Category Archives: Folk speech

Referee Insults

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Long Beach, California
Performance Date: 4/11/2020
Primary Language: English

Main piece:

“Get your dirty laundry off the field!”

Context: “In (American) football, the way for the referee to stop a play is to throw a flag in the air and then everyone will stop and they’ll announce what happened. (A penalty?) Yeah, a penalty. And then usually anytime you see that yellow, heinous thing fly in the air—cuz it’s probably gonna go against your team—you yell “get your dirty laundry off the field.”

Background Info: The informant is a close friend of mine in his early 20s. He’s lived in Long Beach, California his entire life and is an avid football fan. We played baritone in marching band together in high school, and I recall him insulting referees during football games. He does not know where he learned the insults from, but his family members and other people in the stands at games yelled similar things.

Thoughts: A lot of the animosity towards referees stems from their near-absolute power and authority over the game of football. Despite the fact that their job is to maintain the fairness and rules of the game they ref for, they’re often universally hated by fans on both sides due to the perception that they’re biased towards the other team, are corrupt, or make false and accidental calls. Under this lens, insults are a way to push back against authority, and the people who insult referees perceive themselves to be righteous and justified. I participated in referee insults a few times myself, and while I do think some people take the insults too far and referees are often abused by fans, most of these stock insults are not heard over the cacophony of noise at a football game. Instead, referee insults become a fun way to bond with other people in the crowd, much like chanting along to a cheer or singing along to a song played by the band.

“Zumped” Quarantine Folk Phrase

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: New york City
Performance Date: April 10, 2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: 

Informant- Last night I was zumped. My boyfriend and I hadn’t seen each other for a few weeks due to quarantine. He invited me to a zoom meeting last night and I was unsure what he needed. On the zoom he then explained that he was dumping me! Over zoom! 

Background: The informant recalls an interaction with her boyfriend where she was ‘zumped’. She used this word in a casual scenario combing the words zoom and dumped. This word and her phrasing poked fun at the odd scenario of being dumped through a video app. 

Context: The informant is a young adult, 22 years old and lives in New York City. Above are the words from the Informant using the phrase Zumped. She used this phrase in a casual conversation recalling the events from the night before. 

Thoughts: The combination of the word Zoom and Dumping is an interesting way for people to bring some humor to an odd scenario. This time of quarantine is very liminal, allowing for many new adaptations of folklore. This new phrase ‘zumping’ is popular because couples who can’t quarantine together are being forced to go their separate ways. This liminal time period has introduced many uncertainties and testing intimate relationships forcing them to communicate through zoom. 

A Bird In The Hand Is Better Than Two In The Bush

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: Real Estate Investment Management
Residence: Charleston, South Carolina
Performance Date: 3/19/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Interviewer: So what proverb did you want to share with me today?

Subject: A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.

Interviewer: What does that mean?

Subject: It means… what you have and what you can see and what you can hold is better than what you might be able to get somewhere else… that’s uncertain.

Interviewer: Huh!

Subject: In other words, go with certainty.

Interviewer: Who told you that one? Do you remember who told you it?

Subject: Old people told me it. Believe it or not even older than me.

Interviewer: Wow. That’s pretty old.

Context: The subject is a middle-aged white man, born and raised in Tiverton, Rhode Island, and currently residing in Charleston, South Carolina. His parents are Ashkenazi Jews and his ancestors come from Russia. He is my father, and we are currently quarantined together in Charleston due to the Coronavirus pandemic. One evening after dinner, I asked him to share any folklore he heard of when he was younger.

Interpretation: I had never heard this proverb before. I did more research on it and found that the subject’s account of the proverb differed slightly from the more popular version I found upon which goes, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” The proverb is a well-known English proverb, and was likely adapted from other languages. Specifically, warnings against risk-taking are apparently very common for English Proverbs. The proverb was likely brought to America by English migrants between the 17th and 18th century. Based on what I personally know about the subject and his older family, this proverb is very applicable to them. They definitely value certainty and safety, and are not the risk-taking types. The subject has certainly tried to instill those values onto myself.

For more on this English Proverb, go to:

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-bird-in-the-hand.html

“I’ve Had The Radish”

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 49
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Kansas City, MO
Performance Date: 4/18/20
Primary Language: English

Main piece:

“I’ve had the radish” as a saying of exasperation and general exhaustion with someone or something.

Background:

My informant is a 49 year old woman living in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up in Joplin but moved around during her 20s, living for some period in Philadelphia. There, she worked for a large non-profit and one of the women there, named Tamar, commonly used this phrase in an exasperated reaction to something. Eventually, the informant and her fellow coworkers and friends started using it out of habit without fully understanding its origin or meaning. Much later, they researched it and they believe it comes from the practice of eating a radish at the end of dinner to clean one’s pallet. Now, it is used in her family and amongst her friends as a statement of finality with something or someone.

Context:

I have heard this phrase throughout my life but this exchange happened in her living room following my asking if she knew of any folklore sayings.

Thoughts:

For me, part of the appeal of this phrase is the strangeness of it to someone outside of a culture that uses it. For other similar sayings bound to a specific saying, generally I feel as though one can roughly figure out at least part of what is being said with it. However, from an outsider’s perspective, the phrase “I’ve had the radish” seemingly has very little to do with one being at the end of their patience. This point was emphasized by my informant who also found interest in the phrase originated in utter confusion. In this regard, the phrase can serve as an indicator for who is within a specific culture. The other major component of this phrase is the ties to an agricultural life in an urban environment. The notion of eating a radish as a palette cleanser for a meal is mostly only applicable to those that have consistent radish crops. The assumption is therefore that this phrase has ties to a more agricultural culture. While a modern world might not have this tradition of eating a radish at the end of dinner, by using the phrase, the culture remains alive albeit in a new form. 

Coronavirus Joke

Nationality: Bangladeshi, American
Age: 25
Occupation: QA Tester
Residence: Aletta Blvd, Culver City, CA
Performance Date: 04/05/2020
Primary Language: English

Context: The following is a joke told by the informant, my friend, in person when hiking before the trails were closed. 

Background: For a while early in the lockdown period, my friends and I continued hiking while maintaining social distancing rules set by the state. While doing so, one of them told us perhaps the most common and overused joke since the pandemic began.

Main piece: 

Q: What goes great with a Coronavirus?

A: Lyme disease

Analysis: The joke plays on the fact that Coronavirus has the word ‘corona’ in it, a common brand of beer, and that ‘Lyme’ sounds like ‘lime’, which is commonly put in beer. Although it is merely a joke, there was some concern about Corona beer according to some surveys, although Corona itself claims that is misinformation and that their business is doing very well. This joke is a bit dark in that it directly uses serious diseases for it’s punchline.