Category Archives: Folk speech

“Ponte Las Pilas”

  1. “Ponte Las Pilas”- Hispanic Proverb

Context : CL is a Mexican American student at USC. Her parents are from Michoacan, Mexico and her family currently resides near Bakersfield, California. She’s not sure where this saying originated from but she knows that it’s mainly used a lot when people graduate. She thinks it’s a saying that’s become popular among people in Hispanic culture. While explaining it, she also thought of another similar saying: “Ponte Trucha”. 

Description (From Transcript): 

CL: Okay so “ponte las pilas” is like you have to constantly be on your guard… you have to like make sure that you’re on top of things, that you don’t fall behind… The literal translation would be “put your batteries on” or “put on your batteries”. Figuratively it would be like… you have to start grinding, working hard. I think “ponte trucha” is kinda similar, like stay aware. 

Interviewer: What does trucha mean??

CL: *laughs* I have NO idea. My mom tells me this, like whenever… if we’re talking about something and she tells me something I didn’t know and I’m like “oh, what?”, she’s like “yeah, ponte trucha”. 

Interviewer: ohhhh, like smarten up kind of?

CL: Yeah! Or like if I am telling her about something that happened to me and she’s like “oh, well you should have done this” and she’s like “ponte trucha”. I think I’ve only heard this from my mom. I think she got it from her family or friends or something. Both of my parents are from [Michoacan]. 

My Interpretation: The way that I interpret this proverb is that humans often work like machinery and when they put their batteries in, they function at their best. I also think it might be a common saying among Hispanic communities because they were so largely disenfranchised from higher education therefore when people graduated high school and decided to go to college, families encouraged them to work extra hard with this saying. As for the second phrase, I think it adds to ideas such as “working hard” and “working smart”. It also makes sense that parents would tell their children these phrases because they would want them to succeed and do their best in all contexts of their lives, whether it be in education or everyday situations like my informant described for the second phrase. 

For further reading on this proverb, see: 

Pearson. “Ponte Las Pilas – Meaning, Origin and Usage.” English-Grammar-Lessons.com, 2 Feb. 2022, english-grammar-lessons.com/ponte-las-pilas-meaning/. 

Dried Sausages

Content: 

Original: Ces six saucissons-secs-ci sont si secs qu’on ne sait si s’en sont.

Translation: These six dried sausages are so dry that we don’t know if they are.

Background: K is a 22 year old from Fairfax County, Virginia. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. K has spoken French for nine years. 

Context: This tongue-twister was told to me at a hangout among friends.

Analysis: I thought this tongue-twister was interesting because the informant, K, did not grow up around French speaking people. Instead, he began learning French in middle school, where his teacher taught them this tongue-twister. Despite learning the tongue-twister nearly a decade ago, it’s stuck with him.

Don Pepito

Content: 

Original: Don Pepito el bandolero, se cayó dentro un sombrero, el sombrero era de paja, se cayó dentro una caja. La caja era de cartón, se cayó dentro un cajón. El cajón era de pino, se cayó dentro un pepino. El pepino maduró, Don Pepito se salvó.

Translation: 

Don Pepito the bandit, a hat fell onto him, the hat was made of straw, a box fell into it. The box was made of cardboard, it fell into a drawer. The drawer was made of pine, a cucumber fell into it. The cucumber ripened, Don Pepito was saved.

Background: The informant, S, was born in Colombia and raised in suburban North Carolina by Colombian parents.

Context: This tongue-twister was told to me at a hangout among friends.

Analysis: I was drawn to this example of folklore because I don’t remember the last time I heard a tongue-twister in English. S said that her father and uncles often make the recitation of the tongue-twister into a competition at family events. As a result, it becomes a part of a game.

Hush little baby…

Content:

“Hush little baby, don’t say a word

Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird

And if that mockingbird won’t sing, 

Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring

And if that diamond ring turns to brass,

Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,

Mama’s gonna buy you a mountain goat.”

Background: The informant, S, is a 21 year old who grew up in the southeast United States. Her mother often sang her this song to get her to fall asleep as a child. S’s mother and grandmother are from the southeast U.S., as well. 

Context: S asked her mother what the lyrics to the “mockingbird lullaby” she often sang to S were. S then typed the lyrics and sent them to me via email. 

Analysis: This song, which is sung to babies to fall asleep, is thought to be a regional lullaby for the Southeast United States. It was first collected in Virginia in 1918, and another version with different lyrics was found shortly after in North Carolina. S heard this song when she was living in Georgia. 

See also: For a published literary adaptation of this lullaby, see: Frazee, Marla. Hush, Little Baby: A Folk Song with Pictures. United States, Browndeer Press, 2003.

Pombinha Branca

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 55
Occupation: Stay at Home
Residence: Brazil
Performance Date: 2022
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: Spanish

S. is a 55-year-old female Brazilian immigrant from Sao Paolo and the rural vineyard areas of Brazil. She has lived in the U.S. for about seven years. She says this song was popular around the rural areas and her mother sang it around the house as she cleaned.

This was near an area in San Antonio with a large Brazilian population around all the Brazilian steakhouses. We were picking her and her family up from their work.

Pombinha branca, que está fazendo?
Lavando roupa pro casamento
Vou me lavar, vou me trocar
Vou na janela pra namorar
Passou um moço, de terno branco
Chapéu de lado, meu namorado
Mandei entrar
Mandei sentar
Cuspiu no chão
Limpa aí seu porcalhão!

/

Little White dove, what are you doing?

Washing laundry for the wedding.

I’m going to wash up, I’m going to get changed,

I’m going to the window to flirt.

 A young man in a white suit,

 Hat tilted to the side, my sweetheart,

 I had him come in,

 I had him sit down He spat on the floor.

 Clean up your filth there,

Have better manners.

Pombinha Blanca is a folk song or traditional lullaby sung in a playful key that quickly turns furious both in tempo and key after the “spitting on the floor.” S. mentioned the lullaby reinforced some funny gender norms, encouraging harmony, but presenting the consequences of masculinity spilling over into sloppiness. In this entry, the folk song intended for children indirectly teaches gender norms just as Oring cites in his chapter, Children’s folklore in Folk Groups and Folk Genres. After establishing the social norms of feminine presentations and its rituals.