Category Archives: Game

Children’s Game: Running Bases

Main Piece:

The following was transcribed from an interview between the informant and the interviewer.

“We played a game called running bases. You have to have baseball gloves and a ball. And so you would probably stand like the length of a house or two houses usually the length of two houses and you throw the ball back and forth. And so there’s like 2 catchers on the ball and there’s the person that’s running in between the two points where the two people are. And they would have to run to the other person before you could throw the ball to them or you’re out. Now, of course, nobody can run faster than somebody can throw a ball so you would try to have it, what you would do is, you wait until somebody missed and they have to go retrieve the ball. And then while they’re retrieving the ball then you’re running back and forth and you’re running the base  back and forth until you know you don’t wanna get caught when they go get the ball and then throw it to the other side because if you’re not on the base then you out.”

Context:

I collected this piece of folklore in an over-the-phone interview. The informant, my uncle, is an African American who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He was taught by his friends, and he used to play this game all throughout his childhood.

My Thoughts:

This game is knock off version of baseball where there are only two bases. It’s kind of like monkey in the middle and baseball combined since you only have three people playing with two base men and a runner in the middle. This game is also a cheaper version of baseball. It doesn’t require as many resources as an actual baseball game like a bat. It is also more convenient since it only requires three people and can be played in a neighborhood as opposed to on a baseball field. So, this game might be more popular among people that don’t have quick access to a baseball field.

Thumb-a-War

Nationality: French American
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pasadena CA
Performance Date: April 28
Primary Language: English

Context: 

This piece was collected in a casual interview setting on the informant’s living room couch . My informant (CH) was born in Pasadena, CA, but grew up in a very French household, learning English as her second language. All of her education has been in American schools, but she learned how to read and write French thanks to after school lessons her mom gave her and her older sister. She is currently a Sophomore in high school and enjoys horseback riding. 

Main Piece:

Interviewer: Do you remember the Thumb-a-Wars from when we were little? Can you describe them to me?

CA: Wait, wait, let’s just do it. *both turn to sit facing each other* Ok film it from above, yeah *moves the interviewer’s hand to a good position*

Interviewer: *interview switches from voice recording to camera and they proceed to film the video*

Both: *Sing Thumb-a-War song and then play*

One, two, three, four

I declare a thumb-a-war

Five, six, seven, eight,

Try and keep your thumb straight

Interviewer: *after settling down from laughing and playing a few games. Switches back to voice recording* Ok *laughs* so where and when did you learn this.

CH: I learned it at school! In like, kindergarten and we  played it during recess. Everyone I know knows the game so even today if my friend and I are bored we can just play for funsies. 

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant (CH) and interviewer.

Thoughts: 

Thumb-a-War was a very popular game when I was in elementary school. We would play it during recess or on bus rides to field trips. We would have big competitions between classmates to figure out who was the strongest boy and strongest girl in the grade, so I have a lot of very good memories of this game! Like CA said, everyone who’s around my age knows this game, so we can whip it out at any time and play if we’re bored. 

Bubble Gum In a Dish

Nationality: French American
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: April 28
Primary Language: English

Context: 

This piece was collected in a casual interview setting on the informant’s living room couch . My informant (CH) was born in Pasadena, CA, but grew up in a very French household, learning English as her second language. All of her education has been in American schools, but she learned how to read and write French thanks to after school lessons her mom gave her and her older sister. She is currently a Sophomore in high school and enjoys horseback riding.

Main Piece:

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant (CH) and interviewer.

Interviewer: Other than the classic “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” what’s another way you know of picking something based on a song?

CA: We had the bubble gum song! The girls started to use it in like, I don’t know, 3rd grade. We would sing it while going around pointing at someone in the circle. It went like this

Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish,

How many pieces do you wish?

*the girl who’s designated chooses a number, then they start counting to that number and who ever the last number falls on is it*

Thoughts: 

At school, the girls would use this song in order to pick out a girl when nobody volunteered to do something. For example, it was to see who would be the first person to chase others in Tag. This was a very fair and effective way to choose who would be “it” when we were young (around 6-8 years old) but once people started to figure out you can count who it would fall on so the person who chooses the “random” number can cheat, it started creating problems. For some reason, only the girls would use this song.

Annotation:

For different variations of the Bubble Gum Song, please follow this link: https://kcls.org/content/bubble-gum-bubble-gum-in-a-dish/

Nose Goes

Nationality: French American
Age: 16
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pasadena, Ca
Performance Date: April 28
Primary Language: English

Context: 

This piece was collected in a casual interview setting on the informant’s living room couch . My informant (CH) was born in Pasadena, CA, but grew up in a very French household, learning English as her second language. All of her education has been in American schools, but she learned how to read and write French thanks to after school lessons her mom gave her and her older sister. She is currently a Sophomore in high school and enjoys horseback riding, 

Main Piece:

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the informant (CH) and interviewer.

Interviewer: What’s Nose-Goes?

CH: Um, its when you’re with a group of people and there’s this one thing that has to be done but noone wants to do it so you go “one, two, three nose-goes” and everyone tries to touch their nose with their indent, index finger as fast as they can, but the last person to touch their nose loses and has to do the thing that no one wanted to do.

Interviewer: And, um, does everyone know when its going to be initiated or its just like out of the blue?

CH: Its kind of… out of the blue. Like you don’t, don’t say in advance “I’m going to say nose-goes” you just say “nose-goes.”

Interviewer: When did you start doing this?

CH: I don’t know, like fourth grade? 

Thoughts: 

The popular Nose Goes, in my opinion, is very effective, but very unfair. Basically, the first one to think of the game will automatically not be “it” and if someone in the group is not paying attention, they will automatically lose. For dealing with trivial matters, like chores, taking out the trash, sitting in the car trunk, it is fine, but after a while, if overused, it can start to cause problems in a friend group, or the person to always call it will be labeled as childish. Overall, I believe it can be used once in a while, if everyone knows the rules, and its a fun way for children to learn to pay attention to their peers. 

Annotation:

Follow this link to see more variations of Nose Goes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose_goes 

Bottle Flipping – Find out if girls like you

Nationality: United States
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: El cerrito, CA
Performance Date: 4/29/20
Primary Language: English

Main text:

BR: At my old high school, we’d do this thing called bottle flipping…

MW: Oh yeah! We did that too. Was that just like a NorCal thing or…?

BR: I mean I don’t know, but we’d do it and kids would be flipping these dumb bottles everywhere and the goal was to flick a plastic bottle upwards and have it land on its bottom again. And they boys would be like, oh, if I flip it and it lands right it means she likes me…

MW: Oh, that’s interesting. I’ve never heard that version before…in my school we just did it to do it, you know? There’d be bottles, like, stuck in weird places because of it…

BR: haha. Yeah, all the band kids did it. It’s actually kinda funny because it’s actually kinda hard to get the bottle to land right, so it means, or like was implying, that girls weren’t liking guys back. Especially the band kids.

Background:

The informant, BR, was born and raised in the Bay Area, specifically El Cerrito (the East Bay). He remembers this tradition specifically because it was a fun bonding activity, and also a meme at the time. He looks back on this memory fondly. 

Context

This story was brought up in a FaceTime call. I asked the informant what traditions he remembered in high school, to see if we could cross compare since I went to high school not too far from where he did (San mateo).

Thoughts:

Upon further research, I believe that bottle flipping was done across America, maybe even more globally. It was perpetuated by the internet and made into one of the most popular memes of 2016. I think that BR’s school’s addition of having a girl like you back is really funny because it is so reminiscent of other children’s superstitious games. As we talked about in class, a lot of childrens’ superstition (especially girls’) revolves around who you will marry or relationships, etc. I think it’s just so fascinating that something as seemingly dumb as bottle flipping was able to work its way into that same pattern, probably just because it’s something the youth was doing. It’s also interesting to note that this phenomenon applied mostly to boys getting girls to like them back, as usually it’s a “girl’s game” that involves relationship fortune telling, as we talked about in class. 

(For an example of bottle flipping, please see this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp5QMSbf-a0)