Author Archives: Zane Grace

“Condescending Willy Wonka meme”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 18 March 2015
Primary Language: English

wonka meme

Background:

Can I just say the internet? I never went on reddit or 4chan or anything like that, so where would I have seen it? Probably just a stupid comment thread on Facebook or something, back in the day. It’s based on Willy Wanka and the Chocolate Factory, it’s a screenshot of that, and Gene Wilder is one of my favorite actors. He has such great delivery and great comedic timing, so probably any screenshot you take will be funny. Then the internet kinda owned it cuz in the film, he’s not being sassy in that scene this is a screenshot of, and turned it into this other thing which I think is interesting. Even though this meme has specific uses, I think it’s interesting that it’s adaptable to specific conversations, so it has the same function but keeps changing the words that overlay the image.

Context:

You’re supposed to use it when you’re mocking someone’s complaining, like “Oh you have to do four papers? Your life is so hard.” Or like demeaning someone who thinks their life is important. I guess I just mean the meme has gotten such specific usage in conversation it’s essentially become it’s own recognizable phrase like anything else in a language, but it’s not based around the specific words, it’s based around the construction and delivery of the words which is pretty fascinating to me having taken linguistics classes.

My Thoughts:

I think this meme is hilarious. He just looks so sassy. My informant is definitely correct that if someone constructs a sentence in this way, anyone from my generation will be able to recognize it as the “Sassy Wonka” meme almost immediately. It’s cool that the internet can facilitate this kind of folklore which becomes a part of everyday situational lexicon.

Doge meme

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 18 March 2015
Primary Language: English

doge meme

Background:

Doge originated on Tumblr when this one picture of this really cute dog with this huge face was given comic sans text over it with poorly grammatically structured phrases over it. Usually these phrases are in different colors and center around a common theme. In this example, that would be about fashion. Usually the format is “much (blank), many (blank), wow” but can have all sorts of other poorly structured phrases. Then it got really popular and spread to 4chan and reddit and all these other sites. I’m pretty sure the first place I ever saw it was Facebook. I don’t know what I like about it. I don’t know what anyone likes about it. It’s just so funny. It’s like… so… I’m trying to find the right word. Like, infantile? … Dumbed down? That it’s just hilarious. There’s something inherently funny when someone says something wrong grammatically, like in everyday conversation with someone, it’s funny when people mess up. So to have a cute dog saying it just works, staring you right in the soul. Something it really capitalized on when it was getting popular was just a really ridiculously high frequency of posts. It got super annoying, but that almost made me love it more.

Context:

There’s actually no specific time this is appropriate. I guess just during sessions where you and your friends are hanging out on your phones showing each other funny pictures.

My Thoughts:

It seems to be that since there’s no specific context for this other than friends hanging out, it’s used as a way to bond in the digital age. I mean, if people are on their phones anyways, it’s a lot easier to connect with people by sharing things that are mutually humorous than trying to make jokes yourself. In this way, the doge meme becomes a sort of social lubricant to facilitate group dynamics, much like alcohol.

“Devil Frying Pan”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 18 March 2015
Primary Language: English

Text:

The devil is in hell beating his wife with a frying pan.

Background:

My mom told it to me probably in Louisiana on one of my trips there because she learned it from her family who’s lived in rural southern Louisiana for a long time which I think is important cuz it’s not so much a Cajun thing as a southern Louisiana thing. I like how it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a funny image that really has no significance when uttered, it’s just something people associate. If I don’t like anything about it, it’s that kinda same thing that this weird nonsensical thing about violence related to rain. I can only imagine that it caught on when one guy was like oh man this is such a weird occurance that there must be something going on in the other world so he just said something super ridiculous and outlandish and it caught on. I think that’s why people remember it, I think that’s why I remember it.

Context:

Whenever you see the sun out while it’s raining, not like behind a cloud or whatever, like it’s shining bright, but it’s raining. And you just know, Satan’s doing his thing.

My Thoughts:

I’m really interested to know if there’s more mythology about the devil’s wife. Is that just the sun in this context? Or could the sun be the frying pan since it’s round? Anyway, I also want to know if there are more sayings like this which have the same context of raining while the sun is out. I suppose that phenomenon is only observable in certain parts of the world, so it wouldn’t happen everywhere. But it is bizarre enough that I would think other cultures would have some sort of saying or ritual to accompany it.

“Three Dead Sisters”

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 30 April 2015
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Text:

At my high school, we were located right next to a graveyard. There was always like… so right after WWII, right after the British left, they found three bodies of three dead girls. Like my High School was a hospital during WWII, and they found the bodies in a stairwell. People say whenever it rains, the lights flash on and off and people say it’s the girls haunting the school and if you look to the graveyard, you can see three candles being lit in commemoration of them. I went to high school in Hong Kong, it used to be called King George V School. If you go to that back stairwell, the temperature drops – only in the specific area they passed away. I can confirm that it’s cold right in that specific place. There’s a weird chill and it’s eerie – and it’s all artificial light, not natural light. I heard the girls were sisters –  the daughters of a high ranking British officer. When someone else invaded the school/hospital, he put them there to be safe but he never came back for them so they died of starvation. Oh, and they were all under the age of 13.

Background:

Everybody at my high school knew the legend. Students, teachers would joke about it. There’s historical evidence my high school was a war hospital. I don’t believe in the legend, but whenever I go to that staircase no matter what temperature it is outside, it’s chilly despite having no airflow or anything there… and on the day of their anniversary three fires do get lit from the graveyard and I have no idea who does it. I think people tell it because it’s entertaining and gives our school a little history and backstory. It’s kinda spooky and fun and yeah.

Context:

Whenever there’s a typhoon or something like that, and the lights flicker we’ll talk about it. Otherwise it’s just whenever anything generally creepy happens. And you always tell it to incoming freshmen. Seniors always tell it during initiation or whatever, to pass the story on.

My Thoughts:

The most interesting part about this story to me is that the informant personally felt the chill and saw the three lights in the graveyard – I guess my first instinct is to think that some students must go do it every year, but my informant said she never heard of anyone taking on that responsibility, and she felt like she probably would have known. In any case, I think it’s cool that this story gives this school character and it’s fun to think about how the story influence’s people’s physical perception of that hallway, or maybe there’s some weird way to explain the cold feeling with physics?

“Picasso’s Castle”

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 30 April 2015
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

Text:

Where I live in the south of France is kinda remote and there’s this giant castle like 10 minutes away. It’s on this hill and no one can access it except for government people. It’s super off limits. It used to be Picasso’s home during his prime. When he passed away, his daughter took the house and sold it to some people, to a couple actually, and the woman murdered her husband for cheating. And they had to dogs who are said to have witnessed the murder. Anyway, that’s why the castle is closed to the public. But whenever we drive by or see it from afar, you can always hear dogs barking, no matter what. So the story goes that the dogs who witnessed the murder are calling on other dogs to help save their master. I had a summer home there in the south of France, that’s why I know the story. I personally experienced hearing the dogs. If you do drive as close to the house as you can, there are two dog statues in front of the gate that look like domestic, docile dogs – not like guard dogs or anything, they look kinda like golden retrievers. Oh, and before the house belonged to Picasso, it belonged to Cezanne who was an artist in the era of Van Goh, and the locals say the place became haunted because the house wasn’t passed on to another artist after Picasso.

Background:

We were driving past the house one time and we were just like “Why are there so many dogs?” and eventually we ended up talking to this local who’d lived there like his whole life and he told us the story. It’s just this big empty castle with tons of rooms not being used because of this legend. I like the story, it’s kinda funky. Part of me believes it because there are a lot of dogs, but they could just be strays and it’s a big coincidence.

Context:

Everyone in the town already knows. The locals don’t exactly make a point to tell tourists about it. They’ll talk about it if you ask, but they won’t bring it up – I don’t think they want it to be a tourist attraction. It’s kinda there for you to discover I guess.

My Thoughts:

The most interesting part of the story to me is that the origin of the curse is said to come from the fact that Picasso didn’t pass the castle along to another artist. It reinforces this idea of property within communities I think – specifically the artistic community in this case. Like only someone in the same vein of fame would be worthy of the house.