Category Archives: folk metaphor

Force it Down Mid- Verbal Folklore/Slang

Text:

Informant: “Its from League of Legends, I’ve never played the game before but I’ve heard people say it before and I know how the game works. I know its played on a field that has three lanes, top, middle, and bottom lane. And the middle lane is the most contested, so to ‘force it down mid’ means to be stubborn and tunnel vision and push it down without any worry about challenges. So you’d say it if you need to persevere through something challenging.”

Context:

The informant learned this expression through online gaming culture and conversations with friends who play League of Legends.

Analysis:

Like much of verbal folklore and especially for slang, this example relies on shared knowledge within a folk group. In this case, player’s of the game League of Legends, or people in the gaming sphere. It also functions as a folk metaphor and can be used in everyday situations. The “mid lane” becoming a metaphor for a challenge, and “forcing it” implying stubborn determination. This reflects the growing influence of internet and gaming culture, where inside references circulate rapidly among online communities and spread into everyday conversations.

Kola Nut Offering

Age: 20

The Story:

So this story is about the kola nut. It’s not really about the nut itself, it’s an offering. The kola nut is the center of the prayer, and the prayer revolves around the core of Igbo tradition.

We believe in three chis. There’s Chukwu, which is God. And then there’s chi, which is like your guardian angel. My great-grandfather would break the kola nut in his house before he left the house. The prayer invokes your chi, invokes Chukwu to guide your steps. It also invokes an internal ethics, don’t do to someone what you wouldn’t want done to you. That’s the traditional religious version.

When someone comes to visit you, you don’t do anything until the kola nut is broken by the owner of the house. By breaking it, you’re signifying that whatever you do in the house will not harm the others. Usually the oldest male present breaks it. At events, the kola nut is broken as a symbol of peaceful coexistence. But in some Igbo traditions, only women with titles can break it.

At weddings, the nut is divided into two. The father of the bride or the bride’s kinsmen offer the kola nut to the guests. There’s a prayer for the couple to have children. If it breaks into four segments, that’s a good omen, it means the couple will have luck, lots of babies. The kola nut affirms the union of families.

Reflection:

The informant’s story reminds me of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) framework. The kola nut ceremony has Turner’s “two poles of the symbolic”: a sensory pole (the nut, the breaking) and an ideological pole (prayer to Chukwu, peaceful coexistence). When the nut breaks into four segments, the ritual is complete and there is a superstition grants peace and mutual existence between the two parties. The “three chis” reveal how ritual encodes worldview.

Additonally, I believe this ritual combats the Western framework of ownership. The kola nut ceremony cannot be copyrighted, as it belongs to the Igbo community; however, ICH designation risks “fossilization” or freezing a practice that was never frozen. The informant’s great-grandfather did it. And the informant plans to do so in the near future, so the chain of the tradition won’t be broken.

Folk Sayings and Complaints

Age: 39
Hometown: Enid, OK
Location: Oklahoma

Context:
I first heard this phrase from my dad, who is originally from Oklahoma. He told me that he heard this saying from his parents and other older relatives and family friends. He uses it as a response if someone is complaining a lot.

Content:
“You’d complain if you were hung with a new rope”

Analysis:
This is a folk saying or proverb that is used to comment on one’s behavior. It utilizes an exaggeration as well as dark humor to reinforce a cultural value of toughness and not overreacting to minor problems. The phrase functions as a form of social regulation as it discourages complaints by making them seem menial or unreasonable. Overall, it shows how folklore communicates norms and expectations through memorable phrases.

“it’s spitting outside” for a light rain

Age: 20s Hometown: Tampa, FL (Originally Boston, MA) Occupation: Student

Context: The participant and I talking in our kitchen in our apartment. She is from the east coast, born in Maine, and has lived in Boston and Florida.

Text:

Me: “How heavy is it raining outside right now?”

Them: “Oh, it’s only spittin’ outside.”

Analysis: This is an example of folk speech, specifically a regional idiom used to describe a state of weather. When asked about where they heard it used most commonly, they said their family and grandparents who are from Boston originally even after moving to Florida they continued to use this idiom to express a light rain. Both places on the east coast are know for a lot of rain, so it is understandable that they might have multiple phrases to describe various degrees of precipitation.

Crossing the Street Expression

Age: 19

Text:
“The story I have to tell is an expression that my grandma says. She’s from Guatemala and came to the U.S. in the 80s. The town my grandma is from is really small. The expression that she says is, in Spanish, ‘Look both ways when you cross the street because you don’t know if it’s your dad driving. And even if it is, you don’t know if he’s drunk or not.’ People drink a lot in that little town, and it’s dark.”

Context:
A boy from Pamona, CA sharing a proverb that his grandma and other people from her town use when crossing the street. She is from a small town in Guatemala that has a big drinking culture.

Analysis:
This saying is likely a proverb passed down through generations to educate their children on safety when crossing the road, especially given that the town has such a large drinking culture. This also suggests that there may have been drunk-driving accidents in this town and that it is common for people to drive under the influence. Instead of changing the drinking culture of their community, they turn to educate their children on the risks of drunk driving. This has turned into a folk metaphor, passed down through generations.