Category Archives: Folk speech

Water that you shall not drink, let it flow

Context:

A is a Mexican immigrant and has lived in the United States for roughly 30 years now. They are unable to visit their homeland frequently so they find ways to reconnect with their culture through television shows like Mexican soap operas. These are typically called novellas.

The context of this piece was when we were watching a novella and one of the protagonists was caught in an affair.

Text:

A: “Y por eso dicen que Agua que no has de beber, déjala correr”

Me: ¿Y qué quiere decir eso?

A: “Bueno, digamos que por muy tentador que sea algo como el agua, si sabes que no debes beberla, evítala con todas tus fuerzas. No seas un tonto como lo fue él al ser atrapado en una aventura.”

//Translation:

A: And that’s why they say, “Water that you shall not drink, let it flow.

Me: “And what is that supposed to mean?”

A: “Well, let’s just say that no matter how tempting something like water is, if you know you shouldn’t drink it, avoid it with all your might. Don’t be a fool like he was by getting caught in an affair.”

Analysis:

Within the Mexican culture, proverbs like these are commonly used on regular conversations are are called “dichos.” This particular dicho is about love.  Dichos like the one said by A are meant to guide lovers in their relationships in the hope of helping them have a prosperous relationship. This dicho serves as a warning for lovers that are guilty of surrendering to carnal pleasures or emotional relationships with others. The warning the proverb gives is to not give into the temptations one holds and to keep it as a reminder of what to avoid in life. This proverb is typically said so that a person doesn’t “dar alas” (give wings) to anyone. To give someone wings means to give someone hope that you’re interested in them when in reality you’re not. Giving someone “wings” depicts the perpetrator as untrustworthy and unreliable and stains their reputation in the community. Overall, the proverb suggests that a short-term relationship is not worth the trouble it would cause in the future. I found this this proverb really interesting because its purpose is to serve as both a warning and reminder for lovers. I enjoyed learning this one because I know it could apply to various situations and is easy to be memorized,

Stiff Upper Lip

Background:

Informant (A) is a British international student studying at USC and grew up in London for his whole life.

Main Piece:

I: Okay, so have you ever heard of the phrase “stiff upper lip” and do you know what sort of context it’s used in?

A: Yes, I think that, um, the phrase kinda refers to people who are a little more serious and aren’t really as in touch with their emotions and don’t really like to have as much kinda fun, and aren’t so playful, and I think generally yeah, it is used to, you can use it to describe British people sometimes, because I think that a lot of British people are known to be kind of very, kind of, strong workers who kind of just drink tea and are grumpy and don’t really like, uh, I mean they just like to complain about things all the time. That’s a big staple of the UK, complaining, it’s massive.

Context:

I had heard the phrase “stiff upper lip” at a talk by Tan France (Pakistani-British) who claimed British people were less emotional compared to Americans, and wondered if my informant also knew about this phrase.

Analysis:

The phrase is an example of blason populaire. The idea that British people are less emotional is a stereotype and also a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy—as my informant (jokingly) states, complaining is “a big staple of the UK, complaining, it’s massive”, so there is possibly a bit of pride in embracing this stereotype as well. At my original encounter of this piece of folklore, Tan France used this phrase in front of an overwhelming majority of Americans. Blason populaire is one method of separating people via their identity and creates a generalization of people that belong to that identity which can either poke fun at people who don’t belong to that identity or at themselves. I believe Tan France was utilizing the former in his performance, while my informant was leaning towards the latter. My informant later gives many possible reasons why this image of British people may exist, from the idea that this may have stemmed from wartime so “the fun gene was destroyed” and there is much more judgment within UK society as a result, or that weather in the UK is generally gray and rainy (compared to LA which is notably more sunny). Within his reasons, he consistently refers back to American people as a point of comparison, further proving the point of blason populaire as separation.

AI Poem

Background:

Informant (T) is a student studying at USC.

Main Piece:

“Nothing is so good or so bad that it can’t be both at the same time.”

Context:

“My friend likes to create poems using AI, and this was a sentence made from one of them, and we like to use it a lot now.”

Analysis: 

The usage of digital technology in folklore is now a primary topic of debate. Whether or not this saying can be constituted as folklore could certainly be contested, but as according to my informant, they use it amongst their group, thus being passed around orally. Folklore studies are also generally less concerned with the origin of a piece of folklore in recent years, so despite the technological origins of this piece, I believe it still counts as folklore. This particular saying is both vague and universal enough that it emulates an actual proverb, which are popular as they are short and easily understood, and also embody a form of historical wisdom. In this case, the saying speaks on moral balance and the inherent gray nature of things (rather than having a clearly defined good vs. evil), which perhaps aligns with the moral compass of my informant and his circle of contacts.

Using digital technology as a means to create folklore also raises interesting questions on copyright and ownership, which are also increasingly prevalent discussions in the 21st century. While my informant didn’t specifically touch on ownership, it is highly possible that such pieces of digitally-created media are then owned by its creator (perhaps the most prominent example of this would be NFTs), and while in this case the saying is attributed to my friend, if it spreads across a larger population, the origin of such a saying could eventually become blurred.

Hair Of the Dog

Background:

Informant is an Australian student who has lived in Australia for most of her life.

“I’d drink a beer the morning after. Y’know—hair of the dog, when you drink to cure a hangover?’

Context:

Informant and I were discussing the option of beer as a beverage at a restaurant. She mentioned she would want to order one sometime in the future.

Analysis:

“Hair of the dog” is a colloquial expression that is a folk remedy. As a colloquialism, it is completely separate from alcohol and drinking, therefore creating an in and out group of drinkers and non-drinkers who may not understand the usage of this phrase and thus potentially lessening any shame or judgment that may be given if admitting to drinking alcohol. As a folk remedy, this uses the logic of homeopathic magic—a desired result, which is relieving the side effects of consuming alcohol, is achieved through mimicking it, drinking alcohol. The actual proof of this belief may or may not exist, but since such a remedy is popular enough as alcohol is widely-consumed globally (and as hangovers don’t necessarily have actual cures), the belief in this remedy is able to continue.

C-47

Background:

The informant is a sophomore studying Film Production at USC.

Main Piece:

“Yeah, we usually call things by like, their names, but I guess it’s not technically their names either… like how those fresnels are ‘tweenies’ or ‘baby baby’ or something. Oh, you know what’s the stupidest one? C-47s. Like, I just want to know who came up with that one, it’s so dumb.”

Context:

I asked my informant about any specific terms they’ve heard on film sets. The “C-47s” that the informant mentions is jargon for clothespins on film sets. Fresnels are a specific type of light.

Analysis:

This is an example of occupational folklore. To an outsider, using these terms may be confusing, but within film sets, this jargon is generally standard knowledge, though there are variations depending on regions. In usage, one would generally hear jargon in a conversational setting (eg. “Can you hand me a C-47?” “Can you set up a tweenie?”) There are a variety of stories and reasons why the word “C-47” is used for clothespins, probably the biggest one is that it’s much shorter and more informal to use. Personally, I think the word itself is a bit pretentious (and the informant also mentions that), but people will generally still throw around the term because it’s more in use.