Category Archives: Folk speech

Camp Song

Text

“I went to camp Matoca in Maine and I went for seven summers from 2013 to 2019 So for ages 9 to 15 and every single summer, one of the biggest camp traditions was the sing festival so basically college league every year there’s four teams in the camps divided into four different college teams, and you compete throughout the whole summer and like different like Greek games Sports whatever and then at the end the last Wednesday of camp there’s on the sing festival so basically the captain and co-captain will Lead the entire team there’s about like 90 people per team With a chant and we start with a cheer, which is basically like a remix to like any song But like with something about your team, like Pepin zest from the colors, red and yellow, if that was the colors something like that, I don’t know if that makes sense and then there was a remembrance which is like a slow song Which usually has like a deeper meaning so like for ours I remember my last year camp. It was about a girl graduating college, and going onto the next chapter of our life so it kinda tells that story but also like Jack exposes that with him. Her last summer at camp and taking that all in I guess she was probably graduating high school And then the last one is the Alma matter so this one starts like slow like The Remembrance and then the captain gives a speech halfway through and the cocaptain leads the team through like a B of Nanas like basically just like in the background everyone’s Nana Nana Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana, Nana Nana, like just as background color And the captain will give a speech, kind of thinking The whole team And like addressing like her time at camp and how it’s coming to close and everything that she’s learned leading this team and some other sappy things and then the comeback is after the speech so that’s kind of like the climax of the song so it’s like the upbeat part and this is also usually like Where the whole room shakes because it gets so loud and four teams go each do their own songs, and after everyone gets fudge popsicles, it’s camp tradition, and they announce the college winners and the senior co-captains who are also 15 years old, like the co-captain for the cat whatever Give a plaque to their captain with a nice snow and the whole camp listens to their speech and it’s like one of the best nights of camp and then there’s a fireworks ceremony by the lake and I will never forget saying after all these years oh also You wear like your sing shirt so it’s like your college league shirt that like the captains make and then white I think it’s white shorts and then French braids. Everyone is in two French braids with ribbons of their colors.”

Context

My informant attended Camp Matoaka, an all-girls summer camp in Maine, for seven consecutive summers from age 9 to 15. The Sing Festival was the climactic event of every summer, held on the last Wednesday of the season. She participated as a camper for years before eventually being on the senior side of the tradition herself. She remembers it as one of the best moments of the summer and still recalls every detail of the structure, costume, and ritual.

Analysis

This is the kind of tradition that lives inside a specific community (in this case, a summer camp) and gets transmitted year after year through performance and participation rather than through any written rulebook. Sing Festival has is made of a fixed structure (Cheer, Remembrance, Alma Mater), required costuming, specialized vocabulary (“banana,” “comeback,” “college league”), and a fixed calendar slot. None of this is written down anywhere official. It’s passed from older campers to younger ones through years of watching and eventually doing.

“Don’t Borrow Trouble”

Text

“My dad always says, ‘don’t borrow trouble.’ Like if I’m worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet, or spiraling about a hypothetical, he’ll just go ‘don’t borrow trouble’ and that’s it. That’s the whole conversation. He grew up in the South and I think it’s a Southern thing. I catch myself saying it to my friends now too, which is annoying because I used to hate when he’d say it to me.”

Context

My informant’s father is from Georgia and uses this phrase constantly. She’s noticed she’s started using it herself in adulthood, even though it irritated her growing up.

Analysis

“Don’t borrow trouble” is a classic piece of American folk speech, usually associated with the South. It’s a great example of how proverbs do a lot of cultural work in just a few words. The phrase compresses a whole concept into three syllables: don’t anticipate problems that haven’t arrived, don’t spend present energy on hypothetical future suffering. The word “borrow” is what makes the saying catchy enough to land. It treats trouble like something you could go out and take on loan, building up worry like a debt before anything bad has actually happened. That’s a very practical, no-nonsense way of thinking about worry and fits the down-to-earth style of a lot of Southern sayings.

年年有余 (nian nian you yu)- Chinese Proverb

Text: 年年有余 (nian nian you yu)- which translates to “year after year, may you have abundance in your life”

Informant: “I know this proverb because my mom said it my whole life, it’s like a blessing and we say it for lunar new year. You eat fish when it’s the new year because of the play on words of “yu.” Fish and surplus are both pronounced the same. There’s also rules on how you eat the fish too, you’re not supposed to flip the fish over, if you flip it over, it’s like your ship capsizes. So you eat the top half and then you pull out the bones and then you eat the bottom half.”

Context:

The informant learned this proverb from their mother while growing up in a Chinese household. Their family would say it during Lunar New Year as a blessing for abundance and prosperity, often when serving the traditional New Year fish dish.

Analysis:

This proverb reflects a culture that places deep value on longevity and stability, prioritizing sustained fortune over short-term success. What makes the proverb unique is its wordplay, which allows it to function as a spoken blessing, pun, and ritual. Folk speech and verbal folklore like this is especially common in Chinese culture because the language contains many homophones, so different characters can share the same pronunciation but carry drastically different meanings. Thus, meaning is not only conveyed through definition, but through sound, and language itself can hold symbolic power.

Star light, star bright….- Verbal Folklore/Ritual

Text: “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish, I wish tonight”

Informant: “So mine was about how to make a wish by wishing on the first star. You’d say, ‘Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight,’ and then you’d say the wish in your head. You couldn’t tell anyone what it was or it wouldn’t come true. I honestly don’t know how I learned it. It might have been from preschool or from my mom, but I remember doing it when I was really young. Whenever I saw a star, I’d say the little chant or rhyme out loud and then make the wish.”

Interviewer: “Would you go out of your way to do this, or was it just whenever you happened to see a star?”

Informant: “It was usually just whenever I saw a star, and it had to be the first star I saw that night. Then I’d make the wish. But if I had a really important wish, I might try to look for a star. Usually though I wouldn’t remember to do that, so it was mostly just if I happened to see one. I’d think, ‘Oh, the first star I see tonight,’ and then say the rhyme.”

Interviewer: “Were you alone when you did this?”

Informant: “No. I vividly remember one time I was at a grocery store with my mom and we were walking in. I saw a star and said the rhyme right there. That’s the one time I clearly remember doing it. Maybe you were supposed to do it alone, but I never really did. My mom mostly looked at me like I was crazy when I did it, like ‘What are you doing?’ But I think I ended up teaching it to my little sister.”

Context:

The informant remembers learning this wishing rhyme when they were very young, possibly from preschool or from their mother. They recalled using the rhyme during childhood whenever they happened to see the first star at night and later teaching it to their younger sister.

Analysis:

The rhyme reflects a common cultural belief that wishes can be influenced by specific actions or conditions. The requirement to see the first star, speak the rhyme, and keep the wish secret creates a small ritual that gives structure to the act of wishing. For children especially, these steps make the wish feel more meaningful and possible, providing a sense of hope and imagination. The informant later teaching the rhyme to their younger sister demonstrates how these traditions are passed through families, showing how folklore helps preserve small moments of childhood belief and wonder across generations.

A second ___ has hit the ___ – 9/11 Jokes

Age: 21

Text: “A fourteenth button has hit the north jar.”

Informant’s Context: Informant explains, “It has to follow this structure, ‘a second ___ has hit the ___.’ I think George Bush’s chief of staff came up with this one. The internet loves joking about tragedies now that a long time has passed. So for example, when you sent me a video of someone putting a fourteenth button inside of a jar and there was a second jar in the background, I responded, “a fourteenth button has hit the north jar.” The joke kind of writes itself, which is why it’s funny.”

Analysis: 

9/11 jokes like this one often follow a familiar and formulaic structure and push the boundaries of what is considered socially acceptable, which is typical of folklore humor. Because even figures such as George Bush’s chief of staff have made 9/11 jokes, this type of humor can begin to feel more socially acceptable. If someone in a high government position can joke about it, the average person may feel more comfortable doing the same. Humor can also make tragic events feel less immediate or overwhelming. As more time passes, these events become less shocking, making it easier for people to find humor in them.