Category Archives: Folk speech

Aum Namh Shivai

Nationality: Indian
Age: 52
Occupation: CPA
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

“Aum Namh Shivai”

This is Sanskrit phrase/mantra. Aum means Shiva, another word for God. It means God is infinite, God is love. Aum has several meanings, including love, infinite, life, peace, etc. Aum can also interchange with “Om,” which is the more commonly recognized version of the word, but because it has so many meanings, the phrase, “Aum Namh Shivai” can mean different things as well, including “God is life, God is peace,” etc. My father would keep repeating that as a mantra, especially if he was doing something especially meditative; he told me it’s a phrase we say to be grateful and to also center oneself.

My dad and grandfather say this when they’re meditating, especially during breathing exercises in yoga. So when my dad was teaching me yoga breathing, he was telling me to find a mantra to repeat and focus on.

Dhoop Chaun

Nationality: Indian
Age: 52
Occupation: CPA
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi, Punjabi

“Dhoop Chaun.”

Dhoop Chaun is a phrase that literally translates to “sun shade.” My father said, “My grandfather used to say, ‘Dhoop chaun’ and it means ‘sun shade’ and represents light and dark and ups and downs in your life. It’s like sometimes it’s up ands sometimes it’s down, there are challenges, opportunities, there’s joyfulness, sadness, life is a mixed bag. My Nana Gi told me that.”

Nana Gi in Punjabi is your maternal grandfather, so my father’s mother’s father used to tell my dad this phrase when he was very young. He was trying to instill in my dad from a young age that life is not all happiness and sadness, it’s not just black and white. I think it’s a really great phrase that definitely has other translations or meanings in different countries, because I’ve heard variations of this phrase, like “No mud, no lotus.” It represents the same thing, that life is both the sadness and joy, but the good and the bad, and that the two must exist in harmony together.

Om Jai Jagadish Hare

Nationality: Indian
Age: 52
Occupation: CPA
Residence: Glendale, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

Om Jaye Jagdish Hare,

Swami Jaye Jagdish Hare

Bhagt Jano Ke Sankat,

Khshan Mein Dur Kare

Jo Dhaywe Phal Pave,

Dukh Vinshe Man Ka Sukh Sampati Ghar Aave,

Kasht Mite Tan Ka

Maat-Pita Tum Mere,

Sharan Gahun Kiskee Tum Bin Aur Na Duja,

Aas Karun Jiskee

Tum Puran Parmatma,

Tum Antaryami Par-Brahm Parmeshwar,

Tum Sabke Swami

Tum Karuna Ke Saagar,

Tum Palankarta Mein Moorakh Khal Kami,

Mein Sewak Tum Swami,

Kripa Karo Bharta

Tum Ho Ek Agochar,

Sabke Pran Pati Kis Vidhi Milun Dayamay,

Tumko Mein Kumti

Deenbandhu Dukh Harta,

Thakur Tum Mere Apne Hath Badao,

Apni Sharan Lagao,

Dwar Para Tere

Vishay Vikaar Mitao,

Paap Haro Deva Shradha Bhakti Barao,

Santan Ki Sewa

Tan Man Dhan,

Sab Hai Tera Tera Tujhko Arpan,

Kya Lage Mera

 

“Om Jai Jagadish Hare” is a well-known prayer in Indian culture. It is sung often, and most often on celebratory events, like Diwali. My maternal grandmother introduced my brothers and I to this prayer when we were very young. She gave us bells to sing, and it essentially translates to listing god’s praises, asking god to bless us, and offering god foods and gifts. It’s supposed to be a happy prayer, though. Both my maternal and paternal grandmother, however, enforced the idea that this prayer was important for us to learn, and it was interesting to see that this is a prayer that breaches most of the cultures within India. My maternal grandmother speaks Sindhi, and my paternal grandmother speaks Punjabi, which are different dialects in India, but both of them sing the “Om Jai Jagadish Hare” prayer in Hindi, the overarching language, as a unifying prayer. My dad and I were talking about the prayer recently, and he was testing me to see if I remembered the lyrics from my childhood, but I didn’t. It made me upset, because it’s a large part of my childhood, but not something my family personally practices often. He then tried to remember all of it, but it’s a long prayer/song, and he couldn’t either, so we looked up the words together.

A Joke with no Punchline

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Investment Banker
Residence: Manhattan, New York
Performance Date: 4/6/2017
Primary Language: English

 

Informant:

Daniel is a first year analyst at a prominent Manhattan based investment bank. He grew up in Northern California from a predominantly irish background

Piece:

The first party I ever went to was kinda a bummer. I was invited the day of and was stressed cause I had nothing to wear. So I went to the mall and picked out a shirt and waited in the checkout line. But then I was hungry so I went to wetzel’s Pretzels and waited in the pretzel line. And then later that night I showed up and waited in the party line to get in. And then when I finally got I went to get a drink but there was no punchline.

Collector’s thought’s:

This joke takes a while to develop and is paradoxical in nature. The first person aspect of it makes it so that the audience can not tell that it is a joke and not real until the repetition of waiting in lines kicks in. Part of what makes this joke funny is that the punchline of the joke is literally that “there was no punchline”, a paradox that is equally infuriating and hilarious.

Irish Poem

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 57
Occupation: Dentist
Residence: San Carlos, CA
Performance Date: 4/6/2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Terry is a second generation Irish american who grew up in los Angeles in the ‘60s and 70’s. He is now a dentist working and living in the Bay area.

Piece:

Informant: “There is this poem that my uncle told me back in 1970 when I was 10 years old. My parents sent me to Ireland to live with my cousins for the whole summer. I had never met any of these people before, but knew them through the stories my dad told me about all of them. But one night my uncle Paddy drove me to the Bridge at King John’s Castle in limerick… you know the one we’ve been to before. And he told me that this bridge was where the Banshee would come out late at night if you were walking alone. And then out of nowhere he started rattling off this old irish poem about the banshee called “Drunken Thady and the Bishop’s Lady” and it was a long long poem that took about twenty minutes to say. I was amazed that he had remembered all of it and then we got back in the care and drove back to the house in Janesboro. Then the rest of the summer I tried to memorize the poem just by hearing it over and over so I could tell my dad when I got back home to Los Angeles, but I was never able to remember the entire thing.

Collector: Do you remember any of the poem?

Informant: ughhh oh boy lets see

Before the famed year Ninety-eight,

In blood stamped Ireland’s wayward fate;

When laws of death and transportation

Were served, like banquets, throughout the nation

But let it pass the tale I dwell on

Has not to do with red rebellion.

 

Uhhhhh and then there is another part at some point that goes

 

There lived and died in Limerick City,

a dame of fame oh what a pity

that dames of fame should live and die

and never learn for what, or why!

That’s all I can remember.

 

 

Collector’s thoughts:

I find it amazing that the informant could remember even the slightest bit of this poem despite having half learned it more than 40 years ago. Being sent at such a young age to stay with Irish relatives reveals how, despite living in the US, his parents and family still valued their Irish heritage and culture. For a full version of the poem see:

http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/drunken%20thady.pdf