Age: 21

Date of Performance: 02/24/25

Language: English

Nationality: Indian

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: English

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Main Transcription:

“Do you have any other experiences with these kinds of minor genres in folklore?”

“Um, yeah, actually, I do. One example was in high school, or middle school, actually, um, my friends and I had this thing, which I think was pretty common outside as well, but if you put your hand in a circle below your waist, and someone looked at it, you got to pinch or hit them, like I would slap them on the hand.”

“Okay, does it have any, I don’t know if symbolic is the right word, but was there any greater meaning or was it just a little joke you guys played on each other?”

“Yeah, I don’t think it had any greater meaning except for catching people ‘lacking.’ Catching people unaware.”

“Haha, just catching people lacking.”

“Yeah, just to always keep people on edge as like a friendly, fun kind of game.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Of course, warm regards to you, professor.”

Context:

This little game seems to be just a fun gesture that he used to do during his adolescence. I find this particular entry funny because I also have personal experience with this game during middle school. From the extent of my knowledge, it was probably spread through online communities and ‘meme’ culture.

Analysis:

Given what the interviewee said and my personal experience, there does not appear to be a deeper meaning of the gesture other than “catching people ‘lacking.'” I do not think there needs to be any effort to analyze the complexities of each tradition, game, or gesture that people engage with; sometimes, people just like to mess around. I find it fascinating, however, that this game has transcended local, even global boundaries, since we both have known about this game when we were younger. As to its origins, still unknown.