Category Archives: Folk speech

Punching Roof of Car While Passing Through Yellow Light

This informant recited a tradition which was very popular in my hometown. My hometown had a very dedicated car community where many members of our high school participated in driving cars precariously fast. My informant, a valid member of this community, retold a bit of driving folklore regarding one of the most dangerous obstacles in our hometown, red lights. More specifically, the changing of the yellow light from green then later to red. When driving at high speeds, it can be difficult to determine whether one can make it past the light in time or not. My informant said that sometimes the best thing to do is speed up and pass through the light, however whenever this is done you must punch the roof of the car for goodluck. This is also a way to pay tribute to the greater powers controlling the vehicle and paying homage to them for guiding the vehicle safely through traffic as well as slowing down the light from changing to red. 

Tracing the precise origins of this superstition is challenging, as it likely emerged spontaneously in multiple locations as automobiles became integral to daily life. The ritual reflects a broader human tendency to create and adhere to superstitions surrounding travel and transitions, which are moments of heightened risk and uncertainty. Similar to other travel-related superstitions, the practice likely spread through word-of-mouth and imitation, becoming a part of the collective driving culture. The yellow light in traffic signals serves as a warning, indicating that the red stop signal is imminent and that drivers should prepare to halt. However, in the fast-paced rhythm of modern life, a yellow light often prompts a decision: to speed up in an attempt to cross the intersection before the light turns red or to slow down and stop. The act of punching the roof of the car while driving through a yellow light is a ritualistic gesture that symbolically wards off bad luck or the potential negative consequences of making such split-second decisions. It can be seen as a way to ‘pay homage’ to the gods of luck and safe travel, seeking protection or blessing for the choice to proceed rather than stop.

You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.

Context: The informant was four years old at a preschool birthday party when she first heard this phrase, said to her by a friend’s mother after she asked for a different popsicle flavor.

Analysis: This rhyming phrase is typically said to children in response to expressions of dissatisfaction (I’ve heard it many times as well). It seems to encourage a philosophy of being grateful for what one has, and not to trouble others with your own disappointment.

Three Doors Riddle

You’re in the woods – it’s dark, there’s no electricity, and you’re running from something (e.g. a bear, a ghost, or some other scary thing). You come across an empty building and go inside. Before you are three doors (may vary among tellers): a circle one, a triangle one, and a rectangle one. Which do you choose?

After you choose one, you are presented with another three doors: for example, one red, one green, one blue. You choose, and again there are three doors: one covered in velvet, one covered in glitter, and one made of wood. This may go on until you are presented with a final set of three doors: one that leads to a den of hungry lions, one to a room with an electric chair, and one with a rising flood. Which do you choose?

The other two doors may vary, but all are meant to present an inescapable death – except the electric chair. As said at the beginning of the riddle, there is no electricity – therefore, upon choosing the room with the electric chair, you will survive, and have thus solved the riddle.

The informant also mentioned a variation of the riddle where one room instead leads to a group of lions that haven’t eaten in a hundred years – in this case, you are meant to be distracted from the fact that the lions would be dead from starvation.

Context: The informant first heard this riddle somewhere between the ages 9 and 13, while at a junior lifeguard summer camp.

Analysis: This seems to fit into a trend of ‘catch’ riddles that a) casually introduce a key detail (lack of electricity), b) distract the receiver with irrelevant information made to seem important (choices between doors + a sense of urgency), and c) ask a question that, unbeknownst to the receiver, depends solely on the key detail. The receiver is then meant to feel foolish for missing the obvious.

Rooster Riddle

Q: If a rooster lays an egg standing on a roof in the middle of the day, which way does it fall?

A: Roosters don’t lay eggs!

Context: The informant heard this riddle from her dad as a child, and speculates that all the extra context given in the riddle (i.e. the roof, the time of day, etc) is meant to throw off the listener from the obvious answer.

Analysis: This seems to fit into a trend of ‘catch’ riddles that a) casually introduce a key detail, b) distract the receiver with irrelevant information made to seem important, and c) ask a question that, unbeknownst to the receiver, depends solely on the key detail. The receiver is then meant to feel foolish for missing the obvious.

Horses for courses

Context: The informant heard this saying primarily from her mom as a child; similar to “different strokes for different folks,” this phrase is meant to say that there are different people or things suited for different situations. More specifically, as the informant adds, “not all horses are racehorses.”

Analysis: I was confused when I first heard this, but in context it makes sense – racehorses are meant for racecourses, while others are not. It’s an interestingly horse-specific way of acknowledging individual differences.