Category Archives: Folk speech

Sphinx Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 20
Primary Language: English

“Okay… so I don’t remember where I heard this riddle I must have been extremely young. But I remember it very vividly because I thought it was so cool and I don’t know what it’s called but I remember how it goes. So a Sphinx… when you’re walking down a path and you’re just trying to keep walking but a Sphinx is in your way and so…in order to get past the Sphinx the Sphinx will never let you pass and I think it kills you if you don’t answer the riddle correctly… but the only way to pass is to answer a riddle correctly and this is the riddle the Sphinx asks, ‘what walks on four legs in the morning, two legs during the day, and three legs in the evening’ and nobody ever gets it right so the Sphinx always kills them or doesn’t let them pass, I don’t remember if they kill them or don’t let them pass but the correct answer is a person like a human being because when you’re a baby you crawl on four legs and when you are an adult, you walk on two, and when you’re an old man, you walk on two and your third is a cane and that’s how the Sphinx gets ya”

This is a fairly common folktale if one had studied greek legends. what I enjoy about this folklore is that it’s both a story. A folktale about a Sphinx that kills people, but it’s also a riddle as well. There is a riddle within the story. It’s very Shakespearean in that sense.

Yiddish Phrase

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seattle, WA
Performance Date: 4/23/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Informant Description/ Context of performance: My friend’s grandma always used to tell her this proverb while growing up.

Transliteration:

Mit eyn tokhes ken nit tantsn af tsvey khasenes.

Translation: You can’t dance at two weddings with one behind.

Meaning: You can’t do everything at once.

Conclusion: It is rather a simple and direct saying. This Yiddish proverb is seen throughout various cultures. For example, my grandpa used to always say “one thing done well is a very good thing, as anyone can tell.” It encompasses the same idea of taking on the appropriate workload and doing it to the best of one’s ability.

“Kill ’em with Kindness”

Nationality: American
Age: 49
Occupation: Accountant
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 14, 2017
Primary Language: English

I asked my informant if she knew any proverbs and “kill ’em with kindness” came up as she is a mother of two and tells this to her kids when they encounter bullies or rudeness.

Me: What do you mean when you say “kill ’em with kindness” and when do you use it?

CC: When my kids are bullied or encounter mean or rude people and are angry and either want to retaliate or give up, I tell them to kill ’em with kindness. The mean people of the world, just be nice to them, and they can’t bother you, you don’t stoop to their level. It’s always the best way to deal with mean people.

Me: Where did you learn this?

CC: From my own mother I suppose? I grew up Catholic, and this isn’t strictly a Catholic saying, but it goes along with the values of kindness and turning the other cheek. It’s a good way to live by, being kind and not reciprocating rudeness.

Analysis:

This is a proverb coming from a suburban Catholic family, specifically from  a mother. It means as she says to not reciprocate rudeness, but to treat the rude people with kindness instead and the situation will get better and not elevate like it would if rudeness was reciprocated with rudeness. It also goes along with teaching kids not to react and retaliate, but to be kind. It may be a modern, colloquial iteration of some Proverbs from the Bible.

Annotation: This proverb has some similar iterations in Proverbs of King James Bible.

Prov 25:21, 22: If your enemy is hungry, give him food; if 
he is thirsty, give him water.  When you do this, he will feel 
ashamed of hating you and the Lord will reward your compassion.

“Suck eggs on them”

Nationality: American
Age: 49
Occupation: Accountant
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 14, 2017
Primary Language: English

My informant is my mother, who has heard my father spout says and folk speech all their married life. I’ve grown up hearing them myself. My father is prone to using such phrases in everyday conversations. Here is an example.

“Well your father says suck eggs all the time. I don’t know what it means or where he got it from. It means buzz off in a not so nice way. Or “suck eggs on them” like they don’t matter or screw them. If you are complaining about something someone did, he’ll say “well suck eggs on them”.

Analysis:

This is an example of a folk speech, a folk saying with a connotative meaning. It comes from the idea that one looks very silly sucking on an egg and therefore saying one should “suck eggs” is a kind of a curse, like screw them. It means that the person who is complaining is the “good” party while the person being told to suck eggs is the “bad”. It was originally an English saying, meaning something similar. It is used as a derogatory term, a curse, but usually not in the presence of the person the curse is directed towards. It is usually between a person telling another of something another did and that second person agreeing with the first on the irritating qualities or action of that person.

 

“I don’t give a rat’s ass”

Nationality: American
Age: 49
Occupation: Phoenix, Arizona
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: April 14, 2017
Primary Language: English

My informant is my mother, who has heard my father spout says and folk speech all their married life. My father is prone to using such phrases in everyday conversations. Here is an example she gives when I asked if she knew any folk sayings.

“Your father says “I don’t give a rat’s ass” all the time, usually when you are complaining to him about something, he’ll say it and you will know the argument is pointless because he doesn’t care about the circumstances or what you are saying, he’s just going to continue on what he is doing because he thinks it doesn’t apply to them. Like if you were to complain about . . . say doing a chore or homework or something and give him some excuses he would say he doesn’t give a rat’s ass and tell you to go do whatever it is anyway”

Analysis:

This basically means that the person who uses this folk speech doesn’t care about the circumstances whatsoever, even to the extent of a rat’s ass. No one cares much about rats in fact most people hate them, and their “ass” is even more insignificant than the whole rat, thus creating the effect of making an allusion to the least most desirable thing imaginable. Thus if the circumstance is cared about less than a rat’s ass, then they really do not care. It is usually used amongst friends or family as it is quite explicit and either in joking or a serious argument.