Category Archives: Folk speech

Ninja Looting

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/27/2015
Primary Language: English

My informant used to play the massive multilayer online game World of Warcraft. In this game players are able to talk and play with one another in real time. In fact, group play is encouraged and is often essential to complete some of hte harder portions of the game. Because of this, there is a large online community of World of Warcraft players who interact with eachother regularly and have created their own customs, phrases and rituals.

My informant explained to me one such phrase that is commonly used in World of Warcraft. In order to understand it, however, you must know a little bit about the game. In World of Warcraft there are group encounters called dungeons. In these dungeons teams of five to twenty five players work together to defeat high level enemies and earn exceptional rewards (usually in the form of items to better equip your avatar). After you defeat a boss, they drop randomly generated loot that the players then divide up among themselves. Usually who gets which pieces of loot is determined before the boss dies to avoid confusion. If not, players often roll a virtual die and whoever gets the highest number gets the item. However, certain players, referred to as “ninjas” will simply take the loot quickly before his team has the time to figure out which items go to whom. This is called “ninja looting” and is very looked down upon in the community. On the subject of “ninja looters” my informant revealed that these people “can ruin the fun for the other players and are usually kicked out of the group.” When asked who started this phrase or why they are called that, she responded by saying that “I’m not sure where it came from, when I started playing the game back in 2007 it was already a very established term. As far as what it means goes I think its just like you are a ninja because you are sneaking in and taking something and then hopefully leaving before someone realizes.” She went on to say that “ninja looters” are very disliked by the general community and often will be blacklisted if they are caught multiple times.

This term reminds me of the term “pirate” which refers to people who illegally download media on the Internet. In this game a “ninja” isn’t a literal ninja, but is rather someone who breaks the looting rules and disrupts the order of the group. In this sense, I feel like the ninja is just a metaphor for someone who stealthily takes something from the larger community like a real ninja might have done.

Popolo

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2015
Primary Language: English

Although he has spent the majority of his life living on the continental United States, my informant considers himself to be Hawaiian culturally and still holds on to the Hawaiian speech and traditions that he learned as a child. That is not to say that he speaks the language of the native Hawaiians, but rather he uses and is accustomed to various slang terms that are primarily used among Hawaiian locals. When asked about a unique example Hawaiian slang, he immediately said, “well there is this one word. Popolo.” According to my informant this word, pronounced po-polo, is “a traditionally derogatory way to refer to a black person.” However, as he continued talking about the use of this word, he mentioned that “at least in [the group of people he was around when he was in Hawaii] people used it very casually. Because of that I never knew that it was a bad word until I moved to California and was told by my dad to stop saying it.” When asked about the origin of the word, my informant told me that it is a reference to the popolo berry. The popolo berry is the Hawaiian name for glossy nightshade, which is a plant that has very dark black berries.

On the surface, this slang term makes sense as it can both refer to a dark colored berry or the dark colored skin of a person. However, it’s meaning likely doesn’t stop there. My informant mentioned that this is a derogatorily term, and upon researching the popolo berry or the berry of glossy nightshade, it becomes apparent why this is. While the berry is clearly black in color, it is more widely known for being toxic and dangerous if handled incorrectly. I believe that this slang, when used derogatorily, is referencing this aspect of the popolo. It is also of note that my informant revealed that this term is still commonly used in Hawaii, at least in his group of acquaintances. While this does not reveal much in itself, it maybe valuable to recognize that this word is still used and accepted while further researching Hawaiian slang.

Said the Blind Man to the Deaf Monkey

Nationality: African American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: March 25, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant H is 19 years old and was born in Inglewood CA, and moved to a place near Valencia just outside of LA soon after she was born. After 5 years, her little sister was born, then her little brother, and then her youngest sister. The family then moved to Bakersfield. H homeschooled for many years and then transitioned into a public high school.

So my Dad always says this thing, ‘Said the blind man to the deaf monkey’. And I don’t know where it comes from, he might have even made it up, but you can really use it in any case. He says that all the time and we have this running joke because I’m always like ‘that doesn’t make any sense, the man he blind…the monkey is deaf…’ You use it when you tell someone you like see, like you understand them. So you’re talking to someone and they’re like, ‘Oh I see’ and then you’d say ‘Said the blind man to the deaf monkey’. He uses it mostly to be facetious I think. I guess it’s supposed to be like when you understand but you don’t really. And he always says it with this wink and a smile. At this point he just says it to be funny, just him being himself.

 

Analysis:

This proverb is a family specific one that helps to bring the family together in a funny and lighthearted way. The informant H always laughs when she hears her Dad say it and thinks of him fondly when she tells of this proverb.   Although this proverb doesn’t teach much of a lesson, it helps to bring H and her Dad closer together through this unique and silly proverb.

A Proverb for Lost Things

Nationality: Columbian, American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 10, 2015
Primary Language: English

Informant S is 21 years old from Boise Idaho. He is a Philosophy major who also plans on attending Medical School. He is half Columbian and half American.

S: Oh God my dad would always say, ‘A place for everything and everything in its place’. Any time I ever asked where something was or um I just found something after searching, he’d get all smug and say that.

Me: Have you ever said that yourself?

S: I’ve said it to my sister a couple times to be sort of a little shit, and interestingly when my dad loses his stuff, I almost always say it. I guess you could say he was sort of trying to teach me a lesson and it annoyed me so much I started using it to him. It started to annoy him as well so I sort of got my point across.

Me: Do you think it worked?

S: No I think that fact that it was so intrusive made it so I kind of went out my way not to do it sometimes and it didn’t really stick in my memory. What’s funny is that I think it’s a pretty good lesson, maybe he could have just taught it a little better.  It was annoying but I got it, you know?

 

Analysis:

Here the informant S shares how his father tried to teach him a lesson through a proverb. S found it annoying as if the wisdom of using a well known proverb allowed his dad to be smug about telling him he shouldn’t lose things. Although proverbs are often used to teach a lesson, the informant did not enjoy being taught through a proverb and actively avoided its teachings on occasion.  The proverb did come to his mind quickly though so in that way the proverb succeeded in getting into his memory, even if its message didn’t stick.

3 Greek Proverbs

Nationality: Greek, German, Argentinian
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 11, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Greek

Informant A is a 17-year-old Sophomore at USC studying Biomedical Engineering with an emphasis on Neuroscience. She is ¼ Greek Cypriote, ¼ German and ¼ Argentinian but she strongly identifies with the Greek side of her. She spent 9 years in Greek school and goes to Greece every summer. She speaks Greek with her grandparents.

“So when I was younger my grandparents wanted to stress on me, not only my ancient Greek heritage, but also the important Greek proverbs that everyone learned in school. So one of the big ones you actually hear a lot in English is

En eetha otee uu then ee eetha

which is Socrates when he was pronounced the smartest man in the world. It actually means ‘I know that I know nothing, which is why I’m the smartest man’. He knew that there was so much more that he needed to learn. So that was basically their way of saying ‘Don’t let your head get too big’. Like even though you may know a lot there’s still so much more to explore so don’t treat this world like you’ve done everything it has to offer because there’s always so much more. I learned this when Grandfather sat me down and started talking about the history of Greece and he told me to remember that. You know everyone has an opinion on everything even if they know nothing. This proverb was like a self-reminder for me. A lot of the proverbs my grandparents told me were supposed to be for you internally, they’re something you think of when you’re struggling. Another proverb my grandparents told me is ‘Nothing easy is worth it’. So when I was telling them how hard my Physics class was last semester, they actually told me this. They asked me, ‘Do you think it’s worth it, are you learning a lot? Because that’s what’s meaningful and it’s good you’re working hard. If it were easy you probably wouldn’t actually like it and that you like the challenge.’ I think this proverb was from one of the ancient Greek philosophers like way back when. This last proverb is definitely one you’ve heard in English. But the original Greek is not what the actual translation is in English. The original Greek is

Pan metron ariston

which means “always measure absolutely perfectly” but what you’ve heard in English is “Everything in moderation”, that’s what that was translated from. It says you can have everything you want, but make sure you measure it well. Make sure you understand what’s moderation and what’s excess. A lot of these proverbs they’ve said have been for my physical and mental strength. And a lot of these proverbs have been passed down to the people who lived in Cypress and Greece. When some of these people came to America, some tried to teach the lessons and morals rather than the myths and the proverbs. That may be why there’s this divide between Greek-American culture and traditional Greek culture. Most of my friends and family in Greece though would definitely recognize these proverbs. They actually teach them in the Greek schools. These proverbs really shape the Greek culture and unite us in our values of work hard, be kind to strangers… You don’t see the kind of similarity in values in the US because there are so many different cultures here. I think something is lost when you move away from the land and aren’t surrounded by the people who share the same history and the same values. You’re not in the community anymore.

 

Analysis:

Informant A mentions 3 proverbs here and how they are important to her. She emphasizes how she thinks of them in times when she is struggling and uses them as bits of advice. The Greeks seem to stress learning these proverbs, they actually teach them in their schools, and A explains how they are less emphasized in the US. The Greek people value working hard, self sufficiency, and humbleness, as most of their workforce depends on agriculture which requires hard work and determination.  The informants family also primarily works in agriculture.  She talks about how the US not emphasizing proverbs makes some of the values that these proverbs teach less prominent in US communities because the people are in such a mixed environment.  Generally people in the US want the shortened version and just the lesson rather than the long story, even if this may be less effective at communicating the lesson.