Category Archives: Folk speech

“Snowbirds” flock to Arizona in the Spring

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: March 14, 2017
Primary Language: English

Living in Arizona in the spring, we are flocked with what are colloquially know by Arizonans as “snowbirds”. These are tourists from areas who have terrible winters that bleed into spring, so they escape their snow for a few months (march to may) and live in Phoenix. I was in the car with a friend on a visit home, she was driving behind a car driving particularly slow and she turned to me and complained about “snowbirds”.

Me: “Explain what a snowbird is, and why they are called that?”

KC: “Snowbirds are tourists that come to Arizona in our spring, their winter and just live here, they are usually older couples. They are called snowbirds because they like, migrate here in the winter for the warmer weather.”

Me: “Why do you complain about them?”

KC: “Because they are so annoying haha. They are the single worst drivers ever, driving behind this one now is an example, Minnesota plates, they just crawl along because they usually don’t know where they are going or don’t know the speed limit. The sad thing is, is Arizona is so easy to drive in, I mean we are on a grid system, so east to navigate. Also they just cram up the streets, I mean usually Phoenix is so spread out that you don’t see to many cars, but come this time a year the traffic is awful because all you see are the Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas or like Illinois plates mixed in around with the Arizona ones. It’s really just driving that it’s annoying, I mean old town gets crowded, but it’s not bad, and they only go to the tourist place in the day, which are like far out of town anyway.”

Me: “Where did you learn this term from”

KC:”Hmm. I don’t know really, just heard it around growing up, probably my parents complaining about their driving too or something.”

Analysis:

This term is one local to the Arizona or perhaps even the southwest region of the United States, one used only by the locals to describe the tourists. This term is one where the locals perform their identity with one another by creating the “other” of the snowbirds. It brings the people together under a common annoyance of these tourists and those who know and understand the term in this context would be deemed as part of the group. It is creating the locals as a group, as ones who know how to drive properly in their home and instantly can recognize when someone is not simply because of their driving.

A Goat Rope – A Southwestern Metaphor

Nationality: American
Age: 47
Occupation: RBC Branch Manager
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: March 17, 2017
Primary Language: English

“That’s a goat rope”

Folk metaphors are comparisons made between two unlike things for effect, in this case a folk metaphor from my father who spends a lot of time on cattle ranches in rural Arizona. He has lived in Arizona all his life, and is an amateur cowboy.

Me: When you say something’s a goat rope what does that mean?

TC: It means that something not right, that it’s a mess or it’s too difficult to be bothered with. Something that you cannot change, but is something annoying to deal with. Something that is difficult and not easy and not quite right.

Me: When would you use it?

TC: When I saw something that wasn’t right or was a mess or a situation that is irritating. For example the parking lot at Costco today was a goat rope, because it was crowded and disorganized and people were driving stupid.

Me: Where did you learn it?

TC: I don’t know where I learned it from. I mean, have you ever tried to rope a goat? It’s hard and they are smelly and irritating. Therefore, a goat rope. Maybe I learned it on the ranch, I don’t know.

Analysis:

Folk similes are usually connected to tabooistic vocabulary, that is words we arrant supposed to talk about, however in this case it is most certainly not. It is almost an occupational or niche simile as it has to do with ranching. The average person has never had to rope a goat (referring to the practice of tying a goat’s legs together either for competition or transportation) and therefore would not understand the difficulty of roping one, and therefore the meaning of the simile would be lost on them. Therefore, it almost becomes an identity simile, those who have worked on ranches would understand its meaning,, but an outsider would not. The simile is applied to non-ranching circumstances like an irritating parking lot or a busy airport, this fact is interesting as it is the person using their ranching identity outside the ranch and most likely to a person who would understand.

 

“I’m Sweating like a Sinner in Church”

Nationality: American
Age: 70
Occupation: retired
Residence: Phoenix, Arizona
Performance Date: March 15, 2017
Primary Language: English

My informant is my grandmother, who is quite a devout Catholic and has lived in the deserts of Phoenix most of her life. During one of my visits home this year we went to a baseball game together. We were sitting in the sun and I heard her exclaim on of her favorite phrases, “good Lord, I’m sweating like a sinner in church.”.

Me: “What do you mean when you say that?”

DC: “It means that it’s really, really hot out and you’re sweating quite a bit. Like a sinner, sitting in the presence of God would feel nervous and sweat I suppose. It’s not meant to be super serious, just a funny thing to say when you are sweating a lot and you might be embarrassed about it.”

Me: “Do you remember where you heard it first or learned it from?”

DC: “No, I can’t say I do.  I may have picked it up from my mother, but I’m not quite sure. I’ve always just kinda said it . . . I don’t think your grandpa ever said it or any of siblings for that matter . . . so maybe I picked it up from a friend along the way? I don’t know really.”

Analysis:

This phrase most likely means that a person is sweating like one would imagine someone who has sinned would sweat if they were sitting in church and haven’t repented. Like, they are lying to God and are sweating in nervousness because they suppose God knows, but they are there anyway. It comes from my grandmother who is a devout Catholic, so in using this phrase she is performing her Catholic identity to those around her who are also presumably Catholic or Christian and would understand what she meant by a sinner sitting in church. We also live in quite a warm climate, where any time spent outside between the months of March and October results in sweating, so sweat being the object of a simile makes sense in that it is a common experience felt by everyone around them. It is meant to be comic and making light of the situation because the person exclaiming it, is most likely uncomfortable and is calling attention to the situation in a comic way perhaps in order to alleviate their embarrassment of sweating so much in public.

Hoser

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 19
Residence: Calgary, Alberta
Performance Date: April 17, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Tim Marino is a nineteen year old student at USC from Calgary, Alberta. He currently plays on the USC hockey team.

Original Script:

Hoser.

Background Information: Tim explains that the term “Hoser” comes from “when the Canadian kids would be playing hockey on the ice…or like, on a pond, and the losing team would actually have to hose down the ice for the next teams to play.” Therefore, “Hoser” is a kind of folk insult in Canada, similar to calling someone a loser in the United States.

Thoughts on this piece: I find this term very interesting and funny, for when I used to play sports, I was always known as the trash-talker on my teams. It entertains me to know that people from other cultures have their own methods and terms to use when they are trying to get in their opponents heads while playing sports.

Brick

Nationality: Italian
Age: 20
Residence: Staten Island, New York
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Matt is from Staten Island, New York and currently attends USC.

Original Script:

“It’s so freaking brick right now.”

Context:

When someone from New York wants to say that it is cold outside.

My Thoughts:

I always find it fascinating when I hear people from other areas use slang words that I have never heard. Finding out why a word takes place of another one does not always make sense at first, but after Matt explained that “in New York, the cold can hit you like a brick.”