Author Archives: Amanda Suarez

Camping for Brotherhood

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego, CA/New Orleans, LA
Performance Date: 3/31/15
Primary Language: English

Collector: What camp did you go to?

Informant: I went to Fallen Creek in North Carolina.

Collector: Did you guys have any, like, special songs or chants or anything?

Informant: Every Sunday we’d do this campfire. It was kind of like church, minus, like, the religious aspect, more of just a community thing. And it would always end with taps, but throughout there would be all these songs, like counselors and campers would get up and sing and stuff. And we’d do skits and stuff. Every week we would have special messages about brotherhood.

Collector: Was it an all guys camp?

Informant: Yeah. I went Eight years.

Collector’s Notes: A huge aspect of folklore, and one of its purposes, is that it builds community.  One of the long-used ways of doing this is through song.  Singing has been around for a very long time, and people teaching others songs that the community is familiar with to welcome them and make them part of the group.  I also think that the message about brotherhood is important here.  The camp is creating a tight-knit group by repeatedly reminding this group of young boys that they need to be there for each other.  The taps are somewhat ceremonial almost.  Historically, the TAPS is something that has only taken place in the United States military.  Oddly enough, it’s usually used at funerals, wreath-layings, and memorial services (Villanueva).  The military is one of the most well-known tightly knit, family-like communities that exists, so it makes sense that they would use this to subconsciously provide that type of atmosphere.  Also, the ceremonial use of it is important.  These ceremonies, like funerals, are really important in folklore.  They signify someone passing out of the community and into whatever afterlife they believe in.  Also, some cultures use funerals to celebrate life instead of grieve over death.  This could possibly be an underlying message in the Fallen Creek tradition of playing.  Skits also have been a usual way of getting people to become more comfortable.  A lot of ice-breaker games are centered around working together and team building to work toward a common goal (“Ice Breakers”).  This is a way that the group in question, in this case the boys in the camp, make a special bond with other boys around the same age, thus creating a “folk.”

REFERENCES:

“Ice Breakers: Getting Everyone to Contribute at the Start of a Successful Event.” Mind Tools. Mind Tools Ltd., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
Villanueva, Jari. “History of Taps | JV Music.” JV Music. WordPress, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

The Gray Man

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA/Charlottle, NC
Performance Date: 4/10/15
Primary Language: English

Informant: Well there is one thing. I haven’t really encountered it, but my grandparents have. They always tell me about this. In South Carolina on Pawley’s Island is where we have a house, and it’s where my grandpa grew up. There’s this story about the Gray Man. I guess he supposedly was like, in the Civil War or something, and then he like went off to battle, but he was in love with this girl and there was this whole long story about that. But, she died before he got back and he was killed. I don’t really know the exact details. But, anyway, he was known for being seen walking on the beach right before hurricanes come.

Collector: That’s actually really cool.

Informant: Yeah, it’s supposed to be like his anger and his tears and sadness.

Collector: Is he supposed to be causing the hurricane?

Informant: Yeah! He’s supposed to be an ominous, foreboding presence. And he’s also known to, like, talk to people. Like, if you’re walking on the beach people claim that they’ve talked to him. My grandma says that she has. I don’t know if I believe her, but Hurricane Hugo in 19… I think it was 1995, ruined the whole island, and she said she was like walking, and there was some guy in Civil War clothes and was talking to her.

Collector: Yeah we have a fort near our house where that supposedly happens a lot.

Informant: It’s creepy!

Collector’s Notes: This was a really cool ghost story that I hadn’t heard before. In my hometown, we have a fort from Commodore Perry’s time, and there have been similar stories about the soldiers being seen around town.  I really like that the people of South Carolina connected this story to environmental disasters and giving what seems like an arbitrary thing a purpose.  A version of this story that I found was that the Gray Man was a soldier, who was very eager to see his fiancee who lived on Pawley’s Island.  Apparently he wanted to see her so badly that, on his way home, he took his horse off the path.  Then, they got into trouble and got stuck in quicksand, where he and his horse died.  In her grief, his fiancee walked the beach of the island mourning her lost lover.  Then, she saw a man dressed in uniform who she recognized as her dead fiancé.  She ran up to him, and he told her to get off the island as soon as possible.  When the girl got home, she told her family that they needed to leave, and they fled the island.  That night, a hurricane came and destroyed the entire island.  The site that I got this version from said that the first person saw the Gray Man in 1822 before an especially disastrous hurricane.  Some others have had them knock on their doors as well, so there is some differentiation to the story.  While the hurricane is supposed to be the embodiment of The Gray Man’s sadness and anger, most people see him as a good omen, and people say that those who see him have homes that remain untouched by storms.  Therefore, he’s a ghost but he brings good luck instead of fear.  A different and very local legend!

REFERENCES: “The Gray Man.” Haunted Lowcountry. Lowcountry Paranormal, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.

 

A published version of this legend can be found in:

Johnson, Talmadge. Civil War Ghosts of South Carolina. N.p.: Post Mortem Paranormal, 2013. Print.

 

 

The Muffin Joke

Informant: I have a favorite joke!

Collector: Okay! Let’s hear it!

 Informant: There are two muffins in an oven, and one muffin says to the other muffin, “Dang! It’s hot in here!” And the other muffin says, “Oh my God! A talking muffin!”

Collector’s Notes: This is an interesting joke that I’ve heard in a couple of different forms.  Some have the second muffin saying “Ahhh! A talking muffin!”  Urban Dictionary refers to this joke as one of the most told and most under-appreciated joke of all time (TwistedMessiah).  People’s reactions to the joke are pretty universally positive.  In fact, The New York Times did an article about the joke, and people were interviewed about the muffin joke.  One woman said that “Any time something that normally doesn’t talk talks, I laugh.  Or when they do anything human. Anthropomorphize anything and you’re 3/4 of the way there for me (Tierney).  I think that this is the case with a lot of people’s taste in humor.  We like to give human qualities to things that don’t live.  It’s also funny because the response is unexpected.  It breaks the fourth wall of the joke, so to speak.  We usually assume that the joke takes place in a world where everything that happens is normal or makes sense.  If a cow says something to another cow, it’s not the fact that the cow is talking that makes us laugh, it’s the content.  However, this joke points out the logical flaw in that kind of mentality.  A muffin shouldn’t be saying anything because muffins don’t talk.  A muffin talking is something un-ordinary and surprising.  An added funny point to this joke is that the muffin ANSWERS the talking muffin by being surprised by a talking muffin when he is, in fact, talking and a muffin.  This sort of irony is also funny to people.

The joke also has remarkable multiplicity and variation, as it is known pretty much globally, but has small changes.  Some are more adult, with phrases like “Holy Shit! A talking muffin!”  Other people have transformed it into an anti-joke.  This is a joke where there is no punch line, and the absence of the punch line is what’s actually funny.  For example, I saw a version of this joke that said, “There are two muffins in an oven.  Neither says anything.  Muffins are not sentient beings, and therefore unable to speak” (ANTIJOKE).  Another example cited was “Two muffins are in an oven.  One says to the other, ‘It sure is hot in here.’ The other muffin says, ‘Yeah. About 350, 375” (ANTIJOKE).  I think it’s interesting that this joke has evolved with the kinds of jokes that are popular.  As anti-jokes gained more use, this joke was transformed into one that could fit that demand. People must really like muffins.

REFERENCES: Tierney, John. “The Muffin Joke? Stop, You’re Killing Me.” TierneyLab The Muffin Joke Stop Youre Killing Me Comments. The New York Times, 14 Mar. 2007. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

“- There Are Two Muffins Sitting in an Oven. One Muffin Says to the Other, “It.” ANTIJOKE. Horsehead Huffer, n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

TwistedMessiah. “The+Muffin+Joke.” Urban Dictionary. Urban Dictionary, 22 Sept. 2010. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.

 

A published version of this joke can be found in: Anti Joke: Collection of Anti Humor. Horsehead Huffer. Amazon. Horsehead Huffer, 2011.

Lucky Number 8

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

Collector: Do you have any lucky numbers?

Informant: 8.

Collector: Why 8?

Informant: Because it’s a lucky number in China. That’s where I grew up. So, like, 88 is a really, really lucky number there.

Collector: That’s interesting!

Collector’s Notes: In class we talked about unlucky numbers in China, but I don’t think we mentioned any lucky numbers.  Here, in the United States, we have 3 and 7.  It weird how we learned that 4 is an unlucky number in Chinese culture, but they find 8, 4’s double, lucky!  I personally find 8 lucky because I like both the number 4 and 8 inherently.  Maybe because there are 4 people in my family, and possibly because I started dating and got engaged to my fiancé on August 8th, or 8/8.  I like how the Informant is still very in touch with the culture that they were exposed to in China.  Because that was such a fundamental time of their life (childhood) it makes sense that those beliefs stayed with them and they carried them with them here.