Category Archives: Customs

Customs, conventions, and traditions of a group

Family Nicknames

AGE: 53

DATE OF PERFORMANCE: 02/19/2025

LANGUAGE: English 

NATIONALITY: American 

OCCUPATION: Attorney

PRIMARY LANGUAGE: English 

RESIDENCE: New York 

For context, I am the youngest daughter out of two girls, and my mother is the oldest daughter out of three girls. Ever since I could speak and act, I have been consistently compared to my mom’s youngest sister, my aunt Janis. In interviewing my mother, I sought to answer why.

Interviewer: Is there a running tabooistic joke or joke in general that runs among our family?

TL: “Well, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head, but we did use to call you Lil Poo Poo or Stinker! To be honest, we still call you that now. We never really had a nickname for Nicole [my older sister] though.”

Interviewer: Is there any particular reason that you called me that?

TL: “I can’t quite remember, but one day it just came out and it stayed. I think it’s because you’re the youngest and the baby of our family.”

Interviewer: Was there any other jokes that ran in our family?

TL: “Well your Aunt Janis also had a nickname when she was younger. We used to call her Gani [가니], which means little jokester in Korean. She was always running around and had the reputation of a jokester… plus her Korean name is Eunhae [은헤] so we used to combine the names together. She’s also the youngest like you.”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

It’s completely natural for families to joke with each other and give each other nicknames. Especially in Korean culture, there are designated titles that we call someone depending on their age, their relation to us, and down to what side of the family you’re on. However, I think that the youngest of the family always earns a certain reputation and thus, receives a nickname from it. Being completely honest, when I was younger I was known to have smelly feet (I am fine now, I promise). So even though my mother might not remember, that could be the possible inspiration behind my nickname. As for my aunt, because she, too, is the youngest and was known to be silly and a trickster, she was named Gani.

How To Unscrew A Bolt

Nationality: American
Age: 59
Occupation: Psychology Professor
Residence: Forest Falls, CA
Language: English

Text:

“Lefty loosey, righty tighty.”

Context:

Informant, KB, stated that he learned this saying from his dad, who often used tools and did handiwork for the family. KB said that one would say this phrase “to someone when they are putting a wrench on a bolt and they’re not sure which way to turn it to loosen it.”

Analysis:

This proverb provides practical guidance on unscrewing bolts or screws. It is especially memorable because it is succinct and utilizes rhyming and alliteration. This phrase might be used more commonly in parenting or mentoring contexts, in which the listener is just learning to use wrenches or screwdrivers for some kind of mechanical project or task.

I gotta go call the president

Minor Genre: Folk Speech (Tabooistic Vocabulary) 

Text: I gotta go call the president 

Context: My informant said he politely says this to leave the room when he needs to defecate. When asked about it, he said that defecating is his “business,” so it makes sense if he refers to it as calling the president. My informant first heard this tabooistic vocabulary from his aunt when he was around twelve years old. It stuck with him because it was funny, clever, and aligned with his humor. Although he is not calling the president, he feels empowered as not everyone knows what he means, but he can still laugh about it. My informant mentioned that this is an indirect way to let those around him realize he needs to leave the room for personal reasons. In his words, “it lessens the tension of needing to poop.” He uses this phrase anytime he is around people and needs to use the restroom. When I asked him about it, he said he would never stop saying he needs to call the president unless he finds something funnier to replace it. 

Analysis: Generally, tabooistic vocabulary will tell someone much about a culture. In this case, hiding/ or avoiding the biological language for needing to defecate is very typical of Western societies where bodily emissions are considered dirty, disgusting, and a private matter— taboo. Because my informant grew up in the United States, he learned that it is inappropriate to exit a room by saying he needs to defecate, so instead, he disguises it as something completely unrelated to using the restroom. Because he fears not being socially accepted, he replaces the tabooistic vocabulary with a euphemism to make it socially acceptable. 

A Long Lost Friend

Nationality: American

Age: 81

Occupation: Retired

Residence: Mill Valley, CA

Performance Date: December 1st, 2024

Primary Language: English

Language: English

MAIN DESCRIPTION: 

“All right, a few years ago, normal morning I just woke up. I was gonna get up and go to to the bathroom. when I felt like I couldn’t get out of the bed. 
I felt like something was like sitting on me right I mean, I could still breathe and all, but I just felt like I couldn’t get up and I was thinking, is this a heart attack or something? And then finally I did get up and I went to the bathroom. I came back, got in bed and there, I felt it again. 
It was just like somebody sitting on me and and when I started with maybe I picked up my phone and looked at the date and it was July 2 and I suddenly remembered that that was the birthday of my best friend Leonore, who had died of breast cancer years before, and I think it was the first time I ever forgot her birthday and I think she was pissed that I forgot it. So after that, I mean after that everything went away and it was just that weird experience of having this presence there who didn’t hurt me, but was making herself known.”

INFORMANT’S OPINION:

JS: What do you think this appearance means spiritually?

MB: “I felt it related to our friendship, which started in sixth grade and we were she was my closest friend through high school and then once I started going with my husband uh and she she she developed an interest in Spanish culture. And she ended up um taking a job in Mexico and marrying a Mexican person there, had children with him and then later divorced him and she got tired of him and Mexico. 
And she came back and met a really wonderful guy who she married and they lived right in the East Bay until she developed breast cancer. She was she died at 49. It was terrible, so anyway, I felt it was just her maybe disappointment and a little annoyance that I had that remembered her birthday. 
But I didn’t feel it was evil. I mean, she wasn’t trying to kill me. Yeah like, “hey, it’s my birthday.””

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

Who can say for sure what our human connections to the afterlife or spiritual realm might be? There have been so many examples of people having near death experiences and describing similar sensations of light and hovering. It’s not hard to believe that Lenore paid a visit to MB, if not to just say hello, maybe to nudge MB to not forget her existence or her presence, even if only in spiritual form when she “sat on” her chest on her birthday. 

Greek Red Egg Cracking on Easter

TEXT:

I have a Greek friend whose family still practices lots of older Greek folk traditions. One of these is an Easter tradition involving eggs that are dyed red. Everyone takes one and they begin smashing them against each other, two at a time. Typically, when two eggs meet, only one of them cracks. The person whose egg is left untarnished is said to have good luck for the rest of the year! It’s almost like a competition or a game, and my friend told me there’s some strategy to it, since you can use either side of the egg to hit someone else’s.

CONTEXT:

My friend doesn’t really believe in the superstitious aspects of Greek traditions, even if his mother and extended family do. He does, however, enjoy participating because some Greek traditions are very fun, like this one. My friend didn’t really know the significance of the eggs cracking or why they were painted red. We had to do some research to find out that the cracking of an egg symbolizes Jesus’ opening of the tomb he was buried in, and the red dye is to symbolize Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. He told me that his grandma definitely knew about this but had not discussed it to him as a child, probably because of its grotesque nature. For my friend’s Greek family, the tradition has a significance greater than its religious one because it brings the family together for the holiday.

ANALYSIS:

I did some more research on my own and found out that some people attribute the egg tradition to Mary Magdalene, whose cooked eggs miraculously turned vibrant red when she witnessed Jesus rising from the grave. Easter egg painting has remained a tradition across Europe and into the Americas. In America, where religious tradition has become remarkably secular, Easter egg painting has become a simple activity to entertain kids on the holiday. In my friend’s family, however, I believe the intention was to teach children about important religious stories and celebrations. Painting eggs red and cracking them is an easy way to remember what happened when Jesus rose from the dead. My friend may have been too young for the lesson to be taught, but he did know his grandma to be a teacher of religious stories to her chidlren and grandchildren.