Category Archives: Folk speech

East Germans and Bananas

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Case Clerk
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 2, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: German, Spanish

“One of the things that everybody talks about… and right after the wall fell… everybody said that the East Germans were just so happy to finally be able to eat a banana and that was something that a lot of those older people there reiterated to us was that the one thing they really love about Germany no longer being under the East German socialist regime, is that now they have access to fresh bananas.”

The informant studied abroad in Germany around three years ago. For one of her German language classes that she took while in an area that was part of the former East Germany, the class went to an apartment complex where a lot of old people lived (not like nursing homes in America) for tea and coffee and to simply sit and talk with them. Most of the residents did not speak English because of it not being a priority over the German and the Russian they learned in light of the communist ties to the countries, so the informant spoke to the residents completely in German.

With the wall only falling in late 1989, most of these residents lived in East Germany during the socialist regime and were there when the wall finally came down. The informant was able to get a first hand telling of their experiences, their likes and dislikes about the wall, what had changed versus what was the same and more. For the informant, she saw this as a wonderful chance to get the firsthand account because most of that generation will be gone in fifty years, meaning that the stories about East Germany will not be able to be relayed in the same way.

The folklore comes from the idea that East Germans did not have access to a lot of fresh fruits because they only imported goods from communist countries or used what they were able to produce at home. However, Germany does not have the sort of climate that is amenable to a lot of basic fruits, like oranges and bananas, so having them became a rarity due to the lack of imports and their inability to produce them themselves. It also was relayed to the informant in response to the question “is there something that you miss or is there something that you wish was like it used to be?”

The informant relayed this story to me while driving us back to Los Angeles. This informant is a relative.

I think that the informant being able to get a firsthand account from many people who lived under the socialist regime was a great way of getting their folklore, even if it was not intentional. Being that many did not speak English also means that those who are able to glean the folklore from them is limited to those who speak the languages they understand. Her being able to speak German allowed someone who doesn’t speak it at all, like me, to learn some of their folklore and a little about what life was like under the socialist regime in Germany.

“Don’t put the cart before the horse”

Nationality: English and German
Age: 87
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Seal Beach, California
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English

“Don’t put the cart before the horse.”

The informant was born in Atchinson, Kansas, but moved to California when she was seven, where she has lived ever since.

While the informant cannot remember a specific instance where she heard this saying, she explained that this was something that people would say over and over again. Essentially, part of her vocabulary growing up. She considers her generation to have been homebodies and that their sayings simply reflected the way people were living. To her, these sayings came from people who were doing more manual work, like farming and housekeeping, rather than office work. She herself never had a job, but fulfilled her goal of becoming a mother and homemaker.

In regards to this particular saying, it means to her that everything has to be in its proper sequence because you can’t go if the cart is in front of the horse. She has found this to be true throughout her entire life and that things do always need to be orderly to work properly. Basically, that everything does have a proper place to start with.

The informant relayed her folklore to me at my dining room table. I have known her my entire life as she is a close relative. I had already asked her about her folklore weeks before, but upon meeting on this day, she brought a list that she had written of all she could think of so that she would not forget when she told me. While she read the specific folklore off the sheet, the other details I got from her were not pre-determined.

In regards to her take on the meaning of the saying, she has lived her life very much so in line with it. While I do think that there is a time and place to be orderly, I do think that everything does not necessarily have a proper place at all times. An example of this would be art pieces, where they take something used for a specific task or purpose and show it in a new light. In some cases, this becomes a new proper place, but it still started out as being in the “wrong spot.”

“A Stitch in Time Saves Nine”

Nationality: English and German
Age: 87
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Seal Beach, California
Performance Date: April 16, 2017
Primary Language: English

“A stitch in time saves nine.”

The informant was born in Atchinson, Kansas, but moved to California when she was seven, where she has lived ever since.

While the informant cannot remember a specific instance where she heard this saying, she explained that this was something that people would say over and over again. Essentially, part of her vocabulary growing up. She considers her generation to have been homebodies and that their sayings simply reflected the way people were living. To her, these sayings came from people who were doing more manual work, like farming and housekeeping, rather than office work. She herself never had a job, but fulfilled her goal of becoming a mother and homemaker.

In one sense, the saying is specifically talking about sewing. It means that if you have a tear in your stockings, for example, and you stitch it right away, it will not grow larger and require more than one (potentially nine) stitch(es).

However, the idea from the saying can be applied to other things. For example, if you take care of something when either first assigned or simply in the beginning, you save yourself work by doing it before it grows potentially more difficult, more stressful, etc.

The informant relayed her folklore to me at my dining room table. I have known her my entire life as she is a close relative. I had already asked her about her folklore weeks before, but upon meeting on this day, she brought a list that she had written of all she could think of so that she would not forget when she told me. While she read the specific folklore off the sheet, the other details I got from her were not pre-determined.

While using language related to sewing, I find that this really does apply to a lot of other areas, as the example shown above. I also think that the phrase itself is easy to understand, whether or not you have ever sewn in your life. Ultimately, it is a phrase with which to combat the desire to procrastinate that may not be effective, but might work once or twice for certain people.

“Pebbles”

Nationality: Indian
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: 4/16/17
Primary Language: English

“Three girls get called into the principal’s office. The principal asks the first girl, ‘Why are you here?’ The girl says, ‘I was throwing pebbles into the lake.’ The principal responds, saying, ‘That’s not so bad. You can go.’ Then he asks the second girl, ‘Why are you here?’ The girl said, ‘I was throwing pebbles into the lake.’ The principal, “That’s not so bad, you can go.” The third girl walks up to him, soaking wet, and the principal asks, ‘Why are you here?’ And the girl responds, ‘I’m Pebbles.’ End joke.”

 

This piece was told to me by Sunny Malhotra, who heard it at his all boys’ school. He said that it was among the tamer jokes circulated at the school, and it’s his go-to joke when someone asks him to tell a joke, because it can be shared with most audiences regardless of age. He says that his delivery of the joke is always sarcastic because he recognizes that it’s not that great humor-wise, but it’s more of a “punny” setup. The context of his joke was that I had asked him to tell me one, and so he gave me the one he keeps on reserve for instances like this.

“Turkey in Suspense”

Nationality: Indian and Caucasian
Age: 39
Occupation: Education Research
Residence: Orange County, CA
Performance Date: 4/16/17
Primary Language: English

How do you keep a turkey in suspense? I’ll tell you next year.

Jaclyn told me this joke at our annual Easter party with our extended family. She told it in honor of her uncle, Bagu, who tells that joke all the time. Bagu immigrated to Orange County from India, and this was a joke he told his daughter, Sapna (Jaclyn’s first cousin) as they were growing up.  It was the first joke she thought of, because, as cheesy as it is, she grew up hearing it, and she told it to honor Bagu, who couldn’t be at the party that year. I’ve definitely heard the joke before, but Jaclyn was so excited to tell it, so I wrote it down.