Item (direct transcription):
A Mexican with an erection runs into a wall. What does he break?
His lawnmower.
Background Information:
The informant read the joke on 9GAG, an online social media site.
Contextual Information:
The informant made it very clear that he would only tell the joke to someone he knew very well and was confident wouldn’t be offended.
Analysis:
This joke is a clear example of blason populaire, playing on the stereotype that all Mexicans are gardeners.
Collection/Background: Lithuanian Wedding tradition: songbook/singing/dancing/pranks
A: “Are there any certain traditions within Lithuanian weddings? Like are there any pranks or things of that sort?”
B: “Oh yeah! So pranks…I guess at each table you have to have a songbook that has a bunch of songs, and one of the events throughout the wedding is that people can choose a song and like during the meal, they can go up to the bride and groom and sing it to them. You usually get a lot of drunk renditions of songs *laughs* but like groups will come up or solos. And there’s also… um this wedding dance that’s done where the bride and groom sit in the middle while the wedding party dance around them with um… with these woven like pieces of fabric — I have one in my room — that they hold and wrap their arms around while dancing so at the end of the dance, the bride and groom are like completely wrapped in these things, and it’s supposed to showcase their unity.”
A: “Oooh!”
B: “We should go to a Lithuanian wedding! Maybe I’ll take you to the next one. Also, another prank is that when the bride and groom, before they walk into the venue and then to the tables, all of the wedding party sit in bride and groom’s seats with these hats on. And they pretend to be these random people that took over the wedding basically, and then the bride and groom have to sing to them to get them to move, which is kind of weird.”
A: “Interesting!”
B: “So they do that, and the name is like “Čigonai” because I guess in the olden days, they were taken over by the country and so that’s like the group that you kind of make fun of, which sounds kind of bad. *laughs* It’s like the people from the countryside or something.”
Context: It is apparent that music plays a strong role in Lithuanian culture holistically with song and dance frequently included. Further, some of these wedding traditions seem to stem from historical context including submission to another nation. Such references can be found in the attire worn by and actions performed by those who prank the couple. For example, the hat serves as a symbol to indicate the resemblance to the other foreign group. Further, the woven fabric, another folk object, takes on the symbolic meaning of unity.
Interpretation: Practical jokes are common in weddings throughout many cultures. Often, the individual at the expense of the joke is going through a rite of passage. In this case, marriage is the rite of passage, in which the couple is progressing to something greater. Further, the hats worn by the prankers may be an example of “blason populaire” as it draws from a stereotype.
For our discussion section, we were required to meet up with a fellow student and collect folklore from each other. LA is the person I collected from, PH is myself. Our conversation is as follows:
LA: I have jokes, if you want those.
PH: Oh, yeah.
LA: My childhood friend’s dad is this older Jewish punk dude and he had a lot of good jokes.
(pause)
Alright, so I have two drummer jokes which are frequently passed around for people in bands because we love to make jokes about drummers.
Number one: told to me a long time ago by a family friend who was in a punk band in the ‘90s.
What do you do to get a drummer off your porch?
PH: What?
LA: Offer to pay for the pizza.
The second joke collected is documented in its own post.
For our discussion section, we were required to meet up with a fellow student and collect folklore from each other. LA is the person I collected from, PH is myself. Our conversation began like this:
LA: I have jokes, if you want those.
PH: Oh, yeah.
LA: My childhood friend’s dad is this older Jewish punk dude and he had a lot of good jokes.
(pause)
Alright, so I have two drummer jokes which are frequently passed around for people in bands because we love to make jokes about drummers.
Then, the informant told me the first joke which is documented in a different post. Here is the second joke:
LA: Drummer joke number 2: told to me by my friend’s dad, he was also in a punk band in high school.
How do you know when a drummer’s at your door?
PH: How?
LA: ‘Cause the knocking speeds up and he doesn’t know when to come in.
A Grateful Dead song started playing in the car while my dad was driving. The informant (my dad) is WB, I am PH.
WB: Ugh, the Grateful Dead
PH: Want me to skip it?
WB: No, that’s okay. Did I ever tell you my joke about the Grateful Dead?
PH: I think so, but tell me again
WB: What’d the Grateful Dead fan say when he got out of rehab?
PH: What?
WB: [said in a lower, “hippie” voice that my dad uses when imitating his hippie, drug addict cousin] “What’s this terrible noise stuck in my head, man?”