Category Archives: Game

“nose goes”

Age: 19
Residence: San Francisco, CA
Performance Date: 4/21/2011
Primary Language: English
Language: French

A method of deciding who has to do a task, generally one that nobody will volunteer for. Sometimes, someone will call out, “Nose Goes!”, but often, there will be no indication that the game has started. One person will simply put their finger on their nose, and as the others notice, they will, too. The last person to have their finger on their nose loses, and has to perform whatever task or make whatever decision had been the point of contention.

Lauren learned this game pretty early in high school, at lunch. There was a system, in which one person would take up all the trays and garbage for an entire table, and generally determined who got to carry out this chore by playing “nose goes.” The game has also been called “noses” or “the nose game.”

I found it to be well-know across the country, as most everyone I have met from different states and backgrounds is also familiar with the game.

Of course, if you don’t know about “nose goes,” you will obviously be the loser, and be on the lookout for next time. It is a game about being observant, and of course, quick. This game can get pretty competitive, which may be why I have found that the game is most prevalent among teens and young adults.

“Guys finger, Girls blow”

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 22
Occupation: student
Residence: New Jersey
Performance Date: 4-24-2011
Primary Language: English

“Guys finger, girls blow”

While playing the drinknig game beerpong with some college-aged co-eds and a house party, I witnessed a girl blowing into the red cup while a ping-pong ball was circling the opening but not yet touching the beer inside the cup.  When I questioned what she was doing, my friend Adam stepped in.  He said “Umm.. duh… guys finger, girls blow.”  He went on to explain that “If a ball circles the cup… but doesn’t hit the beer… You try to get the ball out.  You know.. Girls can blow into the cup and we can use our fingers to knock it out.”

I further witnessed Adam using a flicking like method later in the game to remove a circling ping-pong ball from the cup.  This is clearly a game rule specific to this group of co-eds.  Adam explained the sexual connotation of the rule relating differing sexual acts of females versus males.

I suppose this rule is found humorous due to  the resemblance of sexual acts, which in such a setting, such as a house party with college co-eds, seems natural and flirtatious.  I agree with my informant that this rule does elude to sexual behaviors and further denotes the males from the females interacting in the drinking game.

Games

Nationality: American. Self-Identified Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Champaign, IL
Performance Date: 4/22/11
Primary Language: English

The game as explained by Luke:  “When someone farts they must say ‘Safety’ before anyone else says ‘Doorknob.’  If they do not say ‘Safety’ first, then others have license to beat the shit out of, tickle, poke, or do whatever they want with that person until they either touch a doorknob.  Or until they spell ‘doorknob’ backwards, but people don’t usually use that rule.”

Luke explained that he learned this game from his family.  He has two older brothers, and they would take joy in beating him up if he forgot to say “Safety.”  His sisters would join in the game as well, but it was primarily played amongst the men of the family.  He said that he would also play this game with his friends, but he mostly played it when he was younger with his other family members.  Luke explained that the game was ongoing, and occurred any time after someone passed gas.  There wasn’t a set time that people played, it just happened.

Luke said that the game means that people have found ways to exploit bodily functions, a kind of universal common ground like talking about the weather, to bond and grow as a social group.  He said that he thinks the game exists because it combines the humor of farting and the joy of punishment.  Also, it has an element of danger and competition.

I agree with Luke’s surprisingly insightful analysis.  I also had a similar experience playing this game growing up, as I mostly played it with my family members and close friends.  This demonstrates that the act of passing gas is natural, and deemed acceptable with people that you are comfortable around.

Also, farting is something that is usually tabboo in modern popular culture, but this game makes it acceptable and fun.  Because those that have to deal with the repercussions of another person’s flatulence are usually uncomfortable or unhappy, this game gives them the chance to return the favor by beating on the one that passed gas in an acceptable manner.

Down by the Banks- Children’s game/song

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 9
Occupation: Elementary School Student
Residence: Clovis, CA
Performance Date: March 15, 2011
Primary Language: English

Down by the banks of the Hanky-Panky

Where the bullfrog jumps from bank to bank-y

With the heeps, hops

Soda pops

Hey Mr. Willie and he went ker-plop

To play this game everyone sits in a circle and you hold our hands out to each side. You place your right hand on top of your (right-hand side) neighbor’s left and your left hand under your (left-hand side) neighbor’s right hand. The person who starts the game moves their right hand and slaps the right hand of the person to their left, while everyone sings the “Down by the Banks” song. The object of the game is to not be the last person to have their hand slapped when the song ends, so after your hand is slapped you want to slap the next person’s hand as quickly as possible. If you are the last one slapped then you’re out and you have to leave the circle. Then everyone else moves in and starts the game again until there are only two people left. The last two sing the song again, but instead of slapping each other’s hands they lock fingers and swing their arms back and forth at the end of the song the person who’s elbows are straight is the winner.

The informant said that she first played this game about a year ago when she was 8 and had first joined a Jr. Cheerleading camp at the local junior high school. She and the rest of her group learned it from their cheerleading instructor who she believes was an 8th grader. The informant thinks “Down by the Banks” is a waiting game, because “You usually play it when you are waiting for something. Like your turn to perform at a competition or something.” She says it’s fun to play and that “it helps calm you down so that you don’t get stage-fright”. As for the meaning of the song lyrics,  she is unsure. She doesn’t think they mean much of anything and that the lyrics are just fun to say because they are funny sounding and rhyme.

I also played this game as a little girl and I agree with my informant that it is a “waiting game”. Every time I played it as a child it was before some kind of performance or sports competition. The game is fun, silly, and fast-paced and can soothe nerves of a young girl troubled by stage-fright. My informant said that only the older elementary school girls play it 3rd-5th grade, she has never seen any 7th grade girls playing “Down by the Banks” together and only a few 6th grade girls. I believe this song has sexual overtones that the younger girls who are between the ages of 8 and 10 or 11 do not really understand yet, so the older girls in junior high might pass it down as a bit of a joke. The younger girls have fun playing and the older girls get some amusement from knowing that the younger girls don’t really know what their singing about. The song itself could be considered a kind of practical joke played on young girls who are just barely beginning puberty and are in a liminal stage between being a child and an adolescent.

Children’s Game – American

Nationality: Caucasian American
Age: 41
Occupation: Storyteller
Residence: Westlake, Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 17, 2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Conversational Spanish, Conversational German

The informant says he “probably learned [the following game] in elementary school or something”:

The game is called “Red Light, Green Light,” and the basic rules are that one player allows the rest to rush forward from a start line when he says, “green light,” and has his back turned, but the other players must stop suddenly if the leader says, “red light,” and turns around, lest they be caught moving and get sent back to the beginning. The first player to reach and touch the leader becomes the next leader. Here are the rules in the informant’s own words: Red Light, Green Light

When asked when the game was usually performed, the informant responded, “I don’t think I played it any time beyond, like, elementary school, or . . . Either during recess or with some friends of mine at, like, a kiddie birthday party—four, five, six, seven, you know, something like that.”

The informant’s opinion of the purpose of the game is that it allows children to “get some of their inherent sneakiness, you know, resolved without getting into any real trouble, ’cause the worst that happens is you get sent back to the beginning of the line.” This might be construed as a useful function, making children more governable the rest of the time; however, the informant thinks the game is more “a subversive game designed to, uh, uh, to effectively teach people that it doesn’t matter what you do as long as you don’t get caught.” In his words, the game is “designed to teach you to be sneaky—the idea that if someone’s not looking, you can get away with something.” He concluded by saying, “I’m not sure that, ultimately, the message is all that positive.”

The informant compares “Red Light, Green Light” to other games that might be considered folkloric cognates—“Mother May I” and “Simon Says”—commenting, “There’s a whole sort of series of games that’s about can you follow instructions, can you be sneaky without getting caught.” However, Rae Pica and Mary Duru, authors of the book Great Games for Young Children, have a different concept of what the game is supposed to teach: “listening skills,” “traffic safety skills,” and “self-control” (47), among others. Clearly they endorse the game from an adult standpoint and do not consider it subversive. That the game is included in their book is evidence of multiplicity, and there is a slight variation in their rules for the game:  instead of being sent back to the beginning, children who get caught moving are designated as “yellow lights, which means they must walk in place until the signal to go is given again” (47). And instead of the person who reaches the leader first getting to go next, Rae and Duru recommend a less partial system of deciding an order in advance (47). Clearly the name “Red Light, Green Light” has a terminus post quem of the invention of the stoplight, but the cognate games that the informant mentioned may be older.

Source:

Pica, Rae and Maray Duru. Great Games for Young Children: Over 100 games to develop Self-Confidence, Problem-Solving Skills, and Cooperation. Beltsville, Maryland: Gryphon House, 2006.