: The tree fell on him.

Collector: Oh my God.

Informant: Which, you know, doesn’t make sense because why are the giraffes in Australia?

Collector: Yeah. Where’d you hear these? Just in high school going around?

Informant: Yeah! Well, I found them all online.

Collector: You found them online?

Informant: You just look up ‘Dead baby jokes’ and there’s your repertoire of however many dead baby jokes.

Collector: So you took time out of your day to look these up?

Informant: Yep! I took time out of my day to find them. And I told them to people and the ones that I just told you were the best of the best.

Collector’s Notes: We talked a bit about dead baby jokes in class when we talked about humor, and we noted that they come up a lot in booms of baby births.  I also think that it is another way of breaking the tension that comes with talking around taboo topics, such as death, and more seriously, infant death.  It something that has always been a part of our culture, but is seldom really talked about.  People avoid talking about it at all costs, really.  But people can use these jokes to bring up a taboo subject, and talk about it in a way that isn’t tip-toeing around being politically correct or PG.  It’s also a display of a dichotomy of themes.  Mostly people connect babies with the idea of purity and innocence, and murder as the complete opposite.  We take something soft and sweet to heighten to effect of the really horrible topic by contrast.  Also, I think that they’ve been perpetuated because of the clear divide about feelings toward the jokes.  Some are very, very offended, and others think that the conservative need to lighten up and “take a joke.”

What else is interesting about this is the combination of cyberlore and actual word-of-mouth.  In this case, the Informant went online to find jokes that they could later share in person with their friends at school.  I imagine it was a trend and therefore there was more effort put into finding and sharing them.  This is a way that the internet and person-to-person interaction mesh into one being.