Category Archives: Folk speech

Hawaiian Rocks

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/20/2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, D.L., is 20 and was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. D.L. mother works as an admissions director for his high school. He has one older brother who also attends USC. Both of D.L. parents are full Chinese, but have completely adopted the Hawaiian culture. D.L. spends most of his free time at the beach and considers himself more Hawaiian than Chinese.

Folklore: “There is a rule in Hawaii that you’re not supposed to take rocks from the beach. The rocks on the beach are said to be the home of the Goddess of Fire, Pele. It is said that if you were to remove the rocks from the island you will suffer Pele’s curse which says that any visitor who takes rock or sand away from the Hawaii islands will suffer bad luck until the native Hawaiian elements are returned.” D.L. was told this story from his brother when he was little to scare him and make sure he wouldn’t take the rocks. Now, D.L. is skeptical that the myth is true but still is superstitious about doing. Whenever he sees tourists taking rocks or sand from the beach he does get angry because he feels like they’re disrupting the flow of the beach.

Analysis: The warning is well known in Hawaii, but it is a modern legend and some people attribute it to an irritated park ranger who was sick of people carting off rocks from the beach. Still others think tour guides made up the curse to discourage tourists from bringing dirt and sand onto the buses. Either way, each year hundreds of visitors send packages back to Hawaii full of rocks, sand, and other natural materials in an effort to relieve their consciences and change their luck. For me, I try not to read into stories like these, but never try to chance my luck.

Summer Sun

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/20/2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, D.L., is 20 and was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. D.L. mother works as an admissions director for his high school. He has one older brother who also attends USC. Both of D.L. parents are full Chinese, but have completely adopted the Hawaiian culture. D.L. spends most of his free time at the beach and considers himself more Hawaiian than Chinese.

Folklore: “Māui’s next feat is to stop the sun from moving so fast. His mother Hina complains that her kapa (bark cloth) is unable to dry because the days are so short. Māui climbs to the mountain Hale-a-ka-lā (house of the sun) and lassoes the sun’s rays as the sun comes up, using a rope made from his sister’s hair. The sun pleads for life and agrees that the days shall be long in summer and short in winter.” D.L. was told this story from his teacher in elementary school. The legend, Maui, plays a large role in Hawaiian folklore and is the basis of many creation stories.

Analysis: This is a fun legend that is told to kids in Hawaii. This reminds me of summer and how the days get longer. I have great memories in the summer from staying out later at the beach with the sun still out.

Wherever You Go You Are There

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 54
Occupation: Dancer/Filmmaker/Motion Graphic Designer
Residence: New York City, NY
Performance Date: April 20
Primary Language: English
Language: Portuguese

“Wherever you go… are there…which means, no matter where you move to, you still are… you are gonna be… yourself”

This proverb probably comes from the informant’s direct experience as an immigrant. Probably many circles of immigrants have this proverb as a way to connect back to their roots from home. It’s a proverb that exists within the community a sort of rule to not move away from your roots and that as far as one may leave home, at the end of the day, they are still themselves.

Do you want to have your cake and eat it too?

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 54
Occupation: Dancer/Filmmaker/Motion Graphic Designer
Residence: New York City, NY
Performance Date: April 21
Primary Language: English
Language: Portugese

“I heard this when I fist move to the U.S… it’s used when a person wants it all ,and you think they should be happy with less… We don’t have that in Brazil… in Brazil we eat the cake… I don’t like the expression”

This is an outsiders view of an American proverb to not be greedy or selfish expressing the American ideal of being a self made man that should be happy with his simple life while this person’s world view says pretty much the opposite of that.

Chinese, Japanese, Look At These, Hit My Knees

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Queens, NY
Performance Date: April 17
Primary Language: English

“I had an ummm…. sort of racist I mean it was very racist, I think this might have been in the Devils Rejects, was it in the devil’s rejects? I think it was anyways I did the same thing as the people in the Devil’s Rejects did in elementary school… not murdering people… but this demented nursery rhyme… it went sort of like ‘Chinese, Japanese, look at these hit my knees*’ it was very racist and I think that’s why we did it and even the Japanese kids in our class did it…. ummmmm…. We knew it was bad and we did it anyways (laughs)”

*note the informant does motions with his hands when he says “Chinese” he stretches his eyes length wise, “Japanese” he stretches them width wise, “Look at these” he motions towards his chest as if to insinuate breasts, “Hit my knees” fairly self explanatory, the speaker hits his knees.

I found this one interesting because it’s a rhyme that’s clearly at the level where it’s made for kids. It’s very intentionally crude as sort of a taboo rhyme. It was a horrible non sensical thing to say but it whoever said it felt like they were breaking rules. This probably added to the fun of the rhyme.