Author Archives: Yen Ai Tai

“A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips”

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: Student At USC
Residence: Thousand Oaks
Performance Date: 2/16/2023
Primary Language: English

Background: The informant is a current USC student. She heard about this proverb from her grandma. She used this proverb as a reminder to stay away from snacks.

Informant: my grandma, she was from San Diego, and she always used to say, “A moment on the lips, a life time on the hips.” Because…like…I don’t know… she was just always like…… She’s from the 50s so the era where everybody was trying to be real skinny or what not and so she said this all the time about like… snacking. I guess it goes to show just sort of how like a lot of Californian’s having this obsession of being “healthy” in a way… Like trying to fit in this certain west coast beauty standard.

Analysis: I think this proverb contains both characteristics of an era and mindset amongst women (or the social expectation that is held against them). Interestingly, we can observe the change in beauty standards through this proverb. Since people prefer fuller hips nowadays, the warning part of the proverb seems to be more encouraging than deterring.


“…got the keys”

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: Student at USC
Residence: Thousand Oaks
Performance Date: 2/20/2023
Primary Language: English

Background: This is a saying that was popular in a Californian middle school in the early 2010s referencing American Pop Culture.

Informant: I remember this being a popular phrase said around my Californian middle school. It’s almost a way of saying that someone has the skills, abilities, and the intellect that others lack. May be a reference to a DJ Khaled song, but I’m not entirely sure. Overall, it’s a really jokey thing to say. For example, if the whole class was having difficulty on a math problem, but one student knew the answer, another student may remark, “he’s got the keys.”

Analysis: I believe that this saying is limited to the informant’s middle school because I have asked around other Californian students and no one has heard of the saying. The song mentioned by the informant is “I Got the Keys” by DJ Khalid featuring Jay-Z and Future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFLSOIufuhM.

Knock-Knock Joke with a twist

Nationality: USA
Age: 19
Occupation: Student of USC
Residence: Thousand Oaks
Performance Date: 2/20/2023
Primary Language: English

Background: A traditional American Joke with a prequel to build up the punchline.

Person1: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”
Person2: “I don’t know, why did the chicken cross the road?”
Person1: “To get to the idiot’s house”

Person1: “Knock-Knock!”
Person2: “Who’s there?”
Person1: “The chicken”

Informant: This is a cruel joke that I was the unfortunate victim of in my youth.

Analysis: As a non-American, this is the first knock-knock joke that I found funny. Knock-knock jokes are usually meant for children and the informant confirmed that they heard about this from their elementary school friend when they were young

Band Riddle

Nationality: USA
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2/20/2023
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background: The Informant was a band member in high school. The riddle was told by the band teacher.

Text:
Q: What music instrument never tells the truth?
A: A lyre.
My band teacher told us this riddle during rehearsal. I didn’t find it funny at the time. It’s pretty much a dad joke.

Analysis:
The instrument has the same pronunciation as the word “liar”. This riddle requires knowledge in the music field, which also explained the occasion and audience of the riddle.

Bot

Nationality: USA
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2/20/2023
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Background:
The Informant is a video game player. They play multiplayer games online.

informant: If I got paired with a really bad player, I would say that this guy is such a bot. It means that they are bad at playing the game as if they are the practice bot that the game provides in the beginning stage. Sometimes I would say that they are Artificial Intelligence bot because they are talking to you in the chat, but they play like a bot.

Analysis: This simile is broadly used by video game players, especially when a player cannot choose their teammates. It’s a saying to express frustration. This also shows how people believe AI bot is worse than human when it comes to gaming, which is a debatable statement.