Category Archives: Folk speech

Knocking on wood

Nationality: American
Age: 44
Occupation: Massage Therapist
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/2016
Primary Language: English

After declaring something positive regarding his or her future, an observer of this tradition will knock on wood to ensure that the future does not turn out the opposite. Knocking on wood is a way of avoiding a jinx, or the opposite of what one hopes to happen turning into a reality after one expresses that original hope. An observer of this superstition will say “Knock on wood,” literally knock on wood, or do both in order to avoid an ill fate.

My informant always does both, and with a laugh to accompany it because he knows others view it as silly. He doesn’t believe that it literally wards off ill fate, but he does believe that it affects his mental space in a way that manifests into a more positive reality.

I asked him to describe this effect and he said:

“It doesn’t matter whether anyone else is into it, it just matters to me. As long as I get my head ok, then everything else is fine.”

I asked if he learned it from anyone else, to which he said:

“No, I figured it out on my own.”

I asked if anyone else in his group of friends or family observes the tradition to which he replied:

“No, I’m the only freak.”

My informant is a 44-year old massage therapist who lives in Pasadena, CA. He struggled with OCD as a child, and ever since then, has worked hard to maintain a calm inner life. Those with OCD often have their thoughts manifest themselves into ugly realities. They think something irrational, and then they do something irrational. So it makes complete sense that my informant would use this tradition as a technique to avoid that very pattern. I imagine for many, knocking on wood is not just an abstract superstition, but a small yet effective way of quieting their minds.

“I’m Resting”

Informant: “You came up to a door that was open, and the guy’s splayed out with his ass in the air and he sees you in the mirror or something and if he doesn’t like you, or it’s not necessarily that he doesn’t like you, but he doesn’t want you to fuck him, he says, “Oh, no, I’m just resting.”

This practice is observed in gay men’s bathhouses in the United States. It is part of bathhouse code, a verbal and nonverbal communication system used between gay men to express sexual preference within the bathhouse setting.

My informant is a 44 year old gay massage therapist and lives in Pasadena, CA. I asked him to describe how he learned this euphemism.

“I learned it from experiencing it. It was at this one [bathhouse] in North Hollywood and I used to live right next to it. I just remember this guy, like I said, he was just totally hot, blah, blah, blah, layin’ there, ass in the air. And the mirror is on the back wall opposite the door, so, you know, you can face away and still keep an eye. And he sees me and I was just standin’ there like, you know, half-jackin’ it under my towel. He’s just like “I’m resting!” [laughs] and I went away.”

I asked my informant why he enjoys this piece of folklore:

“I appreciate the primal nature of, I don’t know, the gays, I guess you could say, the primal nature of the homosexuals, homosexual men anyway. Not having to speak female language, you know. It’s a lot easier to sex to male.”

I think this phrase speaks to a larger culture of simple, direct communication about sex among homosexual men. I also think it speaks to a standard of kindness and maturity that can be found within some gay communities. I think my informant appreciates the fact that there is an established code phrase for saying “no thank you” in a way that will not hurt someone’s feelings. It shows a careful consideration of the vulnerability and effort required of someone looking for sexual intercourse. I also find it really interesting that the phrase “I’m resting” has nothing to do with sexuality. I think this is left over from a tradition of coded terminology employed by gay men for much of the twentieth century. They were not allowed to openly discuss their sexuality, and so had to codify their language to communicate with each other while still retaining social standing within a heteronormative world.

If it bleeds, it leads

Nationality: American
Age: 60
Occupation: Director of Communications
Residence: New York City
Performance Date: 4/24/2016
Primary Language: English

“If it bleeds, it leads” is a common saying in American newsrooms and TV stations.

My informant is my mother, a 60-year old woman who spent most of her career working in print journalism. She learned the saying upon entering the industry in the early 1970’s. It was often performed by one journalist to another to explain why something violent had recently ended up on the front page, as opposed to other pieces written that day. My informant explained the saying as thus:

“That’s really a TV thing but it’s certainly true with the paper too. It’s true with print also. So the idea is that if there’s been violence, if somebody was shot or killed or hurt, that that would be the thing that would take dominance in the news.”

I asked her what she thought of this phenomenon:

“Yeah, so that’s—it’s a very unfortunate development in news because obviously it means that we—not that the death of somebody isn’t important but the idea that that would be—that that would dominate over bigger issues is very harmful.”

Recalling this saying brought this thought to my informant’s mind:

“It’s interesting to think of how many death images there are. You have a deadline, things are killed, yeah…”

This saying speaks to the universal human interest in violence, and the way in which news outlets have adapted to meet that morbid curiosity. Furthermore, “If it bleeds, it leads” is short, unfeeling, and declarative. It’s an example of the cynical, tough-talking, macho atmosphere that my informant describes pervading newsrooms in America. I’m not surprised that she recalled this saying with a laugh. It probably reminds her of the intensity of her old journalist friends and the environment in which they worked. This phrase also speaks to the hardening of the journalist. They encounter a lot of awful things in this world, and must get used to it in order to write about them objectively. There’s also something morbidly funny about this phrase, and my mother laughed when recalling it. Reporters have to develop a sense of humor about things if they are going to, day in and day out, face and report on the cruelty of the world.

Never touch another man’s dice

Informant: “There’s minor traditions that lots of gamblers have and stuff, like you never touch another man’s dice.”

Collector: Is that observed in D&D [Dungeons and Dragons]?

Informant: Yeah, in general, it is. And you almost never reach over for somebody else’s dice. You know, you have your little pile in front of you. If someone needs to borrow one, it’s ok if someone hands you one, ya know, but you don’t go grabbing at other people’s things like that.”

Collector: Is that something you observe?

Informant: “Yeah, yeah, I would say 99% of people that play it…”

Collector: Did you ever make that mistake and then learn not to?

Informant: “[laughs] You know, most people do because of a perceived unluckiness in that if you do that, it, it, it is…I want to say it almost always ends up being a horrible role, you know, somebody else’s dice, especially without permission. [laughs] It always ends up with the worst possible thing that could happen. [laughs] And I don’t know if that’s actually what happens or just everybody notices it, you know what I’m saying? [laughs] But I’ve seen it many a time from some newb that steps up on the mound.”

My informant is a 44 year old male who often plays board games and role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. I imagine he observes this superstition not only because he believes it has an effect on luck but also because it shows respect for other gamers. It speaks to a larger culture of mutual respect and commonly accepted ground rules that exists within gamer culture, one which allows game-playing among lots of people to function smoothly. I find it really interesting that those who take another’s dice are the ones punished with bad luck. In this way, this superstition serves as a warning to keep everyone in check.

Soakers

Nationality: African-American
Age: 40's
Occupation: Flight Attendant
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/26/2016
Primary Language: English

Informant: “People that don’t wear their shoes, and only socks or barefoot into the bathrooms, the lavatories, we call them soakers…cause they soak up all the shit that’s on the floor.”

My informant is a flight attendant. He has worked in the industry for since his early 20’s, and learned this term from other flight attendants upon entering the industry. In private, they would call a customer they noticed entering a bathroom without shoes or socks a “soaker. My informant has seen “soakers” on many flights, and regards it as an especially disgusting phenomenon because, as he put it:

“People, you know, people just can’t see. So they’re walking on everyone’s splatter or whatever…You get turbulence, when they’re in there, you’ve got shit, you know, splattering!…Now let alone just the people that are physically ill.”

My informant laments the size of airplane lavatories as it forces passengers, both men and women, to as he put it, “splatter” all over the floor. And according to him, the “soakers” only make it worse, because they take that “splatter” and drag it all around the cabin. This folk term speaks to his, and other flight attendants’ larger frustration with the inconsiderate and unhygienic behaviors that so many passengers adopt on planes. It also speaks to their frustration with the airline companies for making bathrooms so small as to almost guarantee uncleanliness.

I think my informant marvels at soakers because they are foreign and exotic to him, as he himself is such a dignified and well-put-together person. I also think this phenomenon is a great example of how frighteningly comfortable we have gotten on airplanes. People all around the world are so used to flying that they feel at home enough to take off their shoes and socks, without even thinking about the hygienic implication.