Category Archives: Folk speech

Friendship Protocol

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cornell University
Performance Date: 4/12/18
Primary Language: English

Keep your friends close and enemies closer.

When my brother went to college, he encountered a lot of difficulties making friends. He explained to me how keeping his friends close and enemies closer really helped him. If your friends are close, you trust them and have a compliance that they will not do anything bad to you. Your enemies, however, will. You never know what information they have about you, so it’s important to get to know every single person that you meet. While you may not know that someone is your enemy, it is important to learn things about every individual you and counter just in case of a scenario that May hurt you. When you have a situation where someone can have leverage on you, your enemy, it is important to also have leverage on them so you will not be completely thrown under the bus. You normally don’t have to worry about these kinds of things with your friends, because well, they are your friends.

 

“Life isn’t fair.”

Nationality: American
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: 29 Mar 2018
Primary Language: English

“Mom, like, really doesn’t like the idea of proverbs, so I wouldn’t tell her this is one. It definitely comes from her being an English Professor and having to read lots of student stories where the just write the same really cliché stuff and like try to sound deep or poetic by repeating things they’ve read, which I agree would but super frustrating. But, anyways, she doesn’t like proverbs, but there’s this one phrase she’s always saying. And it’s “life isn’t fair.” Which, I mean, I don’t know if it’s really a proverb, but it’s something a lot of people say in response to stuff. It gets really annoying, like, you know, sometimes you just want to complain about something, but she uses it to shut you up. I mean, like, maybe life isn’t fair, but maybe it should be.”

I asked one of my informants if she had any proverbs she used frequently, and she told me that she never uses proverbs. She hates how they become a crutch for people who are too lazy to try to actually articulate what they want to say precisely. While I accepted her argument, I found it a little suspicious that someone could go entirely without using any proverbs. So, I decided to get a different perspective from her daughter, who revealed she was perhaps as not a purely original as she thought. This just goes to show how essential folk-speech is to language. After all, almost all of our formative language-learning comes from hearing grown-ups talk while we are babies, not from any sort of formalized guide—although many books to exists to help children learn, and when we are older, we grow our skills and vocabulary by reading complex works. Even if we actively try to avoid simply repeating sayings, it is impossible to avoid picking up phrases.

“Yike”

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Portland, OR
Performance Date: 26 Mar 2018
Primary Language: English

COLLECTOR: “So what’s the difference between ‘yike’ and ‘yikes’?”
INFORMANT: “Asking that’s a little yike, isn’t it?”
C: “Sure, but it’s for the archives.”
I: “Alright. Well… ‘yikes’ is just the word, right? Like you say it whenever—whenever something kind of bad happens. But ‘yike’ is more specific. You only say ‘yike’ to people who know what it means.”
C: “And what does it mean?”
I: “I mean, it’s like ‘yikes’ but for, um, like, cringey things, not just any bad stuff.”
C: “Can you give an example?”
I: “Um, like if we were sitting here and overheard someone say something kinda racist or sexist—especially if we knew he said a lot of kinda racist or sexist things, like, regularly—I might turn to you and raise my eyebrows and say ‘yike.’ I guess.”
C: “So there’s a context of an ‘in’ crowd required to say ‘yike’?”
I: “Sure. I don’t really know if anyone other than our friends use it. But, um, yeah, there are definitely like ‘yikey’ people we all know about.”

This piece of folk-speech was shared by a high-school friend of mine whom I called him to ask if he could think of any folklore from or our time in together. The slang exclamation “yike” and its associated adjective “yikey” came up. As his explanation of the term suggests, like a lot of folk-speech, its precise definition proves difficult to nail down, seeing as using it relies heavily on the participants in the conversation and the conversation’s context. Generally, ‘yike’ seems to be used by my informant’s group of friends heavily involved in social justice, to respond in a sarcastic manner to people who are slightly racist, misogynist, or just less-informed than them about social issues. Thus, saying ‘yike’ not only comments directly on something, but establishes a bond of recognition and respect between those saying it, who are aware enough to point out when others are acting or speaking unthoughtfully.

“Pogchamp”

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Portland, OR
Performance Date: 26 Mar 2017
Primary Language: English

“Well, it comes from games—I mean, my friends and I all play Overwatch [a competitive online team shooter] and at the end of every game it awards one player with Play of the Game. And everybody likes getting that, but they also all know it’s a computer deciding, so it doesn’t really understand the nuances of strategy and stuff, so the Play of the Game it says was never really the most important thing someone did in the match. So, um, “Pogchamp” is just Play of the Game [POG] and champion mashed together. But it’s kind of in that gray area of half satirical, like you can call someone a pogchamp when they do something cool or impressive, or like hook up with a girl or something, but it also really can mean that that person is taking their accomplishment too seriously or being obnoxious about themself, so it takes on a double meaning quickly, but also it’s only ever used in a friendly way, like if I actually wanted to call someone out for bragging I’d just say it.”

This piece of folk-speech was shared by a high-school friend of mine whom I called him to ask if he could think of any folklore from or our time in together. The gaming slang term “pogchamp” came up. As his explanation of the term suggests, like a lot of folk-speech, its precise definition proves difficult to nail down, seeing as using it relies heavily on the participants in the conversation and the conversation’s context. “Pogchamp” is much more universal than a lot of specific slang words, because of it near-universal adoption by the English-speaking online gaming community. The popular video game streaming website Twitch even has a “pogchamp” emoji users can type in chats. However, we see that the term has a special meaning for my informant’s specific group of friends, as well, demonstrating its multiplicity and variation.

Anthropologist Proverbial Joke

Nationality: Mexican-Armenian-American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 27 Mar 2018
Primary Language: English

“My old anthropology teacher got this from her old anthropology teacher, but they say ‘to be an anthropologist, you have to be a little crazy,’ because, well, we spend a lot of time dressing up in other cultures.”

This occupational proverbial joke came from a classmate with whom I exchanged lore. She herself is an Anthropology major, explaining the specifics of this telling. However, I have heard the exact same setup, “you have to be a little crazy to be a ____,” used for just about any profession you can think of. The multiplicity and variation of this piece of folklore come across in the universal applicability of the joke.
Although this joke may seem self-deprecating at first, it is really a way for people to take pride in their profession. The meaning is not, “we’re all crazy,” but “we are willing to drive ourselves a little crazy because we care so much about doing to work because we know it is important.” The fact that my informant heard this from her professor demonstrates its practical uses. As well as simply communicating pride, telling occupation folklore like this can help bring others into the community. By telling my informant this joke, and emphasizing its longstanding history through the ‘original’ source, her professor likely helped instill in her a respect for the field of anthropology and those who practice it.