Author Archives: Wesley Smith

Folk Medicine – Norway

Nationality: Norwegian
Age: 24
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oslo, Norway
Performance Date: April 19, 2008
Primary Language: Norwegian
Language: English

“If you have a cold what you should do is take a sock, I think a wool one, and wrap it around your throat before you go to bed.  Also, rubbing oil on your neck helps as well.”

Sigurd said that his mother used to do this to him when he was sick, had a sore, throat, or had been coughing a lot.  Sigurd grew up in Norway his entire life and his primary language is Norwegian, yet he speaks English very well also.  He told me that his mother sometimes would rub lotion on his neck as well, which was supposed to help clear out his throat.  He said that the lotion smelled very strong sometimes and that it would help clear his sinuses too.  I was able to find similar versions to this remedy in Folk Medicine in Norway and the New Land by Kathleen Stokker.  There are two versions in the book that involve wrapping a woolen sock around a person’s neck when they are feeling sick.  One indicates that camphor oil should be rubbed upon the person’s throat, so I believe that the lotion that Sigurd was speaking of was most likely camphor oil.  The other version says that, ”You should wrap a black wool sock around your throat before you go to bed.  A warm one from your foot works best.”

Sigurd told me that he did not know where his mother learned the remedy, but he assumed that someone from her family had done it to her when she was young.  Sigurd also mentioned that because there are a lot of sheep in Norway, there is a bountiful amount of wool, which is probably why a woolen sock is recommended to wrap around the throat.  The camphor oil likely clears out the nasal passages and throat and the warmth of the sock may make it easier for the blood to flow freely to the throat area and help aid the recovery of the ill person.  I believe that this folk remedy is probably very old tradition in Norway, and due to the fact that Sigurd’s mom had used it in him, the remedy must have a positive effect on the person that is sick.

Legend – New York

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: White Plains, NY
Performance Date: April 22, 2008
Primary Language: English

“So the legend goes that a long time ago, probably like around the 1920’s or so, there was a kid that was really stressed out about school and finals were coming up.  A few days later the kid decides that he’s had enough and he jumps off of this local suspension bridge into the gorges and kills himself.  People say that you can still hear screams from the bridge and some people say that they’ve seen him especially on the day that he died.”

This legend holds a lot of truth in the Cornell community due to the fact that many people actually have committed suicide by jumping into the gorges in Ithaca, New York.  What Matt told me is that although there have been many suicides in the past, but this one is the one that was supposedly most traumatic and is still talked about today.  Matt also said that he and a few of his friends have listened for the screams on the day that the student died, but they didn’t hear anything or see anyone.  Matt told me that he heard the story from an older student who was a part of his fraternity, and that it was a big deal when it happened because it was so long ago.

Elizabeth Tucker also lists this story in the book Campus Legends– A Handbook.  The legend is very similar, and it involves a male student who commits suicide by jumping off of the same suspension bridge.  The book said that typically the story is told that the student was under academic stress, had family problems, or was involved in a fraternity initiation that “shatters the student’s peace of mind and makes him decide that life’s not worth living.”

What can be seen in each situation is that there is a student who is undergoing a lot of stress and decides that the easiest way out is to jump into the gorges of Cornell to escape his troubles.  The fact that students at Cornell have jumped into the gorges to commit suicide is indeed a fact, however the reality of whether or not the suspension bridge legend is true is questionable.  A legend is something that could be true, is set in the real world, and invites discussions about belief.  This legend definitely has each of these factors.  Because Cornell is such a difficult school and finals week is often very stressful, it is clear why students continue to speak of it today as if it really has happened and is probably the reason the legend will live on in the future.

Annotation:  Tucker, Elizabeth.  Campus Legends – A Handbook. Westport, CT:             Greenwood Press:  2005.  pp. 78-80.

Folk Game – Rhode Island

Nationality: French-Canadian, Irish, American
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Noank, CT
Performance Date: April 02, 2008
Primary Language: English

“The name of this game is called Ghost.  You need more than two people, but preferably less than seven or eight.  To begin someone starts by saying a letter.  Then usually it goes clockwise to the next person who says a letter and the next person who says another letter and so forth.  The whole time each letter everyone says is basically spelling out a word.   The object of the game is to get someone else to say a letter that will spell a word without actually spelling a word yourself.  Also it is only considered to be a word if there are at least three letters that have already been said.  If someone says a letter that ends up spelling a word they get a G.  Each time a person ends another word they get another letter to spell out GHOST.  Once a person has ended a word five times they will have G-H-O-S-T and are officially out of the game.  The game continues until there is only one person left as champion.”

Chris told me that he learned this game about 5 years ago at a wrestling camp in Rhode Island.  He said between practicing they would always play this game to keep busy.  He said most often it was just the wrestlers that played and not usually the coaches unless they were young enough to want to join in.  Apparently, after Chris learned the game he brought it back to Connecticut and shared it with his other teammates at his school and got everyone to play on his high school team as well.  Chris said that not only is it just played between players of sports teams, but that he also plays on road trips in cars and at home with friends to pass the time.

I believe that this game is popular because it is something that everybody can do, as long as the players can all speak the same language.  There are many other games in which a person can “accumulate letters” that eventually lead to their exile from a game.  Another example would be Horse in basketball in which people trade basketball shots and if a person misses a shot that the other one makes, they get a letter.  I think games such as these unleash a person’s inner competitive drive to win and ultimately are the reason that people want to play them again and again.

Rhyme/Game – New York

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Musician
Residence: New York, NY
Performance Date: April 25, 2008
Primary Language: English

“Playmate, come out and play with me

And bring your dollies three

Climb up my apple tree

Shout down my rain barrel

Slide down my cellar door

And we’ll be jolly friends forever more, more, more, more, more

I’m sorry playmate

I cannot play with you

My dolly’s got the flu

Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo

Ain’t got no rain barrel

Ain’t got no cellar door

But we’ll be jolly friends forever more”  (Repeat and increase speed)

Virginia told me that this is a handclapping game that she used to play when she was a little girl growing up on the elementary school playground in the 1960s near Westchester County in New York.  Usually two girls got together and sat across from one another and slapped hands and sang this tune to go along with the clapping.  She said that most girls on her playground knew how the song went and how the sequence of claps was, and like many playground games only the girls played this handclapping game. Virginia said that this also took place mostly on the playground, at lunch tables, or in the classroom when the teacher wasn’t having them do work.  She told me that this was not the only handclapping rhyme that she had learned growing up but it was the one that she remembered the words the best to.

Only the children played this handclapping game, as the adults were often shunned from this child’s play.  Also, Virginia said the better a girl was at handclapping, the more respect they had from among their peers and often the best clappers would face off against each other to see who would mess up first.

In reading through the lyrics of the song it makes sense that two girls would be singing this song to each other. The lyrics basically say that one friend wants the other to come out and play but the other replies that her dolly is sick so she can’t come out, yet they will continue to be friends anyways.  Girls were known to carry dolls in the 1960s, not boys.    Also, the fact that girls rarely associated with boys in elementary school gives this even more evidence that it was regarded as a strictly feminine game.  This rhyme reflects a girls desire to make friends and also children’s imagination by giving life to the dolls.

Proverb – England

Nationality: English, Italian, American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: St. Petersburg, FL
Performance Date: April 26, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“Never was a cat or dog drowned that could but see the shore”

Peter Davey told me that his father used this proverb ever since he was a young child.  He said that his dad would say it whenever they were in a situation that seemed never-ending or if Peter ever had a lot of work to do either for school or any other job he has had.  Peter is from Florida but is father is 100% British and his mother is 100% Italian.  Peter believes that his father learned it while he was growing up in England just one generation before he was born.  Peter told me that he doesn’t tend to use the proverb himself, thus making him a passive bearer of the proverb.  Peter tells me that he always takes his father’s words to heart and that his interpretation of the proverb is to never give up and always have faith.

Personally, I agree with Peter’s idea that this proverb is a symbol of never giving up, and I also believe that it has something to do with hope.  If someone can see the shore and they are willing to not give up hope, then surely they will be able to survive.  I also believe that the proverb displays the general attitude of perseverance.  In Peter’s case I believe that he often used it to push himself to get through his schoolwork and give him hope that there would be an end to all the pain and suffering that he experiences when working.  I assume that Peter’s father probably learned this saying through his own trials and tribulations and I believe that he is perseverant mainly due to the fact that Peter is a first generation American and his father must have worked hard to get here.

I was able to also find this proverb in the book The Penguin dictionary of Proverbs under the category of valuing hope.  I agree that this proverb shows the value in hope because it shows that hope is one thing of value that a person has when in times of trouble.  I interpret this proverb to mean if a dog or cat has the persistence and hope to get to shore alive, then surely it will survive.  I think that this is a good analogy to people and the way the people’s minds think when in times of need.

I think a good example of this proverb can be seen in the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” in which the main character, Andy Dufresne realizes that he can dig a hole through the wall of his prison cell to escape.  It takes him 20 years to finally dig through the wall, but the one thing that Andy never gave up was his hope because he was able to see the way out, or in this proverb’s case the shore.

Annotation:  Ferguson, Rosalind.  The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs.  Great Britain.      Penguin Books.  1983. pg 91.