Author Archives: William Herron

Camp Hess Kramer Happy Birthday Song/Celebration

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: Assistant Media Planner
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/13
Primary Language: English

A Jewish summer sleep-away camp in Malibu, CA by the name of Camp Hess Kramer holds hundreds of Jewish kids ranging from eight to seventeen for most of the summer.  As the kids are away from home, often for the first time for extended periods of time, the camp makes an extended effort to make birthday celebrations for kids who have birthdays during a camp session especially special.

A birthday celebration at the Camp Hess Kramer is quite different from the average singing of happy birthday song for an individual.  Typically, two different counselors create a new inventive skit that integrates the camper with the birthday into it.  The skit takes place in the dining hall where all the campers have gathered for a meal — breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  While the skit takes place the camper is asked to come to the center of the room and must perform some activity involving the skit.  After the skit ends a unique version of happy birthday song is sang to the camper. The song goes as thus:

“Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday. Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you.  Skip around the room, skip around the room, we won’t shut up till you skip around the room. Skip around the room, skip around the room, we won’t shut up till you skip around the room.  Go the other way, go the other way; we won’t shut up till you go the other way.  Go the other way, go the other way; we won’t shut up till you go the other.  Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday. Happy birthday to you”

This song is sung for each birthday camper and also a previous version had at the end a chant where all the campers say, “Lick the floor! Lick the floor! We won’t shut up till you lick the floor!”  This version in the past few years has been taken away because of sanitary issues — as one can imagine the floor of a dining hall at a sleep-away camp is far from clean. During this song the camper must follow the song and physically follow the song’s directions as “skipping around the room” and different things like that.

I found this story of the happy birthday song rather interesting because it is a variation of the tame, mundane “Happy Birthday Song” and shows kids ability to turn twists and ideas onto songs.  The “lick the floor chant” reveals younger kids interest and making others complete gross tasks similar to dares that people make each other do.  The celebration for the kid in front of the camp also occurs I think to make him feel more special.

“Don’t be a chazzer!”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/13
Primary Language: English

The informant describes what the meaning of the Jewish phrase with Yiddish origins “don’t be a chazzer” means today.  The informant recalls his mother always telling him to not be chazzer growing up.

A chazzer is someone who is being rather cheap and taking advantage of the system. For example, if you go to a restaurant and you are taking all of their free bread into your purse.  Or someone is giving you something for a good price and you insist on getting it for lower.

Chazzer appears to be a Jewish word for someone who is being cheap and greedy.  It is interesting that this word is of Jewish origins because if one were to think of typical Jewish stereotypes this word would fit rather well with those.  This word has been widely used in published work such as the movie Scarface when Al Pacino asks, “Do you know what a chazzer is Frank? That’s a pig, that don’t fly straight. Neither do you Frank.”  See citation of movie:  Scarface. Dir. Brian Palma. Perf. Al Pacino. 1983. DVD.