Category Archives: Proverbs

Anthropologist Proverbial Joke

Nationality: Mexican-Armenian-American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 27 Mar 2018
Primary Language: English

“My old anthropology teacher got this from her old anthropology teacher, but they say ‘to be an anthropologist, you have to be a little crazy,’ because, well, we spend a lot of time dressing up in other cultures.”

This occupational proverbial joke came from a classmate with whom I exchanged lore. She herself is an Anthropology major, explaining the specifics of this telling. However, I have heard the exact same setup, “you have to be a little crazy to be a ____,” used for just about any profession you can think of. The multiplicity and variation of this piece of folklore come across in the universal applicability of the joke.
Although this joke may seem self-deprecating at first, it is really a way for people to take pride in their profession. The meaning is not, “we’re all crazy,” but “we are willing to drive ourselves a little crazy because we care so much about doing to work because we know it is important.” The fact that my informant heard this from her professor demonstrates its practical uses. As well as simply communicating pride, telling occupation folklore like this can help bring others into the community. By telling my informant this joke, and emphasizing its longstanding history through the ‘original’ source, her professor likely helped instill in her a respect for the field of anthropology and those who practice it.

Good Lord Willing!

Nationality: American
Age: 51
Occupation: Restaurant Manager
Residence: Temecula
Performance Date: 4/8/18
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: SR: My mom used to always say, “Good lord willing and the creek don’t rise”, and everytime I say it now I think of my mom. She would pretty much say it whenever you’re hoping something would work out positively, or you think something would work out positively, like “We’re gonna go to Disneyland, good lord willing and the creek don’t rise.”

 

Context: This phrase was said by SR’s mother as he was growing up, whenever one wanted to see a positive outcome.

 

Background: SR remembered this in particular when asked if his family has any sort of proverbs that they used to say; his mother recently passed, and so when he mentioned this he smiled and said that it always made him think of his mom.

 

Analysis: This proverb is widely used in SR’s family, and throughout the country as well, although SR said he hasn’t encountered a ton of other people who use this regularly. Upon further research, it seems to have originated in pilgrim-age America, where a creek flooding would impede your travel and make your journey much more difficult, or even perilous. I think it is always so interesting to see how literal phrases like this can turn into such meaningless words to toss around– nowadays, this saying has absolutely nothing to do with creek flooding!

 

You Don’t Know Shit from Shinola

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 03/27/2018
Primary Language: English
  1. The main piece: Shinola (Proverbial Insult)

“You don’t know shit from Shinola.”

  1. Background information about the performance from the informant: why do they know or like this piece? Where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them? Etc.

“My grandpa used to say it to my dad, and my dad said it to me. He said one day my dad said something, and he said, ‘You know what, you don’t know shit from Shinola.’

“Shinola is brown shoe polish. So it’s the same color as shit. So no one knows shit from Shinola.”

  1. The context of the performance

It’s a proverbial insult that members of his family used to say when the informant was growing up. He said that “it doesn’t impart wisdom, it’s saying that you have none.”

  1. Finally, your thoughts about the piece

Insults and teasing are often a way of developing close relationships and building rapport. This joking insult passed from grandfather to father to son shows the teasing nature of their relationships and the lighthearted attitudes in their families. This proverbial insult also provides a way for elder members of the family to reprimand children when they become overconfident or misspeak: while it clearly puts them in their place, they know that it is a “tough-love,” teasing phrase and are not too wounded by the insult. It also may show that the insulter does not view the insultee as mature or old enough yet.

  1. Informant Details

The informant is a 22 year old American male and grew up in Tiburon, where he spent lots of time with his father and grandfather, as well as the other kids in his tight-knit neighborhood. His primary language is English, and he currently resides in Los Angeles.

Every Confidant Has a Confidant

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Administrator (previously Architect)
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English

Item (direct transcription):

Every confidant has a confidant.

Background Information:

The informant learned the proverb from her father.

To her, the proverb means to be careful who you confide in.

Contextual Information:

The informant says she would use this proverb to warn someone against confiding in someone dubious.

Analysis:

This saying meets three out of the four canonical criteria for a proverb. It is (1) short, (2) fixed-phrase, and (3) rhetorical. However, it is not metaphorical—in fact, it’s meaning is quite literal.

Also, like many proverbs, it’s phrasing is somewhat poetic due to the repetition of the word “confidant” in such a short phrase.

If You Sleep With Dogs, You Wake Up With Fleas

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Administrator (previously Architect)
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/15/2018
Primary Language: English

Item (direct transcription):

If you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

Background Information:

The informant learned the proverb from her father.

To her, the proverb means that even if you’re “clean,” when you “consort, make friends, do business with, or associate with people who are doing things that you don’t want on you, it will end up on you. Then you could get punished for their acts.”

Contextual Information:

The informant says she would use this proverb to warn someone against associating with someone of questionable character.

Analysis:

This saying meets all four of the canonical criteria for a proverb. It is (1) short, (2) fixed-phrase, (3) rhetorical, and (4) metaphorical.

Another version of this proverb was recorded by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac as “He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.” This provides a terminus ante quem of 1758 for the proverb.