Category Archives: folk simile

It’s like carrying wood to a forest

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hanoi, Vietnam
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: Vietnamese
Language: English, FInnish

Although she is from Vietnam, my informant attends college in Finland. When I interviewed her, she was at USC for a semester abroad. Even though she has been living in Finland for the past few years, the folklore she is familiar with is very strongly influenced by her Vietnamese upbringing.

 

Below is one of the folk similes that she says her family regularly uses. (picture of text in Vietnamese attached)

 

Translated, it means “It’s like carrying wood to the forest.”

 

This simile’s message is one of redundancy. A forest is already filled with wood. It would be pointless to bring more.

 

My informant also gave me a hypothetical situation in which this simile would be used. “My mom has a seafood store. If I was to go to the beach, and bring food from the ocean, she’d use this expression, because we already have plenty of sea food, and I don’t need to bring more.”

 

I asked her why this particular folk simile centers on wood as being abundant, and if Vietnam is particularly forested. She said it wasn’t.

 

This simile is similar to the English simile of, “It’s like carrying coals to Newcastle.”

 

Hang Loose

Nationality: American
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: Chino Hills, California
Performance Date: 4/24/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

Hang loose like the balls of a moose

My informant learned this expression at Carroll College in Wisconsin. People said the phrase when they were going to go out to party. Sometimes hang loose can mean to relax, but in this context is was to let down your barriers and party hard. This was a common expression among the students especially on weekends. My informant has not used the phrase very often since college as my informant said it was more of a youthful expression.

This expression could have come into existence as a result of two cultures combing. The vulgarity of it and the sentiment came from a college environment where people were encouraged to party and drink, especially as the drinking at was 18 in Wisconsin at the time. The “ball of a moose” part came from being in Wisconsin where moose sightings would have been much more common than in other states like California or even Illinois where my informant was from. The balls moose are evidently very loose and it fit well in the area combined with the demographic the saying appealed to.

“Mad as a cut snake”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/19/12
Primary Language: English

Originally something he heard from his dad, this is a folk simile my informant sometimes uses. He told me his dad spent a lot of time in Australia, which is where he picked it up. It’s used to talk about someone who is angry or annoyed, comparing them to a snake that has been cut. I’d never heard the simile before, but it makes sense, since people always say to be careful around snakes and that disturbing them all could make them angry enough to attack you. Cutting them would provoke an even larger response then. It’s also clear why this came from Australia rather than America, for example; Australia is a place where dangerous snakes are more common.

My informant said he liked the saying because it’s different; he hasn’t heard other people use it really. It also reminds him of his father, a man he loves and respects. I heard him use it once when describing a bar fight which erupted after one man slapped another in the face. The man who had been slapped was embarrassed, since he took it as a shameful thing to be slapped, and he became very angry. My informant said he got as “mad as a cut snake.”

“Hotter Than a Box in a Forest Fire”

Nationality: American/ Mexican
Age: 50
Occupation: Contractor
Residence: Sacramento, California
Performance Date: April 18th 2012
Primary Language: English

My informant first heard this phrase when he was a young boy, originally as “Hotter than a fox in a box in a forest fire” but over time, began saying the phrase without the fox included. He says it is just quicker to say.

He is from Sacramento, California and grew up hunting and fishing outside the city and in the mountains near Lake Tahoe. He is not quite sure if he heard the phrase from his father, grandfather, or uncle, but thinks he may have learned it while on a hunting trip with them.

The phrase refers to a person feeling very hot temperature-wise, to the point often of sweating or feeling uncomfortable. My informant says he uses the phrase most when in a hot car, or in a crowded, stuffy room.

A forest fire is known for being dangerous due to the fast pace with which the fire spreads. With loads of trees to burn as fuel, and abundant oxygen, the fire is very hard to contain. Forest fires most often occur when it has been very hot and very dry, usually during the summer. The heat of the fire, plus the heat of the summer air, makes an intensely hot combination.

Now a fox, is a forest dweller, known for its red colored fur, and red is the color of heat. People once hunted fox for their fur, which was used for warmth, so we know a fox is already well insulated from cold. In a box, surrounded by fire, that is basically raging uncontrollably, in an already hot temperature, we can safely assume the fox would be burning alive. So the simile maintains that a person is extremely hot, if they are hotter than a fox in a box in a forest fire!

As All Get Out!

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, USC
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English

The following Southern expression was explained by someone who has mostly lived in the South (U.S.). He first, and most frequently encountered it in the state of Alabama:

“It’s really an emphatic expression. Basically you can say something [any noun] is as something [any adjective] as all get out!

For example, ‘That’s as cool as all get out!’ “

The informant has no background knowledge on the source or meaning of the phrase, and recognizes that it is definitely a rare one even in the context of the South.

Despite it’s apparent rareness this phrase showcases some of the most important characteristics of Southern speech. The phrase makes an active effort to avoid cursing, while still suggesting that the enactor was tempted to. That makes the phrase an expression of extreme feeling whether excitement or disapproval. You would be alerted to the severity of whatever prompted the phrase by the employing of Southern speech to express it properly. The phrase is also composed so that it may be reusable, any number of words could be inserted and although the meaning would change, it would remain a distinctly southern phrase.