Category Archives: Game

Folk Game – Japan

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Toky, Japan
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

(Original Kanji)

(Japanese in English)

(English Translation)

Seiko Takeshita – Fish Scoop

During the mat-tsu-ri festival in the summer time, there is one game in particular that is played every all the time. The game is called kin-gyo-sukui, or fish scoop. The objective of the game is to catch as many gold fish as possible from a tub of water before your paper fish-scooper breaks. Any fish you catch you are allowed to take home with you in a plastic bag. However, if you choose not to take the fish home, you can place them back in the tub for other players to try and catch. The ultimate goal of the game is entertain small children with little critters and keep them happy by giving them fish to take home.

The games’ origin began during the Edo period, approximately 1700 A.D. The game has always predominantly been played during the summer festival. The average cost to play the game in Japan is 100 to 200 yen. (1 to 2 dollars American.) The game is also mainly targeted at young children, but anyone is allowed to play. Seiko clearly remembered how she used to play this game when she was a child but her mom never let her keep the fish. She was always saddened by this. To this day; Seiki still plays the game whenever she has the chance to during the summer.

Since 1995, this children’s game has been promoted to new heights. Every year in August there is a national competition for fish scooping. This tournament highlights how much the Japanese like to compete and play games, even when the game is something as miniscule as seeing how many gold fish one can scoop into a paper cup. On top of the national competition, the game has also migrated to other countries. For example, I can clearly remember playing this game when I was in pre-school. I grew up in San Diego County, in a little rural town about 20 minutes from the ocean. At my pre-school, we would occasionally have carnivals where there would be lots of little games we could play. Ironically, this was always my favorite game at the carnivals because I cannot remember any of the others that I played, but I clearly remember playing this one.

Intrinsically, I think the game signifies little children getting older and being able to take care of a pet. At the ripe age of seven or eight, a child yearns to be responsible for something. For girls this might be Barbie dolls, and for boys it might be GI Joes. But for some they desire for a pet. That age is a little too young to have a dog or a cat, but it is perfect for a gold fish. They learn responsibility because they have to feed it, take care of it, and clean its living environment. They also learn how to deal with loss because gold fish do not tend to live that long and the children must experience what it feels like to lose something dear to them. This is important because in the future, these children need to learn to endure the loss of things they care for and still be able to continue their life. Who knew that a gold fish could be so important?

Game – USA

Nationality: Jewish-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Clermont, CA
Performance Date: April 23, 2008
Primary Language: English

Children Nose Game – America

I first learned the nose game from my cousin when we were little kids. We played the game whenever an older person like my mother had assigned a chore. Basically, we used the nose game to decide the person to perform the chore.  Other than my family members, I do not remember seeing anyone else play the nose game. Although, my friend Grant once told me that he played it with his brothers at their house. I actually never tried to find out the origin of the game and why it was played that way. However, since my family mostly plays it, I like to think it is my family’s game.

The nose game goes like this: – “As soon as a chore is assigned, everyone around touch their noses as quick as possible. The last person to touch the tip of their noses is obligated to accomplish the chore. However, in some occasions, the fastest person to touch the tip of their noses would actually do the work.” I do not know why the rules of the game changed from the first person not to do the work to actually him doing it.

However, I believe it was because some individuals were too quick to touch their noses and might never have done any work. Therefore, it was a way of catching them.

Analysis

When Jordan was telling me about the nose game, it made not much sense to me. However I do know that there must be a reason behind its existence. Apart from being used as a method to find a person a particular task, I think the game is part of Jordan’s family culture. It is part of their folklore. It is part of what defines who they are. That is perhaps the one best reason behind the games existence in Jordan’s family. The game might sound and seem ridiculous but its subsistence that conveys some sort of relationship in Jordan’s family.

Just knowing the game might be enough to be considered a member of this family. That is how strong folklore can be. People always talk about bloodlines as a way of relating people, but folklore is equally important. Folklore like Jordan’s family folk children game can create a strong relationship between different people.  It is because folklore seems to pass on from generation to generation-through passive and active bearers. Therefore, no matter how much sense I can make of it, this folk game has a social importance in Jordan’s family. The game can make Jordan’s family to identify with each other.

Counting-Out Rhyme – Kampala, Uganda

Nationality: Ugandan
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: North Hills, CA
Performance Date: April 10, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Luganda

Baganda Children Counting

Ding Ding Donge

Ding Ding Dong

Waliwo   Afuuye  Naduuka  Emisinde

Someone farted     and run    a run

Omwana wa   Obote

Child        of   Obote

Atambula Awuunya        Nekiibi                         Mu   Mpale

Walks       smelly      with human waste               in     pants

Charles had this to say about the game. “I and several other kids played this game when we were still little kids living in Kampala, Uganda in the late 80’s. We always played it after smelling a foul smell or after hearing a sound of someone breaking wind. Basically, someone (always an older member of a group) would attempt to find the guilty person using this rhyme. He or she would count from child to child with each word of the rhyme. The last counted individual at the end of the song would be deemed guilty.  After supposedly locating the guilty party, everyone else would laugh at them as well as calling them “Child of Obote.” That often caused the supposedly guilty child to cry. In general, the game had to be played once. However, sometimes it would be repeated if the supposedly guilty party protested the verdict. Only Luganda speaking children played this game. Older people who often joined in making fun of the guilty individual supported it.” When I asked who Obote was, Charles said he was a former president of Uganda who was unpopular among most Baganda people because he exiled their king.

Analysis

When Charles was telling me this rhyme, it meant no sense to me at all. However, when I critically analyzed it, it started making sense. I figured out some morals in the Baganda culture. First and foremost, I figured that it is considered immoral to fart in public. I say so because of the fact that; after playing the game and finding out who had done it, all kids would laugh so loud and make fun of the guilty party. If farting were not immoral in this culture, then I would not think that this rhyme would end in someone crying. Therefore, I think the rhyme was formulated to help teach children to control their bodily emissions.

Apart from that, I also figured that this rhyme had a political message it passed on the kids. In a way, this rhyme is divisive since Obote was an unpopular president among the Baganda. Hence, I would say that parents use support this rhyme to instill hatred for Obote in their children. The question would then be; why is it still being used after Obote’s death? Well, I think it is used more as a campaign against Obote’s political party. I would not be surprised to hear that Baganda children do not support the party to which Obote belonged. This is because they grow up associating Obote to something immoral (farting). Last but not least, I think that this rhyme teaches children to respect elders. I say so because it is always the older kid in the group who performs the rhyme.

Folk Speech

Nationality: Mexican, Norwegian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 2008
Primary Language: English

Folk Speech – Videogaming

Woot!

Woot is a word used in popular teenage culture as an expression of happiness or agreement much the way one would use Yay or Woohoo. The word was originally created by online gamers, but quickly found its way into the vocabulary of non-gamers online. People are now even saying it in everyday conversation. A non-gamer friend of mine began using the word in everyday conversation in August 2007 after picking it up on online message boards. Players of the game Doom first created the word woot. It is actually an acronym for “we own the other team”.  Woot was a way of quickly saying that your group was showing dominance in the game. Since it was only used as an expression of victory it became a way to express happiness like the word yay.

The formation of special words and acronyms is not uncommon among a subgroup of a society. In this case the word woot came out of using an acronym to reduce typing. Words such as these allow a group to assess a person’s knowledge of the group. Someone who is a member of a group like this will know the terminology common in the group. I think woot is an acceptable expression for online, but when people use it in everyday face-to-face speech it is annoying. The expression is very informal and kind of nerdy.  I think the jump of woot into popular speech shows the increased influence of the Internet on younger people. Many young people know and can use a plethora of online abbreviations and expressions such as lol, rofl, ttyl, l33t, and gtg. Woot has even become the name of a very well known online retailer. Woot.com is a retailer that sells only one product each day. Usually it is an electronic good, but regardless the product is always sold at a highly discounted price. This website was the first one deal per day type website. Woot.com has been profiled in magazines like Time, PC Magazine, and Motley Fool.

Game

Nationality: Mexican, Norwegian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Game – Car Trip

The Shotgun Game

In 2006-2007, during my senior year of high school, whenever my friends and I went on a car ride, we would determine who would sit in the front right seat AKA shotgun by playing a game. The way one claimed the right to that most favored seat was by being the first person to yell shotgun after seeing the car. There were a few stipulations to the game-you could not call shotgun from indoors or before you could see the car. I am not exactly sure when I had learned this game, but all my friends and I knew of it independently. We played the game fairly religiously and quite intensly, but it rarely became a point of argument or contention. I had heard of a variation of the game where you must yell shotgun no joust to secure the seat. If a person yells joust after you say shotgun, but before you get no joust out, they play you in rock paper scissors for the seat.

The game is interesting because it sort of reveals a core dynamic of any group of boys. Generally the front seat isn’t that much more comfortable than the back and most of the trips we went on weren’t more than a few minutes. So really the front seat isn’t that much more comfortable than the other seats. And yet we competed for it. Admittedly the game and the competitive aspect of it were fun, but I think the major motivation for the game was status. The front seat represented, perhaps not consciously, dominance and status.