Category Archives: Game

Game – United States

Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Redmond, WA
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Sourashtra, Tamil

Down By the Banks

Down by the banks of the Hanky Panky
Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky
Where the eeps, ops, sodapops
Hey Mr. Lilypad and went kerplops

Hand clapping games are very popular all over the world. My informant told me about one of her hand clapping games she played when she was young. The above lyrics are what two people sang while they smacked their hands together kind of like “patty cake” hand motions. At the end of the song they would shout freeze and they would hold their positions and who ever flinched or moved would loose the game. She said that she played this game at recess all throughout her elementary school years. She said that she would play this game out of leisure and fun and all her of friends played it.

As I was growing up in elementary school hand clapping games were popular then too. As a guy I would not participate in them but because I had a younger sister I would know a lot about them. There are many variations to this hand game. I can remember at least 5 different hand clapping songs from when I was young and I am pretty sure there were many more. I feel that this game is played predominantly by girls because as children girls are more prone to sing songs play sit down games compared to guys who would play sports and run around. Many variations of this song have not only clapping of hands with the other person but they would also smack their thighs and each other’s heads. This game is probably played all around the world in many different languages.

Popular Saying/Children’s Game – United States

Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Redmond, WA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Sourashtra, Tamil

Jinx

Jinx is a popular children’s game played all over the United States. My sister first heard of the game in 1st grade. She said at first she didn’t know what it meant when her friends said jinx but after a while she understood that it meant that she couldn’t talk because she said the same word as her friend. She said that when a person calls jinx, the other person counts to ten and after she does that whoever has been “jinxed” cannot talk until someone says their name. If violated (the person talks), then their penalty is a  punch in the arm. This part of the game varies across America. She said sometimes she played where the other person has to buy her a candy bar or some sort of sweets.  She also stated that jinxes can be called in line, as if it were a race. The last person who has called the highest level of “jinx” wins and the other person is jinxed. She said that one example of a jinx sequence is:

  1. Jinx
  2. Jinx Double Jinx
  3. Personal Jinx
  4. Personal Jinx Black Magic Jinx
  5. Your Mother Jinx

She said that once when she was in California she heard someone say “California jinx.” This is where someone cannot go to the bathroom unless they have said his or her name.

I have played this game many times over the course of my schooling. I think that this game is played as a leisurely fun past time. I did a little research on this game I found out many variations around the United States. In North Carolina, if someone breaks the jinx, then they are rendered a homosexual. In Western North Dakota, the person jinxed cannot move from their spot until someone says their name.

In recent popular culture, the jinx game has been used many times. For instance in the popular show The Office, Pam the receptionist jinxes Jim and declares that he has to buy her a soda before he can talk. The unfortunate part to that is that they were out of soda in the soda machine, so he cannot talk the whole day until he leaves work.

Annotation:

Drug Testing.” The Office. NBC. KING, Los Angeles. 26 Apr. 2006.

“Jinx (Childrens Game).” Wikipedia. 17 Apr. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinx_%28children%27s_game%29>.

Children’s Game

Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Redmond, WA
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Sourashtra, Tamil

M.A.S.H

The game MASH is a children’s game played all over the world. Trisha told me that she first played this game when she was in 2nd grade. She thought that it was very dumb and not fun. But as she grew up she realized it was a fun game.

The game is played between two people. One person would write things down and the other would be whose life we would try to predict. The person writing down the things would ask the other person to name 5 boys, places, cars, colors and such things. Then after they have collected the information then she would ask the person to say a random number between 1-4. Then that number would be multiplied by 2 and subtracted by 3. That number would be used to cross of the things on the list. They would count to that number on the list and then cross out that item, until there was one of each of the categories. Then those would be what would be your projected life. At end they would count off the MASH and the remaining letter would be the type of house you would live in, M standing for mansion, A standing for apartment, S standing for Shack and H standing for house.

This game is very similar to many other children’s games played by girls such as true love and lemons. Trisha said that she would play this game at recess with her friends. Since then she has only played this game as a joke with her friends in high school. But when she was a child she thought this game was very fascinating because it predicted your life in the future. She said she usually picked the cutest guys in the grade as her 5 boys.

As much as this game was fun, it had no use to it but only for pleasure and fun. I think that many girls play this game because they love to look into the future. There are many versions of this game. Such as MASHO which has an outhouse added to the end of the name, and MAPSHC which has playhouse and cardboard box added. This game is very popular and would probably be played all over the world in many different languages.

Drinking Game

Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English

Vince first played this game in October of 2006 his first semester in College. This is a game of memory and speed. The game is played in a circle. Each person in the circle has his or her own hand gesture. Vince said when he played it that he did a rowing motion and that was his hand motion for the whole game. After each person picks their hand gesture, everyone rapidly taps on the table and starts saying thumper, and the they increasingly say it faster and faster. Then as it peaks the leader of the group, who is usually the person who suggests playing the game, chants out “WHAT GAME ARE WE PLAYING!” and every one else answers back by saying “THUMPER!” Next he says “WHY DO WE PLAY THIS GAME!” and everyone else answers back by saying “TO GET MESSED UP!” Next he does his own hand gesture and does someone else’s, and then that person does his own and passes it on to someone else. This goes on until someone messes up, by doing someone’s hand gesture incorrectly or stutters in between. At that point the person who messed up takes a long sip of his beer or non-alcoholic drink. Vince says that it is the most fun when people have drank for a long time and they are intoxicated a bit because it is harder for them to remember each person’s gesture and pass it on. He also says that the game is best when there are more than 10 people, then it is harder to remember all the 10 gestures. Vince plays this game at least once when he is partying at his frat. He usually plays with girls and some of his friends.

Vince’s frat brother, Chuck, who I also interviewed, told me of another version of this game. He said that instead of just doing you gesture and another peron’s gesture, you have to remember each person’s gesture before that, and you make up gestures as you go instead of having set gestures for each person. He says that this game is harder than Vince’s version because of the amount of memorizing that has to be done.

This game can also be compared to the childhood game I played where we would pick a topic (i.e animals) then one person would say an animal and then the next person would say another that starts with the last letter of the animal the pervious person says. It is similar in the way that it is a memory game.

Game/Saying – United States

Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: La Habra, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Gujurati

Shotgun (riding shotgun)

Basically shotgun works like this, while in a group, if someone wants to sit in the front seat they would yell out shotgun. Whoever says it first gets to sit there. Those are the simple rules of shotgun. There are many minor rules that come into play while doing this. First of all, the driver and person calling shotgun should be able to see the car, or be in the vicinity of it so they can see it. Another main rule is that shotgun should be called loud enough so everyone in the group can here it.

I interviewed my really good friend about the origins of the shotgun rule and his knowledge about it. Since he has a car we rely on him heavily with our transportation (because we are car-less). He told me that the history of it started way back in the early century when people would sit next to the driver in stagecoaches. Those people would have real shot guns, hence the name Shotgun. He said that his friend told him back in 9th grade about this.

I have witnessed many shotguns before. Every time we go out as a group someone or the other will call shotgun. Most of the time there are mutual shotguns, in kindness. Recently though I introduced a new rule which I learned while I was back home in Seattle. This rule is that when someone calls shotgun, anyone can negate it by saying blitz and running to the seat. At first my friends thought I was making it up but soon enough I found a wikipedia article and proved it to them. Since then we have reinstated that rule and used to often. It gives it new life to the game.

Aadhar, my friend, also told me that this game is played in many places around the world. He said that his family friends in Canada and even Australia have heard of this game. He thinks that many English speaking countries have picked up on this.