Category Archives: Folk speech

畫蛇添足

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 58
Occupation: Art Teacher
Residence: Fullerton
Performance Date: 4/14/2017
Primary Language: Chinese

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

Original: 畫蛇添足

Phonetic: hua she tian zu

Translation: draw snake add feet

So tell me where this proverb came from

KL: “So a long time ago in China, they prayed to Buddha and stuff right? So one day after praying this dude had a bottle of wine left and he was going to share it with his friends but he didn’t have enough. So he thought ‘why don’t I have them do a competition where they draw a snake. The first person to finish drawing a snake will get to have this wine all to himself’. So, the guy tells his friends and his friends are all down. They begin their drawing. Eventually one guy finishes, but he sees everyone is still drawing so he laughs out loud and says ‘man i can add feet to this snake and still be faster than you guys’. Which is exactly what he did, he began to draw feet for the snake. However, while this guy was drawing his feet for his snake someone else finishes and take the bottle of wine. The guy who got the bottle of wine turns to the guy drawing the feet and says “why would you even draw feet on a snake, snake don’t have feet dumbass’. ”

okay so is that it or what do this proverb mean?

KL: “Basically the point of this proverb is to tell people to not do more than they need to, because sometimes doing more will only cause you more trouble.”

Thoughts: A lot of Chinese proverbs are based off of stories to teach a lesson, and the proverb literally spells out what happens in the story. I think even though this saying has a point, many times doing extra can still pay off. For example, doing extra work at a job may get you a raise, or going above and beyond in homework will get you a better grade etc.

Bread Riddle

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: University Gateway Apartments
Performance Date: 4/25/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

Informant CS is a student at USC who is currently studying physical therapy. He is Japanese, born and raised in Japan, and went to school at an international school in Japan.

CS: “This is a really well known Japanese riddle that I don’t know if it counts as folklore but it’s more of a joke. [says something in Japanese].”

*later I found the original in Japanese: パンはパンでも食べられないパンは、なぁに？

Dude how do I even know what you’re saying

CS: “You can find it online for sure. Anyways, in english it translates to ‘bread is bread, but what bread is inedible?’. The answer is: ‘a frying pan’. Obviously that makes no sense in english, BUT, in Japanese, the word for “bread” is also “pan”, so, if you take that, it is a play on words and the riddle is actually ‘Pan is pan but what pan is inedible?’.”

…..

Thoughts: I mean… that was amongst one of the lamest jokes I’ve ever heard in my life but I guess its a joke riddle so it makes sense. I know in Chinese there are a lot of riddles like that where the answer to the riddle is a play on the original riddle’s word. But when my friend he would tell me a riddle I was expecting something better than this…

守株待兔

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 58
Occupation: Art Teacher
Residence: Fullerton
Performance Date: 4/14/2017
Primary Language: Chinese

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

Original：守株待兔

Phonetic：shou zhu dai tu

Translation: guard tree and wait for rabbit

How did the story go again?

KY: “Basically, the story behind this proverb is a guy, who always wanted become really rich and successful but was really lazy, was walking around in the woods one day. Then this rabbit jumps out of nowhere and runs into a tree killing itself. The guy quickly grabs the dead rabbit, goes home, and eats the best meal he’s ever had in his life. So he thinks ‘wait why don’t I just wait at the tree every day since rabbits will just kill themselves, its free food!’. So the next day this guy goes to the tree and waits for another rabbit to kill itself. Obviously there was no rabbit, but the guy keeps waiting day after day until eventually he dies. The meaning of this proverb is that even though sometimes we get lucky, we can’t expect the same thing to happen all the time or else we will end up failing.”

Even though the story behind this proverb is ridiculous, it makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of times where people get lucky and expect it to happen to them all the times and just wait for things to fall on their lap. Unfortunately, thats not how life works and we need to go out and be proactive to get the things in life that we want.

For another version of this story see: Chinese Proverb Stories: A Simplified Version of Ancient Chinese Stories with English for American Secondary School Students by HongChen Wang

The 12 Zodiac Signs

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 58
Occupation: Art teacher
Residence: Fullerton
Performance Date: 4/14/2017
Primary Language: Chinese

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

KY: “I kind of don’t remember why they animals race. I think its because God wanted 12 guards or something, so the animals raced. The rat and the ox were the earliest to wake up so they raced. Eventually they came across a river that the rat couldn’t cross, so he jumped on the ox’s back. Once on the other side, the rat ran and got first place while the ox got second. Next came the tiger and rabbit cuz they were the fastest and most athletic. Following them in 5th place was the dragon. God saw dragon and was like damn you’re good looking your son can get 6th place. However, dragon’s son didn’t come and just then the snake shows up and says ‘I’m the dragon’s son’, making snake 6th place. Then came the horse and the goat, who were both really kind, so God ranked them 7th and 8th respectively. Eventually, the others, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig, came.”

The 12 zodiacs is a story that I had learned growing up and is present in my life a lot. Since one animal is represented each year in a cycle, your spirit animal is the animal of the year; mine is the ox. Often times my parents would ask people they just meet what their zodiac sign is to get a feel of the person. If they have the same zodiac sign people often bond over it. Zodiac sign also represents personality traits and love connections in Chinese culture. Zodiac signs are a really important part of Chinese culture and many other Asian cultures which is why it is very important to know where they came from.

 

Broughton Jokes

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: Computer Services Assistant
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: German

“You still at Broughton?”
“I’ma take you to Broughton and get my $75 and a fruit basket.”

The informant grew up in North Carolina and lived there his entire life there until moving to Los Angeles around three years ago, where he currently resides.

According to the informant, Morganton (his hometown) is known for its’ insane asylum/mental institution, within North Carolina. That institution used to be called Broughton Hospital for the Criminally Insane (potentially has been changed since then, but this was what the informant remembers it as). This place was where people who either had mental disabilities or mental handicaps and were criminally dangerous, had committed crimes, and were a danger to others and themselves, would go. It is not to be confused with their other mental institution, Jay Iverson Developmental Center, which is for those with mental handicaps who are not criminally dangerous, but need extra care.

The reason these jokes are found humorous is because social work is one of the main industries in Morganton, meaning a lot of people both work at Broughton or have worked there at some point in the past (including the informants mother).

That being said, the first joke is only said to those known to have worked there or who are working there, implying that they are a patient and not an employee. The informant first heard it while with his dad, who said it to an old friend he ran into at the grocery store. However, the informant has never used the joke because he has never known anyone who worked at Broughton of his age group.

The second joke is based off of a rumor that if someone committed someone to Broughton, they would receive $75 and a fruit basket. The informant does not believe the rumor to be true and has not used the joke probably because of that belief.

The informant relayed this to me while in the passenger seat of his girlfriend’s car as she drove us all back up to Los Angeles. I have known the informant since he moved to Los Angeles.

Both of the jokes require a connection to the culture of North Carolina, potentially more specifically of Morganton. Without the understanding of where the joke comes from, it would not be funny to you because it would not make any sense. However, those in the town not only have a connection to Broughton Hospital, but would be finding humor in something that is part of their everyday life. In a sense, you have to be part of the group to understand the joke and could potentially be considered an outsider if it was unknown.