Category Archives: Folk speech

Monkey and Baboon Limerick

Occupation: College Student
Performance Date: February 2021
Primary Language: English

Context:

Informant SG was a current undergraduate student at the Univerity of Southern California at the time of this collection. I met with SG on a Zoom call to exchange family folklore.

“My grandfather has like a gross limerick that he likes to say to shock and amuse. The context you’d say it in would be like as a non-sequitur specifically meant to disrupt the conversation.”

Text:

“Monkey and baboon sitting in the grass. The Monkey stuck a finger up the baboon’s ass. Said the baboon, Damn your soul! Get your finger out of my asshole!”

Analysis:

When speaking with SG, that their “grandfather is fun at parties.” The performance of this particular folk speech would likely result in immediate shock or laughter. As absurd as it might sound in context, I am inclined to think that this piece of folk speech speaks to the values of SG’s grandfather and anyone else who repeats it. In using a non-sequitur folk saying such as this, it can be assumed that the speaker sees value and maybe even finds joy in spontaneity and laughter more than in formal conversations. If the performance were to be delivered properly, it is possible that the speaker might actually be utilizing this folk speech to promote and accelerate their relationship with listeners. By establishing themselves as a light-hearted, spontaneous individual, this work to convince listeners to rely on them for a laugh or to keep conversations going/interesting.

“Toi Toi Toi” – Folk Speech for Performing Artists

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: College Student
Residence: California, USA
Performance Date: 04/18/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: n/a

Context:

Informant AT was a current undergraduate student at The University of Southern California pursuing their BFA in Dance at the time of this collection. AT has been training in multiple dance genres since they were young. Dancing has allowed AT to travel around the world where they have had the opportunity to perform for and learn from many different dance artists.

When speaking with AT, they described a folk speech they heard while in Europe that was said to AT and other dancers just before a performance.

Text:

“Toi toi toi”

This folk speech is similar to saying “break a leg” in that it means “good luck” and/or “have a great show.” AT mentioned that this can be said verbally or written in a card, but they have only ever heard/seen it while performing in European countries, not the United States.

Analysis:

After hearing about this from AT, believe that this particular folk speech functions to direct well wishes to performers without explicitly saying it. Wishing someone “good luck” explicitly is believed to have the opposite effect. Since performers are usually faced with anxieties or “stage fright” before performing, there became a need for a different way of expressing one’s well-intended wishes. This folk speech meets this need while simultaneously creating “insiders” (the performers) and “outsiders” (non-performers). If an outsider were to hear this folk speech it wouldn’t have any significance and might even puzzle them. As a performer, you learn and adopt the customs and sayings of other performers that you come into contact with. This allows for the transfer of the unofficial knowledge/meaning of “toi toi toi.”

Annotation:

This folk speech is similar to another that can be found in the USC Folklore Archive. See this variation here:

Keeney, Samuel, and Samuel Keeney. “University of Southern California.” USC Digital Folklore Archives, 17 May 2020, uscfolklorearc.wpenginepowered.com/saying-merde-instead-of-break-a-leg-for-ballet/.

German Sauage Proverb

Occupation: College Student
Performance Date: February 2021
Primary Language: English

Context:

Informant SG was a current undergraduate student at the Univerity of Southern California at the time of this collection. I met with SG on a Zoom call to exchange family folklore.

SG mentioned, “The context would be as advice to someone dreading an ending or waiting for something to be over. Any time an inevitable end is applicable. Plus, it has sausage in it.”

Text:

“Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei.”

Which translates to

“Everything has an end, only the sausage has two.”

Analysis:

An analysis of this proverb might give insight into the attitudes Germans share in regards to inevitable ends. This proverb could possibly be used in a variety of scenarios. One scenario being when someone is desiring for a dreadful/boring/painful circumstance to come to and another instance being when someone is desiring for an enjoyable circumstance to last for longer. In both cases, the German attitude regarding endings is that all phases/events in life have some definite end. This could even suggest that Germans might view time in a more linear fashion with a clear beginning and end as opposed to a cyclical view in which time would go on continuously in a repeated way.

The second half of this proverb helps to distinguish itself as German. Germany is known for its sausages in that Germans regularly engage in both the making and eating of sausage. Not only does this element of the proverb help distinguish it as German, it too offers insights about the shared attitudes of Germans in regards to time and inevitable ends. In saying “only the sausage has two (ends),” this proverb becomes more relatable and offers an opportunity for laughter/humor. Further analysis of this proverb in its intended context could perhaps show the degree of seriousness with which Germans view time and inevitable ends. I am inclined to think that by including a sausage into a proverb, which is often regarded for its timeless wisdom, that Germans might view time in a light-hearted and spirited way. By sharing this proverb with someone who is dreading an end of either a painful or enjoyable circumstance, perhaps the speaker is reminding the listener to not take their current circumstances so seriously.

Ambarabà ciccì coccò

Nationality: Italian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Bologna, Italy
Performance Date: 04/26/2021
Primary Language: Italian
Language: English

Main piece:

«Ambarabà ciccì coccò
tre civette sul comò
che facevano l’amore
con la figlia del dottore;
il dottore si ammalò 
ambarabà ciccì coccò!»

Transliteration: 
Ambarabà ciccì coccò, three owls on the dresser, which made love with the doctor’s daughter; the doctor got sick, ambarabà ciccì coccò.

[there is not a proper translation as also in Italian it does’t have a metaphorical or deeper sense, as the main purpose is the one for the words to rhyme one with the other and sort of articulate and give rhythm to the count children should do with it]

Background:

My informant is a 19 year old girl who was born in Crotone, Calabria(Southern Italy), but who spent most of her lifetime in Bologna (Italy). She claimed this piece to be an “integral part” of her up-bringing and childhood, and while recounting this to me, she naturally started to intone this rhyme, while pointing the fingers to me and the other people present. In fact, this nursery rhyme is usually performed with hand-gestures, in which fingers point people in a group so to ‘do the count’. 

Context: (the context of the performance)

My informant performed this over a dinner, in which other friends were present, and they all started to participate in the ‘practice’.

Thoughts:

This nursery rhyme is extremely interesting from multiple perspective. 

First of all, it is something which, despite being directly associated to infantry and childhood, is used by adults as well, especially in the context of folk-speech. For example, if you do not know what to choose between two options, people will say to you “do Ambarabà ciccì coccò” which basically mans ‘do the count’ —something similar to what in English would be toss a coin. 

Another curious aspect of it, it’s its evolution throughout time. I have, indeed, recently discovered that, in the original version, the verse “tre civette sul comò che facevano l’amore con la figlia del dottore” actually was “tre civette sul comò che facevano timore alla figlia del dottore”, which translated would be “three owls on the dresser which intimidated the doctor’s daughter”. This gives a complete new value to the song, as it shows how some means of expressions and communication young children have -like folk-songs or rhymes- are used by them in the attempt of approaching the adult’s world. Int his case, the fact that the three owls, from frightening the girl, make love with her, (beside the strange and quite perverse connotation) transform and include a grown-up thematic into a playful song. In this way, children not only indirectly get closer to a new and mature topic, but they can also be directly advised against certain behaviors. Particularly, little girls are advised not to act like the doctor’s daughter did, who, by making love with the three birds, made his father become ill. 

“Il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler”

Nationality: Italian
Age: 63
Occupation: Businessman
Residence: Bologna
Performance Date: 03/28/2021
Primary Language: Italian
Language: French, Spanish

Main piece:

“Il faut tourner sept fois sa langue dans sa bouche avant de parler”

Transliteration: 

Il faut: It’s necessary

tourner: to rotate

sept fois: seven times

sa langue: the tongue

dans sa bouche: inside the mouth

avant: before

de parler: speaking

Translation: Before saying something, you ought to think well about your words / Think before you speak

Background:

P.S.: My father used to tell this a lot…my aunt as well. There are similar sayings in Italian as well, but…hum I don’t know, my father sometimes just switched to French to make concepts more vivid.

My informant is my father, who was born in Belgium from Italian immigrants and who spent the first years of his life in Mons, before moving to Italy. Even after his transferring, he continued to visit many times each year his native country, also because much of his family still lived there. Since really young he was told many French proverbs, especially by his parents and by those family members who continued to live in Belgium.

Context:

My informant and other relatives of mine told me several times multiple French proverbs, and, in this particular case, we were in the informant’s living room.

Thoughts:

I believe each culture presents a similar proverb, which encourages everyone to think carefully about his or her own actions and words, as they could easily affect or, even, damage the other. At the same time, it invites people at thinking logically and reasoning reflectively on something before acting, as it often happens that impulsive behaviors or decisions are the ones a person can regrets the most.

This sort of saying has been a fundamental part of my up-bringing, it being repeatedly mentioned to me in multiple occasions by family members.