Category Archives: Folk speech

“That’s a lot of paint.”

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 58
Occupation: University Professor
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: 29 Mar 2018
Primary Language: English

“That was my father’s personal thing, but my husband says it too because he learned it from my father. It has to no just be a lot of paint, it has to be a lot of paint on a painting that is terrible, like you’re looking for something halfway okay to say about it.
“Well, and also, I think it is sort of like part of a larger tradition, which is when you go to someone’s exhibit, you have to say something, and you can’t say anything terrible, right? So, the other thing that you would say was that it was ‘interesting.’
“I think ‘that’s a lot of paint’ is pretty condescending.
“That was a tradition, right? The variety of—like, if you went to an exhibit and the artist was there, it was usually someone you knew, and you had to say something to them. And that was a totally different experience than when artists would invite each other to their studios—or invite gallery owners or critics to their studios—to view their work. And in that context, you would have to have a much more serious conversation. You couldn’t then get away with saying ‘that’s interesting’ or ‘that’s a lot of paint.’ So there were, like, rules for behavior in the art world, I would say. Those would definitely fit as rules for behavior in the art world.”

This informant was unable or unwilling to recognize any folklore of her own, but was ready to share when I asked about lore for the group of Jewish artists in New York City to which her parents belonged. This example contains not just a specific piece of folk speech, but this one piece carries with the context of a set of important customs that governed how these artists interacted with each other. It it, we see how certain aspects of folklife beget new folklore that works around its limitations.

Good Lord Willing!

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Restaurant Manager
Residence: Temecula
Performance Date: 4/8/18
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: SR: My mom used to always say, “Good lord willing and the creek don’t rise”, and everytime I say it now I think of my mom. She would pretty much say it whenever you’re hoping something would work out positively, or you think something would work out positively, like “We’re gonna go to Disneyland, good lord willing and the creek don’t rise.”

 

Context: This phrase was said by SR’s mother as he was growing up, whenever one wanted to see a positive outcome.

 

Background: SR remembered this in particular when asked if his family has any sort of proverbs that they used to say; his mother recently passed, and so when he mentioned this he smiled and said that it always made him think of his mom.

 

Analysis: This proverb is widely used in SR’s family, and throughout the country as well, although SR said he hasn’t encountered a ton of other people who use this regularly. Upon further research, it seems to have originated in pilgrim-age America, where a creek flooding would impede your travel and make your journey much more difficult, or even perilous. I think it is always so interesting to see how literal phrases like this can turn into such meaningless words to toss around– nowadays, this saying has absolutely nothing to do with creek flooding!

 

You Don’t Know Shit from Shinola

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 03/27/2018
Primary Language: English
  1. The main piece: Shinola (Proverbial Insult)

“You don’t know shit from Shinola.”

  1. Background information about the performance from the informant: why do they know or like this piece? Where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them? Etc.

“My grandpa used to say it to my dad, and my dad said it to me. He said one day my dad said something, and he said, ‘You know what, you don’t know shit from Shinola.’

“Shinola is brown shoe polish. So it’s the same color as shit. So no one knows shit from Shinola.”

  1. The context of the performance

It’s a proverbial insult that members of his family used to say when the informant was growing up. He said that “it doesn’t impart wisdom, it’s saying that you have none.”

  1. Finally, your thoughts about the piece

Insults and teasing are often a way of developing close relationships and building rapport. This joking insult passed from grandfather to father to son shows the teasing nature of their relationships and the lighthearted attitudes in their families. This proverbial insult also provides a way for elder members of the family to reprimand children when they become overconfident or misspeak: while it clearly puts them in their place, they know that it is a “tough-love,” teasing phrase and are not too wounded by the insult. It also may show that the insulter does not view the insultee as mature or old enough yet.

  1. Informant Details

The informant is a 22 year old American male and grew up in Tiburon, where he spent lots of time with his father and grandfather, as well as the other kids in his tight-knit neighborhood. His primary language is English, and he currently resides in Los Angeles.

Chinese New Year

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Irvine
Performance Date: 04/01/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, French
  1. The main piece: Chinese New Year

“Um… so, Chinese New Year is also called Lunar New Year and it’s… I don’t really know why they celebrate it, I guess because they used to use the lunar calendar. But basically, there are 12 cycles of the lunar year or something like that, and each of them has an animal, and the animals cycle through in rounds of 12, and so each year is the year of the something. It’s not super relevant anymore, so I don’t really know what it’s supposed to mean, but every person is born in the year of the something, and I was born in the year of the rabbit. And that’s supposed to indicate certain traits about you, but obviously that’s fake [informant laughs].

“Other things about Chinese New Year, the festivities last two weeks in China and you’re supposed to wish for good fortune and good luck. That’s why people say “Gong hay fat choi.” That’s Cantonese for good luck. Or, not good luck but congratulations on your money. That’s basically what it means.”

  1. Background information about the performance from the informant: why do they know or like this piece? Where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them? The context of the performance?

While the informant doesn’t necessarily agree with the folk beliefs surrounding Chinese New Year, she still faithfully celebrates it every year with her mother, sister, and grandparents. She learned it from her grandparents while her parents were still in school, and it means more to her because she was closer to her grandparents than her parents during this time. After they moved in with her family in later years, it became even more important to the informant to strictly adhere to the rules of Chinese New Year.

  1. Finally, your thoughts about the piece

I think that this festival is interesting, because it is an annual festival or celebration, yet the assignment of a year and resultant traits to each person makes it a uniquely individualized annual celebration. Since it follows the lunar calendar and is also known for celebrating the coming of spring, this festival probably originally began as a celebration of a renewed growing season for crops. It could have became more personalized as societies grew less agricultural and needed a way to highlight their differences while still celebrating their unity.

  1. Informant Details

The informant is an 18-year old Chinese-American female. While she grew up in the southern California area, she spent more time with her grandparents than her parents growing up, and felt that learning their Chinese traditions and language was the main way she bonded with them, while her younger sister never had that experience because her parents were out of school by then.

For another version of this folk festival, see:

“Chinese New Year 2018 – Year of the Dog.” Chinese New Year 2018, 2018,

chinesenewyear2018.com/.

Lunar New Year Traditions and Precautions

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Irvine
Performance Date: 04/10/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, Shanghai dialect, French
  1. The main piece: Lunar New Year Traditions and Precautions

“So a lot of the traditions we have are based on earning money and wealth and things like that. So one thing that we do is we get red envelopes right. The reason they’re in red envelopes is because red is a lucky color right. And you put the money in red envelopes and you sleep on them…

“And yeah, so we sleep on the money. And another thing that we do is, uh, we cook the fish and we leave half of it raw, so that it lasts outside the fridge until the next day. Because you’re supposed to keep the fish out from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day, because there’s another phrase, it’s called ‘nian nian you yu’, and that means every year you will have money.

“So you clean everything in your house and when you sweep, it you sweep out of the house, and you have to take out all the trash in your house. And so on Chinese New Year’s day, you can’t use knives or scissors or even like nail clippers, because that’s like cutting things, and cutting things symbolize cutting your life. Some people eat long noodles that have never been cut, because cutting them is like cutting a lifeline.”

  1. Background information about the performance from the informant: why do they know or like this piece? Where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them? Context of the performance?

The informant learned about the different traditions and precautions for Chinese New Year from performing them every year with her grandparents and mother. She somewhat resents how people see it as quaint, telling me instead that some of the preparations and precautions are tedious and mundane. The informant expanded on this by saying, “It’s annoying to have to do all the cleaning and lucky color stuff, but it kind of made me closer with my sister over complaining about it.”

  1. Finally, your thoughts about the piece

The informant’s traditions and precautions for Chinese New Year involve a lot of symbolism. Sleeping on money and keeping a fish both before and after the new year both seem symbolic of continuing one’s good fortune throughout the year. Cleaning the whole house and sweeping everything specifically outside could be symbolic of starting the year afresh and with a clean slate. The aversion to using any sharp objects, from knives to scissors to even nail clippers, is symbolic of preventing violence and not cutting one’s own life short—this would be an example of conversion magic, or reversing bad luck into good luck. The phrase ‘nian nian you yu’ matches the description of a dite, or a folk saying, because it is commonly said specifically on this holiday to confer good luck.

  1. Informant Details

The informant is an 18-year old Chinese-American female. While she grew up in the southern California area, she spent more time with her grandparents than her parents growing up, and felt that learning their Chinese traditions and language was the main way she bonded with them, while her younger sister never had that experience because her parents were out of school by then.