Category Archives: Folk speech

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

There is a very common joke: “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

Usually, it’s followed by the answer: “To get to the other side.”

From that joke, there has been many other jokes that stemmed from the joke, such as: “Why did the chicken cross the playground?” “To get to the other slide.”

These types of literal jokes are called anti-jokes, in which the punchline is not a clever play on words, but a literal, mundane answer.

For reference of the first time this joke was published, please see: The Knickerbocker, or The New York Monthly, March 1847, p. 283.

“Biz” – Fraternity Tradition

Nationality: Jewish, Russian, English
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Westwood, CA
Performance Date: 4-15-16
Primary Language: English

Informant: Sam Kitaj is one of my best friends from high school. His heritage is English, Russian, and Jewish. He is 21 years old and grew up in Westwood, California. He went to high school in Los Angeles and now attends a university and is studying Real-Estate Development. He played sports his whole life with a focus on soccer and is now in a fraternity.

Sam told me, “In my particular fraternity, it is frowned upon to say the number ‘5,’ because of a drinking game we play called beer die. The game involves throwing up a die in the air and trying to have it hit the opponents side of the table and bounce awkwardly enough so that they cannot catch the rebound. By some off chance the die does not exit the plane of the table, it will land on a number. The number 5 is forbidden and if it lands on 5 then the person who threw the die has to finish his beer. Also, during the game you are not allowed to say the word 5 so instead it is substituted for the word ‘BIZ.’ It has now become a custom in my particular fraternity that, even when not playing beer die, you say ‘biz’ instead of the number 5.”

Sam learned this particular folk speech tradition from the older members in the house when he was a younger member. It is now a humorous aspect of the house and people say biz whenever 5 is commonly said. For example, “It’s ‘biz o’clock” or “1,2,3,4,biz,6,7.” It is just a way to distinguish the houses vocabulary from others and it makes it have something unique. It is even funnier when someone forgets the rule and says ‘5,’ people don’t hesitate to correct him instantly. Its a cultural thing that is specific to the particular group.

I personally find this particular custom hilarious. Its such a silly way to translate an aspect of simple game into something that occurs on a daily basis. I can really understand how this could be a fun tradition around a fairly small group. Grilling those who don’t abide by the rule is a typical occurrence that happens nearly everyday, giving a common situational humor. Even though it is not that important, it is looked at as so. This creates a common dialect between the members of the particular group and allows for them to grow closer through this fun game that they all play.

New Jersey Alphabet

Nationality: American
Age: 60
Occupation: Accountant
Residence: Denver, Colorado
Performance Date: 4/21/15
Primary Language: English

Joke:

“How do you say the New Jersey Alphabet?”

“Fuckin’ A, Fuckin’ B, Fuckin’ C….”

I was told this joke by RG, who is originally from a small town in New Jersey called Bergenfield.

Who told you the joke?

RG: ” I think someone out here (Colorado) actually told me it”

What does it mean?

RG: “Well that’s just what people say out there (New Jersey) because you say “hey want to go to the movies” and I say “fuckin’ A!”. It’s definitely a New Jersey joke, it’s based off the expression. “Of course I want to!” is kind of what it means. Like if I say “Wanna go have a cocktail?” and you say “Fuckin’ A! Of course I do!”. I don’t know why that’s just how it is there, it’s standard New Jersey language which has a lot of that type of talk in it. That’s the lingo I grew up with, different than how people talk out here (meaning Colorado)”

This joke plays off the stereotype of people from New York and New Jersey as being more aggressive and vulgar. I thought it was interesting that someone from out of state actually told RG the joke, but he thought it was so funny because it fit well with what he grew up with. Even though the joke played off stereotypes, the stereotypes were accurate enough that someone from New Jersey found it funny because it was true.

The sense of regionalism that the joke evokes is also very interesting. The fact that RG said it was”different than how people talk out here” shows how even though New Jersey and Colorado are both in the United States, what is appropriate to say in one state is not necessarily appropriate in the other. As someone raised in Colorado, I can agree with RG that people from Colorado probably would not find the joke very funny because of its vulgarity and their inability to relate. I think one of the reasons RG found the joke so amusing and enjoyed sharing it with others was because it was a way to reconnect with his roots and remember where he came from. Although Colorado and New Jersey are within the same country, there are still regional social cues that need to be picked up on. Telling the joke would be a way to give people in Colorado a sense of what New Jersey is like in an amusing and entertaining way.

The Harlem drag ball scene

Nationality: american
Age: 31
Occupation: film production
Residence: los angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/15
Primary Language: English

JG describes lingo used within the gay community that arised in the 1980s but wasn’t mainstream until more recently:

JG: “A lot of the terms you will see on RuPaul’s Drag Race. One is called “executive realness” which is when the men are supposed to dress in drag that looks like a business woman. So you’d be giving “executive realness” if you look like a business woman in charge. Another one is “throwing shade”. This is when you say something “shady” or bitchy. Like if I said I thought Jenny was a slut then I’d be throwing shade at Jenny. They are terms usually used in the gay community but I think they are spread outwards by shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race where people who have never seen a drag queen in real life can learn their lingo”

Do you know where these words came from?

JG: “They came from the underground drag ball scene in the 1980s. The only reason I know that is from the documentary “Paris is Burning”. Basically the terms have been around for a long time but it was avant guard back then cause the drag scene was more underground. It was big in the downtown gay club scene but didn’t make its way into the mainstream until 20 or 20 years later.”

El sordo no olle, pero compone

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Performance Date: 4/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

”El sordo no olle, pero compone.”

The deaf person doesn’t hear, but he composes.

“If someone isn’t really paying attention I guess, or they do something wrong so that it’s obvious they weren’t paying attention, people use this to call you out. My mom would use it a lot whenever we were being bad in general though.

I found this proverb interesting, mainly because I couldn’t necessarily think of an equivalent one in English. The context in which it is used is one that I (and many others, I’m sure) am familiar with; I am curious to know why some cultures have a niche for this particular proverb and others don’t. The proverb appears to reference the composition of music, and implicates that composing music without having the ear to listen to it is a foolish venture at best.